William James Tatem, 1st Baron Glanely of St Fagans.

Lord Glanely is probably best remembered today as a noted racehorse owner, whose horses won all five Classic races of the British turf. However, he made his money in shipping, and was generous in his support of numerous worthy causes in south Wales, particularly Amgueddfa Cymru and Cardiff University.

Tatem was not Welsh at all; he was born at Appledore in north Devon in 1868, and the early death of his father Thomas led his mother to move her family to Cardiff when Tatem was eighteen. He joined the shipping company Anning Brothers as a clerk and became thoroughly familiar with all aspects of the shipping business. Armed with this knowledge he ventured into shipping on his own account in 1897, and the master of one of his first ships was a fellow-native of Appledore, William Reardon Smith.

A substantial fleet

By 1914 Tatem had built up a substantial fleet of sixteen ships. He was knighted in 1916 and in 1918 was elevated to the peerage, taking the title Baron Glanely of St Fagans. A perceptive and far-sighted shipowner, he sold off his entire fleet for a vast sum at the height of the post-First World War boom in 1919, only to re-enter shipowning with the purchase of six new ships, obtained at bargain prices, a few years later. This enabled him to survive the depression years far better than many of his contemporaries.

Lord Glanely leads in Singapore, victorious in the 1930 St Leger; the jockey was Gordon Richards

'Sporting Bill'

His horse-racing interests expanded considerably after the First World War. In 1919-20 he bought the fine house Exning in Newmarket, together with the nearby Lagrange stables. His first major win came at Royal Ascot in 1919 when his Grand Parade won the Derby. This win caused some controversy, as he had another horse running in the same race, the favourite, Dominion. At the finishing post Dominion was far down the field, while Grand Parade came home first at 33:1 — and all of Glanely's money was on the latter horse! He was a familiar figure at all the major race meetings and was popularly known as "sporting Bill".

Philanthropy and charitable causes

He was generous in his financial support of the National Museum, and this is recalled by the Glanely gallery in National Museum Cardiff. He was twice president of the University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire, in 1920-25 and 1934-42, where he had funded the construction of new scientific laboratories.

During the Spanish Civil War he employed two of his own ships to transport a large number of Basque refugees to south Wales, and he also endowed a charity to support them thereafter.

Despite his success in so many endeavours, personal happiness eluded him. His only son Shandon died aged just six in 1905, and Lady Glanely died following injuries sustained in a car accident in 1930. He was killed in an air-raid on Weston-Super-Mare on 24 June 1942.

One of the greatest treasures in Amgueddfa Cymru's rich industrial photography archive is the Hansen Collection. The collection comprises 4,569 negatives (some two-thirds of which are glass) of ships at Cardiff, taken by members of the Hansen family between 1920 and 1975. They provide a marvellous photographic record of shipping activity at the port during those years.

For those who lived along the shores of the Bristol Channel, no summer was complete without a trip on one of P.& A. Campbell's 'White Funnel' pleasure steamers. Here is the newly-built Bristol Queen leaving Cardiff in the summer of 1947. (1179/1279)

Where Cardiff once exported coal, oil and petroleum products were being imported by the late 1940s. The 'BP' tanker British Success, built on the Clyde in 1946, was photographed by Hansen berthing in Cardiff's Roath Dock on 2 August, 1947. (1633/1720)

Ships of the major British cargo liner companies became a common sight in Cardiff in the years after the 2nd World War. Here is the City of Pretoria, built at Birkenhead in 1947 and owned by Ellerman Bucknall Line, arriving in Cardiff in 1964, with Penarth Head just visible in the background. (3633/180C)

Ships owned by Cardiff's shipping companies naturally figure prominently in the Hansen Collection. The tramp steamer Peterston, built at Sunderland in 1925 for Evan Thomas, Radcliffe & Co., is seen here arriving at Cardiff in 1947. (1181/1281)

The Collection was purchased in 1979 and since then numerous images from the collection have appeared in books published by Amgueddfa Cymru and the World Ship Society.

In 1993 an album of selected photographs was published jointly by Amgueddfa Cymru and the University of Wales Press, with financial support from the Baltic Exchange. Shipping at Cardiff: Photographs from the Hansen Collection, 1920-75 (ISBN 0-7083-1231-4) proved popular, renewing interest in and provoking many enquiries regarding the scope and contents of the entire collection.

A Danish seaman with an interest in photography, Lars Peter Hansen settled in Cardiff in 1891 and established a photographic business whose mainstay was recording shipping in the booming docks. He was succeeded in the business in 1936 by his third son Leslie, who continued to photograph ships until his retirement in 1975.

It is most unfortunate that no negatives appear to have survived from the pre-1920 period, although there are a few prints of vessels lost in the First World War in the Museum's collection that bear the Hansen imprint.

In 1979, Leslie Hansen's son, also named Leslie, decided to sell the remaining negatives and the entire collection was purchased by the Welsh Industrial & Maritime Museum.

The Museum's now-retired Conservation Officer, Mr Don Taylor, then undertook the formidable tasks of renumbering all the negatives, placing them in new negative bags and subsequently compiling a catalogue. Mr Taylor's wide knowledge of shipping and his characteristic thoroughness resulted in the publication in 1996 of The Hansen Shipping Photographic Collection (ISBN 0-7200-0437-3).

Readers wishing to order prints from this collection should contact:
Image Licensing Officer
NMGW Enterprises Limited
Cathays Park
Cardiff
CF10 3NP
Tel. (029) 2057 3280 or email kay.kays@museumwales.ac.uk.

Please quote the ship's name and the catalogue number. Prices for various types of photographic reproductions are available on application to the above address.

The Terra Nova loading in Bute East Dock, Cardiff, June 1910

Scott’s 1910-13 British Antarctic Expedition

Scott’s 1910-13 British Antarctic Expedition captured the imagination of the British public, most especially when the expedition ship, the Terra Nova, returned to Cardiff from the South without Scott and four of his companions. The autographs of the expedition members were much sought after.

In the collections of Amgueddfa Cymru there are three items, two dating from the start of the expedition and one from the end, together bearing the signatures of 27 of the officers, scientists and crew of Scott’s expedition. Amongst them are the signatures of Scott, Wilson, Bowers and Oates who died on the return march from the South Pole. Notably absent on the documents from the start of the expedition is the signature of Welshman Edgar Evans from Rhossili on Gower who was the first to die on the return from the South Pole; he was merely a Petty Officer.

Sailing towards Antarctica, June 1910

Setting off from Cardiff

Accompanying a photograph of the Terra Nova and the ship’s and other officers are the signatures of:

• E. L. Atkinson
  Surgeon Edward Leicester Atkinson, RN (1881-1929). Main Party Surgeon and parasitologist. Atkinson led the search party which found the bodies of Scott, Wilson and Bowers in November 1912.
  
• W. W. Archer
  W.W. Archer, RN (Retired).  Chief Steward, Shore Party.
  
• G. Murray Levick
  Surgeon George Murray Levick, RN (1877-1956). Surgeon on the Northern Party of the expedition, surviving for seven months through the winter in an ice cave. He studied the Adélie Penguin colony at Cape Adare and later wrote a book on Antarctic penguins.
  
• L. E. G. Oates
  Captain Lawrence Edward Grace Oates (1880-1912), 6th Inniskilling Dragoons. Weakened by severely frostbitten feet, Oates died on the return march from the South Pole, on 16 March 1912 when he famously told his companions Scott, Wilson and Bowers, “I am just going outside and may be some time” as left the tent and crawled out into the blizzard.
  
• E. R. G. R. Evans
  Lieutenant Edward (Teddy) Ratcliffe Garth Russell Evans, RN (1881-1957). Second-in-Command. Evans was instrumental in garnering Welsh support and sponsorship for the expedition and took over command of the expedition after Scott died.
  
• R. Scott
  Captain Robert Falcon Scott, CVO, RN (1868-1912). Expedition Leader. Scott had led the 1901-04 Discovery Expedition and returned to lead the Terra Nova Expedition. He reached the South Pole on 16 January 1912 with Wilson, Bowers, Oates and Edgar Evans. All five died on the return journey.

The Terra Nova Sails towards Antarctica

Letter dated June 17th 1910, At Sea, from Teddy Evans to P. Lowry Rusden of The Mercantile Pontoon Co Ltd, Roath Dock, Cardiff on British Antarctic Expedition headed paper:

Signatures of

• Edward R. G. R. Evans
  Lieutenant Edward (Teddy) Ratcliffe Garth Russell Evans, RN (1881-1957). Second-in-Command. With Welsh support and sponsorship, Evans had been planning his own Antarctic expedition when he heard about Scott’s plans. He later had a distinguished naval career and was created Lord Mountevens in 1946.
  
• D. G. Lillie
  Dennis G. Lillie MA. Ship’s Party Biologist
  
• Victor Campbell
  Lieutenant Victor Lindsey Arbuthnot Campbell, RN (1875-1956). Leader of the Northern Party, initially based at Cape Adare in Victoria Land. The six men of the Northern party were later stranded farther south along the coast and survived seven months of winter in an ice cave with little food and only their summer clothing.
• Apsley Cherry-Garrard
  Apsley George Benet Cherry-Garrard BA (1886-1959). Assistant Zoologist. Cherry-Garrard paid £1000 to join the Expedition. With Wilson and Bowers he made a winter journey to collect Emperor Penguin eggs which he later described in his book, The worst journey in the world. He was a member of the search party which found the bodies of Scott, Wilson and Bowers in November 1912.
  
• H. Rennick
  Lieutenant Henry E. de P. Rennick, RN. First Officer on the Terra Nova.
  
• E. W. Nelson
  Edward W Nelson (1883-1923). Biologist, Shore Party.
• Edward A. Wilson
  Dr Edward Adrian Wilson (1872-1912). Chief Scientist and Zoologist, Shore Party. Wilson had been with Scott on the 1901-4 Discovery Expedition. A skilled and talented artist and zoologist, Wilson was a close friend of Scott. He died with Scott and Bowers in their tent on the Ross Ice Shelf on their return from the South Pole in March 1912.
• E. L. Atkinson
  Surgeon Edward Leicester Atkinson, RN (1881-1929). Main Party Surgeon and parasitologist. Atkinson led the search party which found the bodies of Scott, Wilson and Bowers in November 1912.
  
• H. R. Bowers
  Lieutenant Henry Robertson Bowers, Royal Indian Marines (1883-1912). Scott put Bowers in charge of stores. He was a member of the final Polar Party and died with Scott and Wilson in their tent on the Ross Ice Shelf in March 1912 on the return march from the South Pole.

The Return to Cardiff, 1913

The Return to Cardiff

Signatures of officers and crew of RYS Terra Nova on their return to Cardiff June 14/13 (Saturday). New Zealand One Penny stamp, overprinted “Victoria Land” and franked “British Antarctic Expedition Ja 18 [19]13”.

The signatures on this sheet are of interest because although they include four of the officers and scientists, the signatures are mostly those of the lower ranks, indicating that all of the crew were regarded as celebrities upon the expedition’s return.

• W. W. Archer
  W Archer, RN (Retired).  Chief Steward, Shore Party.
  
• A. Cherry-Garrard
  Apsley Cherry-Garrard Assistant Zoologist.
• E. W. Nelson
  Edward W Nelson. Biologist.
  
• E. L. Atkinson
  Surgeon Edward L Atkinson RN. Main Party Surgeon and parasitologist.
  
• Wm W. Williams
  C.E.R.A. 2nd Class William W. Williams, RN. Chief Engineer, Ship’s Party.
• W. A. Horton
  E.R.A. 3rd Class William A. Horton, RN. Second Engineer, Ship’s Party.
  
• T. S. Williamson
  Petty Officer 1st Class Thomas S. Williamson, RN.  Shore Party. He had served with Scott on the 1901-4 Discovery Expedition. He was a member of the search party which found the bodies of Scott, Wilson and Bowers in November 1912.
  
• H. Dickason
  Able Seaman Harry Dickason, RN. Northern Party.
  
• A. Balson
  Leading Seaman Albert Balson, R.N. Ship’s Party.
• W. H. Neale
  Steward W.H. Neale. Ship’s Party.
  
• F. Parsons
  Petty Officer 1st Class Frederick Parsons, RN. Ship’s Party.
  
• Victor Campbell
  Lieutenant Victor Lindsey Arbuthnot Campbell, RN (1875-1956). Leader of the Northern Party.
  
• Mortimer McCarthy
  Able Seaman Mortimer McCarthy. Ship’s Party.
  
• Wm L. Heald
  Petty Officer 1st Class William L. Heald, RN (Retired). Ship’s Party. He had served with Scott on the 1901-4 Discovery Expedition.
• W. Lashly
  Chief Stoker William Lashly, RN (1867-1940). Shore Party. He served with Scott on the 1901-4 Discovery Expedition. He was a member of the search party which found the bodies of Scott, Wilson and Bowers in November 1912. After the First World War, Lashly settled in Cardiff, working as a customs officer until 1932 when he retired to Hampshire.
  
• H. Pennell
  Lieutenant Harry Lewin Lee Pennell, RN (1882-1916). Ship’s Party, Navigator.
  
• F. E. Davies
  Leading Shipwright Francis E.C. Davies, RN. Carpenter, Ship’s Party.
• A. S. Bailey
  Petty Officer 2nd Class Arthur S. Bailey, RN. Ship’s Party
  
• J. Lees
  Able Seaman Joseph Lees, RN. Ship’s Party.

A block of Crown Patent Fuel.

Age of Polar Expeditions

The early 20th century was a time of great heroic explorations to the Antarctic continent. Crown Patent Fuel from south Wales was the fuel of choice for these Antarctic expeditions.

Crown Patent Fuel

In addition to 100 tons of steam coal from south Wales coal companies, Captain Scott's 1910 British Antarctic Expedition was also given 300 tons of fuel blocks by Cardiff's Crown Patent Fuel Company. This, along with other sponsorship from Cardiff and south Wales, persuaded Scott to designate Cardiff the home port of his ship, the Terra Nova. He sent the Terra Nova to load fuel in Cardiff rather than have it sent by rail to London.

The Crown Patent Fuel works were situated alongside the Glamorganshire Canal at Maendy. The works was one of a number along the canal and, together with a number of works at other south Wales ports, made the region the largest producer of patent fuel in the world. Most of the patent fuel was exported, with France being a major customer.

Scott commends Welsh coal

The fuel was made by mixing and heating waste small coal with pitch, the residue from distilled coal tar, and ramming the mixture into moulds. Various size blocks were produced, ranging from 7lbs to 56 lbs, with 28lbs being the most common — and the size taken on Scott's expedition. The blocks stacked well and took up less space than coal.

When the expedition reached their base at Cape Evans on Ross Island in Antarctica, the fuel blocks were used to build a back wall to the stables for the expedition ponies.

Earlier expeditions

In 1901 the Discovery, Captain Scott's first Antarctic expedition ship, took on 200 tons of Patent Fuel in Cardiff. The Aurora, the ship of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition (1911-14), was also in Cardiff taking on Crown Patent Fuel on 4 August 1911 before sailing for Australia and Antarctica.