Evans, Edward, 1st Baron Mountavans

Edward Evans (for Teddy’s family and friends) was born in London on October 28, 1880. He was the second of three sons of wealthy lawyer Frank Evans and his wife Eliza (nee McNulty). Despite being from a prosperous family, Edward was a troubled child as a child. At the age of nine, he and his brothers often wandered around in the East End of London and even once was detained by police for theft ^[1] .

In 1890, his parents identified Teddy with his older brother Joe to the , from which a year later he was expelled for fights and absenteeism. After that, he studied at a school in Croydon , where “difficult boys” were sent to study, and even later at a school in , where he also had problems with discipline, but he gradually became involved in school and graduated from high school. 14 years with excellent results ^[1] .

Edward Evans really wanted to become a sailor, and while still at school he tried unsuccessfully to enroll as a cadet on the training ship of the Royal Navy "Britain" . By the will of his father, in January 1895, Evans began training at the Thames Nautical Training College at the HMS Worcester training vessel, which trained mainly future merchant marine officers. Evans was also known as a notorious hooligan, but by the middle of the second year he had settled down and even earned a reputation as a capable and diligent, albeit unruly student. The culmination of his efforts in studies was the direction for further service in the Royal Navy ^[1] .

At the beginning of 1897, Evans with the rank of midshipman was assigned to the armored cruiser Hawke , based in the Mediterranean Sea , during which he established himself as an executive and seasoned sailor. In August, Evans became seriously ill with brucellosis by drinking contaminated milk and was sent home for three months for treatment. During recovery from illness, Evans began to play sports intensely, spending hours swimming in the sea and taking many kilometers of walks. This passion for sports did not subside in him even decades later. Upon his return to service, he was assigned to the squadron battleship , and then to the sloop HMS Dolphin , during which he passed exams and received the first officer rank of sub-lieutenant . From 1900 to 1902, Evans studied at the . Studies were briefly interrupted by assignment to the squadron battleship , who was also served by Lieutenant Robert Falcon Scott ^{[1] [2]} .

1901-1904

In early 1902, Evans was seconded from the fleet and was appointed second assistant captain of the whaling schooner SY Morning ("Moning") - an auxiliary vessel of the first Antarctic expedition Robert Scott, in addition, carrying out his own scientific program ^[3] . “Moning” left London in July 1902 with a cargo of additional equipment, food, etc., and in December reached Ross Island , on which Scott's expedition base was organized on the Hut Point Peninsula . On March 2, 1903, the ship left Antarctica, taking several expedition members, including Ernest Shackleton , who was seriously ill with scurvy after going to the South Pole with Scott and Edward Wilson ^[4] .

Upon returning to New Zealand, Evans was temporarily seconded to while Moning was being repaired. In November 1903, the Moning and another Terra Nova auxiliary vessel sailed again to the Antarctic, and in January 1904 they reached the Ross Island. Scott Discovery expeditionary vessel was still in ice captivity (due to the unknown ice situation in the McMurdo Strait, the vessel was moored at Hat Point and froze into ice in early 1902). In order to release him, it was decided to use explosives to break through the canal through an eight-mile ice field. Evans was appointed senior blasting officer. On February 16, 1904, the Discovery managed to free itself, and on the same day the expedition left Antarctica ^[5] . In recognition of Edward Evans' contribution to the expedition, Scott named the mountain ^{[6] [7] by} his name.

1910-1913

In 1910, Lieutenant Edward Evans joined the new British Antarctic expedition under the leadership of Robert Scott and was appointed his deputy - captain of the expedition ship Terra Nova . The purpose of the expedition, in addition to carrying out an extensive scientific program, was to conquer the South Pole. In the process of preparing the expedition, Evans was engaged in solving most of the economic issues related to equipping and preparing the ship for a long voyage, and selecting its crew. Scott was responsible mainly for the scientific program of the expedition, as well as for questions of its financing ^[9] .

June 1, 1910 "Terra Nova" left the West Indies docks in London and after a long voyage (with the call to Cardiff and New Zealand) on January 4, 1911 reached the McMurdo Strait. As the main base for the expedition, Scott selected a cape on Ross Island 15 miles north of the Hat Point Peninsula - the location of the base of his previous expedition. This place was called "Cape Evans " ^[10] .

Edward Evans, by decision of Scott, became a member of the coastal party, and further command of the ship was entrusted to Lieutenant Harry Pennel. In January-March 1911, Evans took part in a campaign to lay the first intermediate warehouse with food and fuel for the upcoming trip to the pole (One ton warehouse - 79 ° 29 'south latitude, about 200 km from Hat Point). March 16, he led a short trip to replenish supplies in the so-called "Corner Camp" (about 50 km from Hat Point) ^[11] .

After wintering at Cape Evans, Scott began preparations for a trip to the South Pole. The party led by Evans (which included minder Bernard Day, fireman and steward F. Hooper) was tasked with delivering expeditionary cargo in snowmobiles to a warehouse at 80 degrees south latitude. The party performed on October 24, but by November 1 the snowmobile (which Scott hadn’t hoped for) had broken, and Evans had to drag the sled with cargo at the expense of its own forces. On November 15, the Evans batch reached 80 ° 32 'south latitude, where the Upper Barrier Warehouse was laid ^[12] . After that, Evans and Lashley continued the campaign as part of Scott's auxiliary parties and accompanied him until latitude 87 ° 32 'until January 4, 1912, after which Scott ordered them and Tom Creene to return.

The return journey was very difficult and almost cost Evans life. Already at the beginning of the journey, he and Krin suffered greatly from snow blindness ^[14] , and by January 22, Evans began to complain of increasing pain in his legs. Lashley diagnosed him with an early stage of scurvy . From January 27, in addition to general weakness, Evans began to suffer from pain in the stomach, and by February 1 (exactly on the 100th day of the campaign) he had finally weakened and could no longer pull the sled ^[15] . Beginning February 9th, Evans could barely move on his own, and on February 13th (about 90 miles from the winter hut at Hat Point) he ordered him to be abandoned, to which Lashley and Creene refused categorically. As Evans later recalled, it was “my first and last order as a fleet officer, which was not executed” ^[16] . On February 13, Lashley and Creen had driven Evans on a sleigh.

On February 18, just before they reached the Corner Camp, they set up a camp in which Evans and Lashley looked after him, and Tom Kreen went lightly to Cape Hat Point for help. He walked more than 45 kilometers in 18 hours and called for help to the dying Evans (for this feat he was later awarded the Albert Medal ). On February 22, Edward Evans was safely delivered to the hut at Cape Hat Point ^[18] , and then evacuated to New Zealand on the Terra Nova. Evans was bedridden until April 1912. ^[16]

From New Zealand, Evans returned to England, where he spent the summer of 1912, recovering from illness after a disease. He was honored with a meeting with King George V , who awarded him the rank of commander . In the fall, Evans again took command of the Terra Nova and set off for Antarctica. The ship reached the McMurdo Strait on January 18, 1913 - on the anniversary of Scott reaching the South Pole, then Evans learned about his fate. He assumed the leadership of the expedition and organized its return ^[19] .

In 1921, Evans’s book, South with Scott , was published, and in 1944, the book British Polar explorers was published.

Evans in charge of the ship <...> did a lot to unite the raw material into a core, able to withstand without friction the hardships of almost three years in a narrow society isolated from the rest of the world.

- Epsley Cherry Garrard ^[20]

World War I

Upon returning from Antarctica in 1914, Edward Evans took command of the destroyer , who was part of the 6th English Flotilla ( Dover Patrol ), on which he served off the coast of Belgium . Since 1915, he commanded the destroyer , and in 1917 took command of the ^[2] .

On the night of April 20, 1917, HMS Broke and HMS Swift , patrolling the Dover Strait at the bank of Goodwin's shallow , were attacked by six German destroyers . HMS Swift torpedoed , after which the latter sank, and HMS Broke Evans rammed , as a result of which the ships came together and a hand-to-hand combat began. After HMS Broke managed to free, SMS G42 sank with the whole team (36 people). After the battle, the remaining German ships turned back, and the badly damaged Broke was towed to the port ^[21] . For this fight, Evans was promoted to captain , awarded the order, and in the British press became known as “Evans from the Brock” ( English Evans of the Broke ) ^[22] . In 1920, Evans published the book “Watching the Seas” about his service in the Dover Patrol ^{[23] [24]} .

Subsequent years of service

In 1921, Evans was sent to the Chinese station in Southeast Asia to command the light cruiser . On the night of March 3, 1921, the Singapore passenger ship SS Hong Moh with 48 crew members and 1,135 passengers on board, heading to Xiamen , in conditions of stormy weather and poor visibility, it flew into pitfalls and broke in half on the night of March 4. From March 6 to 8, Evans at HMS Carlisle commanded a rescue operation. It was possible to save more than two hundred people, about a thousand died (the exact data on the number of dead and saved are different) ^{[25] [26] [27]} .

From 1923 to 1926, Evans commanded the HMS Harebell patrol vessel as part of the Fish Guard , and from 1926 to 1927, the battle cruiser HMS Repulse (Atlantic Fleet). In February 1928, he was awarded the rank of rear admiral and he was appointed commander of the Australian squadron . In November 1932, promoted to vice admiral . From 1933 to 1935 he headed the (an independent overseas unit of the Royal Navy in African waters) (at HMS Dorsetshire , later at HMS Carlisle ). From 1935 to 1939 he was the commander in Nora aboard the HMS Pembroke (the commander in this position was responsible for protecting the port of London entrance and merchant shipping along the east coast of Great Britain). July 12, 1936 Edward Evans was awarded the title of Admiral ^[2] .

In 1940, Evans took part in the Norwegian campaign . He retired on January 9, 1941 ^[28] .

Edward Evans was married twice. His first wife was Hilda Beatrice Ruffle Russell. The wedding took place on May 13, 1904. Returning to England from New Zealand with her husband after his expedition to the Antarctic, on April 18, 1913, Hilda died on board the passenger ship SS Otranto from acute peritonitis ^[29] . The second time Evans married in 1916 the Norwegian Elsa Andvord ( born Elsa Andvord ). They had two sons: Richard Evans, the future 2nd Baron Mountavans (1918) and Edward Evans (1924) ^[30] .

From 1936 to 1942, Evans was the rector of the University of Aberdeen ^[31] . After leaving military service and until the end of World War II, he served in London as Commissioner for Civil Defense ^[2] . November 12, 1945 was peered as the 1st Baron Mountavans from Chelsea ^[32] .

In 1946, his book Adventurous Life was published, in 1950 The desolate Antarctic , in 1953 Arctic Desert ( Arctic solitudes ) ^[2] .

In 1947, Evans led a committee that formalized the rules of wrestling in the UK. These rules became known as “the ” ^[33] .

Lord Mountavans died on August 20, 1957 in Norway . There are no details about the last years of his life ^[2] .

For many years of impeccable military service, as well as for his contribution to polar research, Edward Evans was awarded honorary titles and awards:

• Order of the Bath (cavalier - 1913, cavalier - 1932, knight 1935);
• Polar Medal - 1904 ^[5] , 1913;
• - 1905 ( Italy );
• Order of the Legion of Honor - 1917 ( France );
• Order of Outstanding Merit - 1917;
• Order of Leopold I - 1917 ( Belgium );
• Military Cross - 1917 (France);
• Naval Cross - 1919 ( USA );
• Order of the Tower and Sword - 1919 ( Portugal );
• - 1919 (Belgium);
• Order of the Crown - 1921 (Belgium);
• - 1921;
• Order of St. John - 1937;
• Order of St. Olav - 1939 (Norway).

He was an honorary citizen of Calgary (1914), Dover (1938), Chatham (1939), City of London (1945), Chelsea (1945). For his contribution to the expedition of Scott, in addition to the polar medal, he was awarded the awards of Hungary , the Belgian Royal Geographical Society, the geographical societies of Marseille , Rouen and Newcastle . He was an honorary member of many geographical societies, (LLD) of the University of Aberdeen ^[2] .

• Reginald Pound. Evans of the Broke: a biography of Admiral Lord Mountevans KCB, DSO, LLD. - London: Oxford University Press, 1963.
• Cherry-Garrard E. The most terrible trip / V.S. Koryakin. - L., Gidrometeoizdat, 1991 .-- 552 p. - ISBN 5-286-00326-5 .
• William Stewart. Admirals of the World: A Biographical Dictionary. - McFarland, 2009 .-- S. 116-117. - 341 p. - ISBN 978-0786438099 .

• Hans Houterman & Jeroen Koppes. Royal Navy (RN) Officers 1939-1945 (neopr.) . World War II unit histories. Date accessed April 9, 2015. Edward Evans' most comprehensive track record