Palmerston North Electric Power Station Inc.

British Polar engines in Ships

For many years a myth existed that the two British Polar engines at the Palmerston North facility had previously powered a submarine - perhaps even an enemy submarine??. This is incorrect as, amongst other obvious points,  they were purchased new - and were ordered in 1935!. The engine-type certainly came in both the K48M stationary engine version such as ours, and also the M48M marine engine version that was used in small ships such as the two featured below. However, the M48M engine was not a K48M adapted for marine use.

These photos and their captions are from the British Diesel Engine Catalogue (4th edition), that was published for the British Internal Combustion Engine Manufacturers' Assn. in 1957.

"M.V. Theron, propelled by an M48M direct reversing British Polar engine rated to develop 1,520 bhp at 300 rpm. She is seen here beset  in pressure ice in the Weddell Sea on January 1, 1956. Latitude 69º South, 25º West approximately. Photograph taken at 9:30 pm." 

At the time, this ship had been taking part in the British Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition, led by Sir Vivian Fuchs. It had departed London for Antarctica on 14 November 1955. Despite the mishap in the ice, the expedition culminated on 4 January 1958, with Sir Edmund Hillary's party reaching the South Pole by tractor.

The book, The Crossing of Antarctica: The Commonwealth Trans-Atlantic Expedition 1955-58 (1959), written by Sir Edmund Hillary and Sir Vivian Fuchs. The Introduction on the dust jacket states that the book contains "the full story told by the leader of the Commonwealth Trans Antarctic Expedition and by Sir Edmund Hillary, leader of the New Zealand support party. Beginning with the landing of the advance party in November 1955 to establish a base on the Weddell Sea when, like Shackleton, Fuchs found his ship (i.e. the Theron) trapped by ice, it tells the story of the two years of preparation and reconnaissance that led up to the final attempt. It includes the daring crossing by air in a single engined aeroplane, and the subsidiary expeditions made, during the crossing, into the mountain ranges that rear above the surface of the ice. But, above all, it is a thrilling story of men who set out into the vast loneliness of the unknown to discover what lay on and below a continent no one had ever traversed before and, in so doing, accomplished a feat of courage and endurance that will become a legend for succeeding generations.

(Additional Sources: Various non-specific websites from a keyword search)

"M.V. Sugar Importer, built by Hall Russell & Co. Ltd., Aberdeen, for Silvertown Services, London, and propelled by twin British Polar M48M engines developing 3,000 bhp, at 300 rpm. operating through a single-screw reducing gear."

Last Updated: 1 April 2001