Comet Scout No. 6

OUTSTANDING!!!!

 

Lovely outfit.

John

 

Absolutely Amazing!
Thank you for posting.
Best Regards,
Kerophile.

 

Love how it breaks down and and packs away. Never seen one like that.
Ivan

 

@dutchstovecollectors

That is a very interesting stove, and having the parts list is great.

One thing that struck me was that the triangular stand for the burner wouldn't work as a windshield - the primer tray and burner sit above it.

Are you going to fire it?

Cheers

Tony

 

I think the triangular and the burner image is a bit distorted in the picture.
The burner is a little bit below the triangular.
I have never burned the stove, but if I do, I will send a photo in CCS.
Thank you for your reply.

Cheers,

Jan

 

What a great stove ! I have never seen one.

Cheers
Rob

 

Beautiful unit.
If I'm not mistaken this was the kind of stove used on Sir Ernest Shackleton's 1914-17 Antarctic expedition, although camp stoves were usually refered to as 'the Primus' regardless of maker in the text of his book "South.'' The stove he took along on the 800 mile, 6-man, sea run in the lifeboat, ''James Caird'' from Elephant Island to South Georgia Island to effect rescue of the main party, was a Comet #5 Scout. It was the personal property of Crean, the navigator. When trekking across the glacier on S. Georgia Island, they would dig down 2' in the snow, and the other party members [besides the cook in the pit] would recline around the hole, using their bodies as a windbreak, dipping their spoons into the pot of hot steaming hoosh. It was abandoned when they ran out of fuel, as weight was critical. Although Sir Ernest did state the Adze [ice ax?], Log and ''cooker'' were all they saved of tangible effects, except for their ''wet clothes, that we brought out of the Antarctic, which we had entered a year and a half before with well-found ship, full equipment and high hopes. ''
Wonder what he meant by 'cooker' and where it went?

 

https://classiccampstoves.com/threads/f-a-worsley-shackletons-boat-journey.6356/

https://classiccampstoves.com/threads/hugo-möller.10/#post-10

https://classiccampstoves.com/threads/how-widely-used-were-brass-stoves-in-europe.32671/

Best Regards,
Kerophile.

 

This subject has been discussed before on CCS -- actually, if you go to the Original Forum and search for "Shackleton", you will find several discussions. The Comet stove was the personal property of Harry McNish (the carpenter), who was also on the open boat voyage to South Georgia. There was also at least one primus-type stove on the Caird. This was tentatively identified from a photo in one of the earlier posts as a B.A. Hjorth Primus #5. This Primus was taken on the trek across the island by Shackleton, Worsley, and Crean, and abandoned at the final camp.

....Arch

 

As I recall, seeing some of those threads drove me onto the frozen fjords of the local used book store where I was compelled to buy a paperback copy of ''South''.
A good read one hundered years later [or so].
I apologize for any factual errors. It was McNish's Comet. Crean was cooking.
Also it was a 'carpenter's adze', not a specialized ice axe.

 

Memory can be a capricious cuss -- even over just a few years.

I was thinking this evening that I had once located one of the stoves from Shackleton's expedition in some museum in the UK, but they had wanted some exorbitant fee for a photo. I finally tracked the original post down (August 15, 2003). It was the memory of Adi Brook's outraged reply, "50 QUID???" that gave me something to search for. But it was apparently a stove from Scott's expedition rather than Shackleton's. Here's the link from the Original Forum.

Lots of good stuff in the Original Forum. And yeah, "South" is a very good read. And I've been on the lookout for a Comet Scout for years. The one in this post is a beauty.

....Arch

 

For 50 Quid I'd expect to take home a working stove itself, not a pic of one!
So Shackleton's Comet Scout has achieved El Dorado status -- an unattainable object of legend that is the center of quests.
Like the Borde Bomb and the Optimus #9, it occupies a loftier plane of existence, one beyond the grasp of mere mortals.
On that note, what kind of stove did Adm. Byrd nearly asphyxiate himself with, when he had those long solo watches?

 

Dear collectors,

To my surprise I have made a lot of reaction with my Comet photos.
I wanted to comment on SveaSizzler's message, but ArchMc was for me.
Indeed, it was not Tom Crean, but Harry McNish who owned the two stoves Comet for my information. As far as I know, one Comet has left behind the 3 men, McNish, Vincent and MacCarthy. This Comet stove has been preserved and is now located in the Canterbury Museum Museum in Christchurch, http://www.canterburymuseum.com/ New Zealand. I have got a picture of this Comet and got permission to show them.




For years I am a huge admirer of Sir Ernest Shackleton. Not only for his research and expeditions, in my opinion, Roland Amundsen is the biggest explorer ever, but for his leadership and responsible feeling. Through his courage he has always expressed courage and hope for all his men in a very difficult time and later never gave up the courage to save all his men.
I find it special to have a stove with so much history.
For the interested, I recently purchased the two parts "The Heart of the Antarctic" first edition in my books collection, his first expedition under his command and also the beautiful book "South with Endurance" the photographs of Frank Hurley.
The foto in subscriber the "Endurance" when she left England on August 8th 1914 through Madeira and Montevideo to Buenos Aires.

Cheers to all,

Jan

 

Shackleton lived in Sydenham, South London, as a child.

Aberdeen House (renamed St David's in more recent times) on Westwood Hill, London




... complete with Blue Plaque




French impressionist Camille Pissarro, working in London in the 1870's had painted the view from the road opposite, Lawrie Park Avenue, with St Bartholomew's Church as the distant focal point. Shackleton's future home (his doctor father hadn't moved his family into the house at the time of Pissarro's painting) is visible immediately to the left of the church, which is still standing today. The trees in the avenue and on Westwood Hill have matured somewhat in the intervening years

 

LINK to English Heritage site on the blue plaque.

 

Superb outfit and very unique, i love the way it breaks down and folds away

 

my dream stove

 

Well, I tend to agree that this Comet was on the Caird, but a bit of doubt was cast on this assertion by one of the posters in the "discussed before" post I cited previously. Skip to the final entry, by Robert Burton, who claimed to be a "former Director of the South Georgia Whaling Museum". It is unfortunate that his offer to correspond on the subject was apparently not pursued.

Shackleton and McNish reportedly did not like each other. McNish was a bit of an outsider on the expedition and apparently never forgave Shackleton for ordering his cat killed after Endurance broke up. Shackleton included McNish's name on a list of only four men on the entire expedition who were NOT recommended to receive the Polar Medal -- even though McNish was instrumental in keeping Endurance afloat until it was crushed and for outfitting the Caird for its voyage to South Georgia, not to mention being one of the men who sailed on Caird.

....Arch