The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Remembering Dundee polar explorer and his final voyage
Thomas Fenton had taken part in many expeditions to the Arctic before fateful sailing in 1881
He was the polar explorer from Dundee who survived a treacherous Arctic expedition only to die of a lip ulcer.
Thomas Fenton was second officer on Benjamin Leigh Smith’s vessel Eira, which set out in April 1881 and included 25 crew, a cat, a canary and Bob the dog.
The vessel was a wooden-hulled icebreaker, an elegant steam yacht with a 50-horse power engine, built to Leigh Smith’s specifications at Peterhead, from where it sailed to the Arctic.
Smith had already made a journey to the Arctic the previous year, where a remarkable photograph recorded a meeting at sea with another ship from Peterhead, which included Arthur Conan Doyle.
Conan Doyle was the ship’s surgeon on the Hope, which was seven years before he earned immortality by writing A Study In Scarlet and bringing Sherlock Holmes into the public gaze.
Fenton joined the Eira in 1881 with a lip injury after smoking a new pipe during a sealing expedition in the spring.
His lip being subsequently frostbitten gave rise to an ulcer.
He was a great favourite with the crew and his experience of voyaging in the Arctic was considerable.
The Eira was crushed between two ice floes and sank off the Russian Franz Josef Land archipelago, north of Siberia, in August 1881.
The leak gained so rapidly that in two hours after it was discovered it was necessary to abandon the ship.
A tent was first erected on the ice before a house was subsequently built.
Fenton’s lip ulcer by now had increased in size during the last two or three months.
The detrimental effect on Fenton’s general health became apparent after the crew built a shelter – called Flora’s Cottage – made from driftwood, rocks and ship masts.
They survived for 10 months, living off provisions salvaged from the ship and hunting walrus and polar bears.
Leigh Smith then led a voyage of escape to Novaya Zemlya in June 1882 in four lifeboats with sails made from salvaged tablecloths.
Leigh Smith, commander of the Eira expedition, would later give this explanation.
He said: “On the 21st the Eira got nipped between the land floe and the pack ice, a mile east of Cape Flora, and sank before we were able to save much of the stores.
“We built a hut on Cape Flora of turf and stones, and covered it with sails.
“We wintered there and during the whole time no sign of scurvy appeared.
“Twenty-nine walrus and 36 bears were killed and eaten.
“We left Cape Flora on June 21 1882 in four boats, and sailed 80 miles without seeing any ice.”
The Hope, with a new crew, was one of the vessels that rescued them in August 1882.
Every man survived but Fenton was exceedingly ill and could not take part in active labour.
The ship’s surgeon offered to cut out the ulcer but Fenton would not consent to the operation taking place.
Fenton rapidly grew worse when the party were brought back to Aberdeen by the Hope.
He was struggling to walk and was taken to Aberdeen Infirmary where he died on August 24.
He was survived by a wife and a child. He was only 44.
Fenton’s story was discovered after Dundee actor Gordon Morris stumbled upon his gravestone in Dundee’s Eastern Cemetery.
Gordon, from Douglas, stars in the supernatural drama The Terror, which is based on the lost expedition of Arctic explorer John Franklin.
The expedition involves two ships, HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, which become trapped in ice and were lost to the harsh Arctic cold in the mid-1800s.
Gordon plays John Weekes, a carpenter on board HMS Erebus, and features alongside Mad Men actor Jared Harris and Game of Thrones star Tobias Menzies.
Appearing in the 10-part thriller was Gordon’s biggest role to date after previously featuring in Taggart, Bob Servant, Armchair Detectives and Schemers.
“I was actually having a walk around the cemetery as part of my daily hourlong outdoor exercise when I spotted the ship’s carving on the headstone, which initially drew me towards it,” he said.
“When I read the inscription I was absolutely amazed to see Thomas Fenton had been an Arctic explorer from Dundee.
“I’m really interested in anything to do with Arctic exploration since my wee stint on HMS Erebus playing the ship’s carpenter for The Terror, so it was wonderful to find out Thomas’s story and to know he was such a wellrespected man.
“I think his story definitely needs to be told.
“I’ve walked through that cemetery hundreds of times and never spotted his grave before.
“I have nothing but respect for all of those explorers who risked their lives and lost their lives broadening our knowledge of the planet.
“I do think there is something almost karmic in a Dundee man who plays an Arctic explorer discovering a Dundee man who was an Arctic explorer.
“And yes I am definitely up for playing him in a film. If the screenplay ever gets written I’ll get it sent off to my agent!”
Fenton’s headstone was erected by Leigh Smith “as a mark of respect”.