The first stop on the cruise we took last year was … Dundee! It’s only about twenty-five miles or so away from Son of the Rock Acres but it cost £200 less, each, for us to board at Newcastle rather than embark a day later at Dundee. No brainer.

The ship’s docking point in Scotland’s fourth city did give me a view of the Tay Bridge I hadn’t had before, though.

To the extreme right of the above photo is the new V&A Dundee, better seen in the photo below with RSS Discovery and Discovery Point beyond V&A:-

Wandering round the city centre I came across these stone penguins having a wee daunder:-

Nearby was this plaque commemorating the 70th anniversary of the end of the Great War. “Dedicated to the glory of god and to those men and women who in all corners of the world gave their lives in service of our beloved country. We Will Remember Them, 11th November 1989.”

The Discovery’s crew even had their own newspaper to keep their spirits up. A bound version is in the Discovery Point Museum:-

As is the ships’s harmonium – also good for keeping up morale I should think. It’s behind glass so difficult to photograph. Its cast iron pedals say “mouse-proof” on them.

Brass struts:-

Salt boxes. The salt absorbed any water that entered between the inner and outer hull and between the frames, so helping preserve the timber:-

Panting beams plaque. These beams go from one side of the ship to the other, preventing the ship’s hull from flexing when under way and helped in resisting crushing by the ice:-