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The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

Remembered Today:

R.N Polar Expedition or Arctic Base ?


tn.drummond

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I have had this photograph for some time and although it is not relevant to my own interests I thought it could be of interest to other Forum members.

It is one of two postcards (the other is a hut interior which is barely discernible) that are on Canadian backed postcards in poor condition. Both are unposted and without annotation or message. When I first saw them I thought the central figure could be Shackleton but the R.N uniform counts him out. The foreground is deep snow and an Airedale terrier has pride of place in the centre.

Due to condition and size I have had to lower resolution .

I'm not expecting any replies but am happy to attempt to provide more information if I can.

Suddery

post-53823-0-13219800-1326818893.jpg

post-53823-0-60572600-1326819003.jpg

post-53823-0-65016900-1326819052.jpg

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If it was either Antarctic or Arctic I would have thought they would be wearing polar clothing.

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I was thinking in terms of a base camp but could be anywhere from Newfoundland to the North.

Suddery

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Looks like the relatively junior chap at centre (beneath the rank of Commander) has a raft of war ribbons, so presumably post War. It could be anywhere from North Russia to Rosyth.

Simon

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Looks like the relatively junior chap at centre (beneath the rank of Commander) has a raft of war ribbons, so presumably post War. It could be anywhere from North Russia to Rosyth.

Simon

Agree, but please don't lose sight of the fact that these photos were processed in Canada.

Suddery

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Agree, but please don't lose sight of the fact that these photos were processed in Canada.

Suddery

Which tells you nothing about were they were taken. I've got various photos processed in St Albans that got taken in Lusaka, Babylon and Tokyo.

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Which tells you nothing about were they were taken. I've got various photos processed in St Albans that got taken in Lusaka, Babylon and Tokyo.

I've no theory about these photos but thought they may be of interest to others so any and all suggestions are welcomed. Photo obviously could have been taken anywhere but it was processed in Canada which suggests Arctic rather than Antarctic (which is why I thought the information was relevant).

One further point I have noticed is that the verandah to front has ground to roof 'chicken' wire across its length. Some kind of anti-snow drift or animal precaution ???

Regards

Suddery

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Given the places the navy went - processing in Canada tells one near to nothing.

Given that several of the men are not wearing coats (and one even has his shirt and tie visible), one has to doubt that it's either Arctic or Antarctic. All we can tell is that it's somewhere cold but not incredibly cold. The chicken wire may be to keep birds out. It would do little for snow.

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Looking at polar exploration, between the 1888-89 Eclipse and Maud expedition to Greenland and the1930-31 British Arctic Air Route Expedition, British polar region expeditions of any size seem to have been down south in the Antarctic.  

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The Royal Navy had two bases in Canada Halifax on the Atlantic Coast and Esquimalt on the Pacific. However when in 1905 Canada assumed responsibility for it's own coast defence they were both handed over to the RCN and the RN pulled out (although RN ships would of course continue to use both ports). I'm no expert on RN uniforms but I don't think those in the photo look like pre 1905 but I could be mistaken.

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