Most of you, it is believed, will not have realised that two RFA Officers in September 1941 were awarded the Polar Medal in Bronze by His Majesty King George VI for good services between 1925 to 1939 in Antarctica.

During the above period the two officers had been part of various ships companies involved in Antarctic exploration.

The two officers: –

Chief Engineer Andrew Nicol Porteous on HM Ships Discovery and Discovery II

and

Second Engineer (as an Artificer Engineer) Cecil Douglas Buchanan on HM Ships Discovery II and William Scoresby

At the time of the award they were serving on RFA Rapidol. Both officers continued with their careers in the RFA until 1947 when Cecil Buchanan died on RFA Limol while serving as its Chief Engineer. By 1948 Andrew Porteous was a Chief Engineer when he was invalided out of the service – his last appointment had been on RFA Rowanol.

The Polar Medal was instituted in 1857 and while the rules for its award have changed over the years it is currently described as being awarded for extreme human endeavour against appalling weather and conditions that exist in the Artic and Antarctic. The medal used to be awarded in both silver and bronze. The medal in bronze was awarded to the ships crews. To-date only some 800 medals in silver and 245 in Bronze have been awarded. The medal is now only awarded in silver.

Andrew Porteous served as Second Engineer of the Discovery between 1925 and 1927 and as Chief Engineer of the Discovery II between 1929 and 1939. It is believed that Andrews Point at 64º30’48”S 62º55’W – the Northern point of the Parker Peninsula, Andrews Island which was charted by the Discovery in 1927 is named after him.

The image of the Polar Medal to the right of this page is of a Polar Medal in bronze. It is not the medal awarded to either Porteous or Buchanan but to another member of the crew of the ships on which our two officers served.