Frederick Pryce Evans was born in Newtown, Wales on 15 April 1874. He was apprenticed into the Merchant Navy when he was eighteen. He was serving on the New Zealand coastal run with the Union Steam Ship Company, Dunedin, when he was approached to command the Koonya on the British Antarctic Expedition, 1907-1909 (leader Ernest Henry Shackleton). In January 1908, Koonya towed Nimrod 2700 kilometres from Lyttelton to the ice edge in order to conserve the expedition's supply of coal. On the return voyage during 1908-1909, Evans was captain of the Nimrod . He was awarded the Polar Medal for his part in the expedition.
During the First World War he commanded numerous troop ship voyages to Europe. He subsequently qualified as a lawyer and retired from the sea to Sydney where he specialized in marine law until aged 76. He died in 1959.
From the guide to the Frederick Pryce Evans collection, 1907-1909, (Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge)
