Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
The Society's president, Sir Clements Markham, was a major sponsor. Scott and his party
reached the South Pole on 17 January 1912, but discovered that the rival expedition led by
Roald Amundsen had triumphed some 33 days earlier. Scott confided to his diary that, 'The
Pole. Yes, but under very different circumstq">C6toances from those expected … Great
God! This is an awful place and terrible enough for us to have laboured to it without the
reward of priority.'
On their return journey, despite initially enjoying reasonable weather and decent progress,
the five-strong party encountered difficulties, including physical disintegration due to
frostbite and malnutrition. Assailed by ferociously cold weather, sledging became akin to
'pulling over desert sand'. With shortages of food and fuel, one member of the party,
Captain Lawrence 'Titus' Oates, sacrificed himself for the sake of the remaining three, after
the early death of Evans. The final three, Scott, Wilson, and Bowers, trudged on and made it
to 11 miles short of their main depot before a blizzard prevented further progress. Their
bodies, journals, and other items, including rock specimens, were discovered some eight
months later.
Scott's diary dated 29 March 1912
Every day we have been ready to start for our depot
11 miles
away, but outside the door of
the tent it remains a scene of whirling drift. I do not think we can hope for any better things
now. We shall stick it out to the end, but we are getting weaker, of course, and the end
cannot be far. It seems a pity but I do not think I can write more. R. Scott. For God's sake
look after our people.
As every British school child knows, or certainly did when I was growing up in the 1970s,
the final Scott expedition, while tragic, was also truly heroic. Whereas the Norwegians,
familiar with the demands of the high latitudes, used dogs and seasoned Arctic clothing,
Scott stood accused by his critics, some time after his untimely demise, of being too rooted
in inappropriate strategies such as man-hauling and a commitment to scientific
investigation. Damningly, for some at least, his party even at their darkest hour never
jettisoned their interest in scientific investigation. Antarctic science, while in its infancy,
was a powerful spur to further exploration, and Scott's party were interested in terrestrial
magnetism, oceanography, geology, and palaeontology. Other members of Scott's
expedition made extensive journeys for geological and ornithological purposes, one party
enduring -70°C for the sake of collecting geological specimens and/or retrieving Emperor
Penguin eggs. While an egg hunt may sound absurd, given it was not Easter and they were
