C. S. Wright
Encyclopedia
Sir Charles Seymour Wright, KCB
, OBE
, MC
(nicknamed "Silas" Wright after novelist Silas Hocking
) (7 April 1887 – 1 November 1975) was a Canadian member of Robert Falcon Scott
's Antarctic
expedition of 1910-1913, the Terra Nova Expedition
.
Born in Toronto
in 1887, the son of an insurance executive, Wright grew up in the Toronto neighbourhood of Rosedale. He was educated at Upper Canada College
where he also became head boy
. Despite wearing glasses, he excelled in sports and his spirit of adventure saw him spend some of his youth prospecting and canoeing in Canada's unmapped Far North. He studied Physics
at the University of Toronto
and won a scholarship for postgraduate study at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge
, England
, undertaking research in cosmic rays at the Cavendish Laboratory
from 1908-10. There he met Douglas Mawson
, who had recently returned from Shackleton
's 1907-9 British Antarctic Expedition, known as the Nimrod Expedition
. Upon learning of Scott's forthcoming expedition to the geographic South Pole
, Wright applied to join but was rejected. Undaunted, he walked from Cambridge to London, where he applied in person; this time, Scott accepted, and Wright was hired as expedition physicist and glaciologist.
In Antarctica, Wright carried out numerous experiments on ice formations and ground radiation. From January to mid-March 1911, he was one of four expedition members (with Thomas Griffith Taylor, Frank Debenham
(Geologist) and Edgar Evans
) who explored and mapped the western mountains of Victoria Land (the western journey), performing scientific studies and geological observations. On 1 November 1911, Wright was a member of the Southern Party team that set off from their base camp at Cape Evans
with the intention of reaching the South Pole. He hoped to be included in the polar party selected to accompany Scott on the final push to the Pole; however, on December 22 1911 at latitude at 85° 15’ South, seven weeks into the journey, while still 300 miles from the pole, he was in the first supporting party which Scott sent back. He spent the next five weeks helping the party navigate the 580 miles back to Cape Evans
, where they waited for Scott and his party’s return from the pole. Scott never arrived. On November 12 1912, it was Wright, as a member of the 8-man search party led by Edward Atkinson, who first spotted the tent containing the bodies of Scott, Edward Wilson
, and Henry Bowers, who had all perished on their return trek from the South Pole eight months earlier.
Upon returning to England, Wright married the sister of fellow Terra Nova expedition
member Raymond Priestley
. He lectured in cartography
and surveying while also writing up his scientific work.
In 1914, he joined the Royal Engineers
as a second lieutenant and served in France. After a distinguished career in the First World War, during which he helped develop trench wireless and gained the Military Cross
and the Order of the British Empire
(OBE), he joined the Admiralty Research Department in 1919. By 1929 he was superintendent at Teddington and from 1934-36 was Director of Scientific research at the Admiralty. He was active in the British Admiralty during WWII, playing an important role in the early development of the Allied radar
system and developing devices to detect magnetic mines and torpedoes. He was knighted for his work in 1946.
With the formation of the Royal Naval Scientific Service in 1946, he was appointed first chief of the service. He then returned to the United States
as scientific advisor to the Admiral at the British Joint Services Mission, Washington DC and in 1951 became Director of the Marine Physical Laboratory of the Scripps Research Institute of Oceanography at La Jolla, California. He joined the Defence Research Board of Canada's Pacific Naval Laboratory in 1955 and in 1967 joined the Institute of Earth Sciences, based at the University of British Columbia
and Royal Roads Military College
, Victoria, British Columbia
.
He returned to Antarctica twice, in 1960 and 1965.
In 1969, Wright retired to Saltspring Island
, British Columbia
, Canada
, where he died on 1 November 1975, aged 88.
Order of the Bath
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...
, OBE
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
, MC
Military Cross
The Military Cross is the third-level military decoration awarded to officers and other ranks of the British Armed Forces; and formerly also to officers of other Commonwealth countries....
(nicknamed "Silas" Wright after novelist Silas Hocking
Silas Hocking
Silas Kitto Hocking was an Cornish novelist and Methodist preacher. He was born at St Stephen-in-Brannel, Cornwall, to James Hocking, part owner of a tin mine, and his wife Elizabeth. In 1870 he was ordained as a minister...
) (7 April 1887 – 1 November 1975) was a Canadian member of Robert Falcon Scott
Robert Falcon Scott
Captain Robert Falcon Scott, CVO was a Royal Navy officer and explorer who led two expeditions to the Antarctic regions: the Discovery Expedition, 1901–04, and the ill-fated Terra Nova Expedition, 1910–13...
's Antarctic
Antarctic
The Antarctic is the region around the Earth's South Pole, opposite the Arctic region around the North Pole. The Antarctic comprises the continent of Antarctica and the ice shelves, waters and island territories in the Southern Ocean situated south of the Antarctic Convergence...
expedition of 1910-1913, the Terra Nova Expedition
Terra Nova Expedition
The Terra Nova Expedition , officially the British Antarctic Expedition 1910, was led by Robert Falcon Scott with the objective of being the first to reach the geographical South Pole. Scott and four companions attained the pole on 17 January 1912, to find that a Norwegian team led by Roald...
.
Born in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
in 1887, the son of an insurance executive, Wright grew up in the Toronto neighbourhood of Rosedale. He was educated at Upper Canada College
Upper Canada College
Upper Canada College , located in midtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada, is an independent elementary and secondary school for boys between Senior Kindergarten and Grade Twelve, operating under the International Baccalaureate program. The secondary school segment is divided into ten houses; eight are...
where he also became head boy
Head boy
Head Boy and Head Girl are terms commonly used in the British education system, and in private schools throughout the Commonwealth.-United Kingdom:...
. Despite wearing glasses, he excelled in sports and his spirit of adventure saw him spend some of his youth prospecting and canoeing in Canada's unmapped Far North. He studied Physics
Physics
Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...
at the University of Toronto
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...
and won a scholarship for postgraduate study at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, undertaking research in cosmic rays at the Cavendish Laboratory
Cavendish Laboratory
The Cavendish Laboratory is the Department of Physics at the University of Cambridge, and is part of the university's School of Physical Sciences. It was opened in 1874 as a teaching laboratory....
from 1908-10. There he met Douglas Mawson
Douglas Mawson
Sir Douglas Mawson, OBE, FRS, FAA was an Australian geologist, Antarctic explorer and Academic. Along with Roald Amundsen, Robert Falcon Scott, and Ernest Shackleton, Mawson was a key expedition leader during the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration.-Early work:He was appointed geologist to an...
, who had recently returned from Shackleton
Ernest Shackleton
Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton, CVO, OBE was a notable explorer from County Kildare, Ireland, who was one of the principal figures of the period known as the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration...
's 1907-9 British Antarctic Expedition, known as the Nimrod Expedition
Nimrod Expedition
The British Antarctic Expedition 1907–09, otherwise known as the Nimrod Expedition, was the first of three expeditions to the Antarctic led by Ernest Shackleton. Its main target, among a range of geographical and scientific objectives, was to be first to the South Pole...
. Upon learning of Scott's forthcoming expedition to the geographic South Pole
South Pole
The South Pole, also known as the Geographic South Pole or Terrestrial South Pole, is one of the two points where the Earth's axis of rotation intersects its surface. It is the southernmost point on the surface of the Earth and lies on the opposite side of the Earth from the North Pole...
, Wright applied to join but was rejected. Undaunted, he walked from Cambridge to London, where he applied in person; this time, Scott accepted, and Wright was hired as expedition physicist and glaciologist.
In Antarctica, Wright carried out numerous experiments on ice formations and ground radiation. From January to mid-March 1911, he was one of four expedition members (with Thomas Griffith Taylor, Frank Debenham
Frank Debenham
Frank Debenham, OBE was Emeritus Professor of Geography at the Cambridge University and first director of the Scott Polar Research Institute.-Biography:...
(Geologist) and Edgar Evans
Edgar Evans
Petty Officer Edgar Evans was a member of the Polar Party on Robert Falcon Scott's companions on his ill-fated Terra Nova Expedition to the South Pole in 1911–1912...
) who explored and mapped the western mountains of Victoria Land (the western journey), performing scientific studies and geological observations. On 1 November 1911, Wright was a member of the Southern Party team that set off from their base camp at Cape Evans
Cape Evans
Cape Evans is a rocky cape on the west side of Ross Island, forming the north side of the entrance to Erebus Bay.The cape was discovered by the Discovery expedition under Robert Falcon Scott, who named it the Skuary. Scott's second expedition, the British Antarctic Expedition , built its...
with the intention of reaching the South Pole. He hoped to be included in the polar party selected to accompany Scott on the final push to the Pole; however, on December 22 1911 at latitude at 85° 15’ South, seven weeks into the journey, while still 300 miles from the pole, he was in the first supporting party which Scott sent back. He spent the next five weeks helping the party navigate the 580 miles back to Cape Evans
Cape Evans
Cape Evans is a rocky cape on the west side of Ross Island, forming the north side of the entrance to Erebus Bay.The cape was discovered by the Discovery expedition under Robert Falcon Scott, who named it the Skuary. Scott's second expedition, the British Antarctic Expedition , built its...
, where they waited for Scott and his party’s return from the pole. Scott never arrived. On November 12 1912, it was Wright, as a member of the 8-man search party led by Edward Atkinson, who first spotted the tent containing the bodies of Scott, Edward Wilson
Edward Adrian Wilson
Edward Adrian Wilson was a notable English polar explorer, physician, naturalist, painter and ornithologist.-Early life:...
, and Henry Bowers, who had all perished on their return trek from the South Pole eight months earlier.
Upon returning to England, Wright married the sister of fellow Terra Nova expedition
Terra Nova Expedition
The Terra Nova Expedition , officially the British Antarctic Expedition 1910, was led by Robert Falcon Scott with the objective of being the first to reach the geographical South Pole. Scott and four companions attained the pole on 17 January 1912, to find that a Norwegian team led by Roald...
member Raymond Priestley
Raymond Priestley
Sir Raymond Edward Priestley was a British geologist and early Antarctic explorer.-Biography:Raymond Priestley was born in Bredon's Norton,Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, in 1886, the second son and second of eight children of Joseph Edward Priestley, headmaster of Tewkesbury grammar school, and his...
. He lectured in cartography
Cartography
Cartography is the study and practice of making maps. Combining science, aesthetics, and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality can be modeled in ways that communicate spatial information effectively.The fundamental problems of traditional cartography are to:*Set the map's...
and surveying while also writing up his scientific work.
In 1914, he joined the Royal Engineers
Royal Engineers
The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually just called the Royal Engineers , and commonly known as the Sappers, is one of the corps of the British Army....
as a second lieutenant and served in France. After a distinguished career in the First World War, during which he helped develop trench wireless and gained the Military Cross
Military Cross
The Military Cross is the third-level military decoration awarded to officers and other ranks of the British Armed Forces; and formerly also to officers of other Commonwealth countries....
and the Order of the British Empire
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(OBE), he joined the Admiralty Research Department in 1919. By 1929 he was superintendent at Teddington and from 1934-36 was Director of Scientific research at the Admiralty. He was active in the British Admiralty during WWII, playing an important role in the early development of the Allied radar
Radar
Radar is an object-detection system which uses radio waves to determine the range, altitude, direction, or speed of objects. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, weather formations, and terrain. The radar dish or antenna transmits pulses of radio...
system and developing devices to detect magnetic mines and torpedoes. He was knighted for his work in 1946.
With the formation of the Royal Naval Scientific Service in 1946, he was appointed first chief of the service. He then returned to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
as scientific advisor to the Admiral at the British Joint Services Mission, Washington DC and in 1951 became Director of the Marine Physical Laboratory of the Scripps Research Institute of Oceanography at La Jolla, California. He joined the Defence Research Board of Canada's Pacific Naval Laboratory in 1955 and in 1967 joined the Institute of Earth Sciences, based at the University of British Columbia
University of British Columbia
The University of British Columbia is a public research university. UBC’s two main campuses are situated in Vancouver and in Kelowna in the Okanagan Valley...
and Royal Roads Military College
Royal Roads Military College
Royal Roads Military College was a Canadian military college located in Hatley Park, Colwood, British Columbia near Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. The facility is currently being used as the campus for Royal Roads University, a public university that offers applied and professional academic...
, Victoria, British Columbia
Victoria, British Columbia
Victoria is the capital city of British Columbia, Canada and is located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of about 78,000 within the metropolitan area of Greater Victoria, which has a population of 360,063, the 15th most populous Canadian...
.
He returned to Antarctica twice, in 1960 and 1965.
In 1969, Wright retired to Saltspring Island
Saltspring Island
Saltspring Island is one of the Gulf Islands in the Strait of Georgia between mainland British Columbia, Canada and Vancouver Island. It is the largest, the most populous, and the most frequently visited of the Gulf Islands...
, British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, where he died on 1 November 1975, aged 88.