Robertson, Thomas H. (Thomas Herbert)

Epithet: of Add MS 38311

British Library Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue : Person : Description : ark:/81055/vdc_100000001302.0x0000b5

Epithet: of Add MS 36154

British Library Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue : Person : Description : ark:/81055/vdc_100000001302.0x0000b4

Epithet: Subject of Mss Eur F111-112

British Library Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue : Person : Description : ark:/81055/vdc_100000001440.0x000345

Epithet: of Add MS 15932

British Library Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue : Person : Description : ark:/81055/vdc_100000001302.0x0000b3

Thomas Robertson was born in Peterhead, Scotland in 1855. He was apprenticed to the Merchant Navy and travelled to Australia and China, before becoming more interested in whaling. At the age of twenty-four, he was appointed master of the Polar Star, in which he made several voyages to the East Greenland and the Davis Straits seal and whale fisheries. Robertson joined the British Whaling Exploration (Dundee), 1892-1893, as captain of the Active one of the expedition ships. The expedition was organized to investigate the commercial possibilities of whaling in the Antarctic, although none of the right whales were successfully caught. In 1897, as captain of Balaena he visited Franz Josef Land, where William Speirs Bruce was a member of the Jackson-Harmsworth Expedition, 1894-1897 (leader Frederick George Jackson).

He joined the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition, 1902-1904 (leader William Speirs Bruce) as captain of the expedition ship Scotia . Although the ship was twice beset by ice in the Weddell Sea during this expedition, Robertson's experience in ice fields enabled him to successfully extricate the ship.

After the expedition, Robertson contributed several logs dealing with Arctic weather conditions to the Meteorological Office and ice reports to the Danish Hydrographic Department. He was awarded the silver medal, commissioned by Bruce, for his services to geographical exploration. He died in Dundee, Scotland, on 14 December 1918.

From the guide to the Thomas Robertson collection, 1897 - 1913, (Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge)