[2] Educated at Hull Grammar School, Colbeck served a merchant navy apprenticeship on the Loch Torridon between 1886 and 1890 and completed a six-month course in navigation before going to sea.

[3] He joined the firm of Tomas Wilson, Sons and Co, Ltd., of Hull and served on RMS Montebello as the second mate under Captain Pepper.

[4] After returning to Britain in 1900, Colbeck was soon going southward again, this time in command of the relief ship Morning, sent to resupply Robert Falcon Scott's Discovery, then trapped in the ice at McMurdo Sound in the Antarctic.

One of these, William Robinson Colbeck, joined the British Australia and New Zealand Antarctic expeditions of 1929–1931 as second officer and navigator in the old Discovery.

William Colbeck's first sledge flag as magnetic observer of the Southern Cross Expedition has been lent to the National Maritime Museum by his family.

It is actually the burgee of the Pirate Yacht Club, Bridlington, made of machine‑sewn wool bunting, printed with a skull and cross bones.