Harry Pennell

Who was Harry Pennell?

Commander Harry Lewin Lee Pennell was a Royal Navy officer who served on the Terra Nova Expedition. He was responsible for the first sighting of Oates Coast on 22 February 1911, and named it after Captain Lawrence Oates. He only spent short periods in Antarctica, returning with the Terra Nova to wait out the winters of 1911 and 1912 in Lyttelton, New Zealand, and bringing fresh supplies back to Antarctica with each voyage. Pennell was promoted to Commander and assigned to HMS Queen Mary in the summer of 1914, and died 31 May 1916 in the Battle of Jutland, when the ship was sunk by the German ships SMS Seydlitz and SMS Derfflinger.

The Pennell Coast of Victoria Land, Antarctica, is named after him.