Scott Polar Research Institute
Alias: None
Title: Mr
Rank: Second officer (Merchant Navy)
Dates: 1877-1910
Nationality: British, New Zealand
Awards: None
Nodder was born in January 1877 in Cornwall, the third son of Richard Nodder and Mary Jane Catherine Webb. He attended Torpoint Wesleyan School, and from there went straight into the Navy, which took him to New Zealand where he decided to settle.
He joined the British Antarctic Expedition 1907-09 (Nimrod) at the age of 30 as an able-bodied seaman, signing on in Lyttelton on 30 November 1908. He had a deep interest in the Antarctic environment, and worked with James Murray, the expedition biologist, and also helped the geologists, Priestley and Brocklehurst.
On returning from the Antarctic, Nodder took a very sudden promotion as Second Officer in the Merchant Navy. He applied to join the British Antarctic Expedition 1910-13 (Terra Nova), led by Robert Falcon Scott, but failed on medical grounds. Nodder died from pneumonia on 25 August 1910 at the age of 33.