Harry Kirkwood

Who is Harry Kirkwood?

Captain Harry Kirkwood OBE, DSC, RN was one of the most experienced British Ice Captains. He was "loaned" from the Royal Navy to command the HMNZS Endeavour on the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition.

Kirkwood served on the Royal Research Ship Discovery II for six years before World War II, twice circumnavigating the Antarctic Continent. He was with the rescue party which found Lincoln Ellsworth and Herbert Hollick-Kenyon when they crashed on a flight in Antarctica. He was Captain of HMNZS Endeavour, an Antarctic Research support vessel, both as the HMNZS Endeavour and when, as the John Biscoe, the ship belonged to the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey.

Under the leadership of Edmund Hillary, Kirkwood landed the New Zealand section of the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition along with the material needed to construct Scott Base. Hillary said of him "'In the beginning he looked upon us young upstarts, in the Antarctic as promising boys. I hope he believes we have learned a bit since". Reports indicate that the Expedition members found Kirkwood a difficult man to deal with. There were arguments between Captain Kirkwood and the crew, including Sir Edmund Hillary, on the crossing to Ross Island. Fuchs and others have claimed that Kirkwood was nicknamed by those on the Expedition "Harry Plywood". The nickname seems to stem from an altercation with the crew on the voyage out from England, when most of the sledging ration boxes were badly damaged by seawater from the hold. When Captain Kirkwood was challenged about this he replied "What do you expect? They're only made of plywood!" From which point on, he was known as Our Captain Plywood