Captain Robert Falcon Scott, , (6 June 1868 – c. 29 March 1912) was a British
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...
officer and explorer who led two expeditions to the
Antarctic regions: the
''Discovery'' expedition of 1901–1904 and the ill-fated
''Terra Nova'' expedition of 1910–1913. On the first expedition, he set a new southern record by marching to latitude 82°S and discovered the
Antarctic Plateau
The Antarctic Plateau, Polar Plateau or King Haakon VII Plateau is a large area of East Antarctica which extends over a diameter of about , and includes the region of the geographic South Pole and the Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station. This h ...
, on which the South Pole is located. On the second venture, Scott led a party of five which reached the
South Pole
The South Pole, also known as the Geographic South Pole, Terrestrial South Pole or 90th Parallel South, is one of the two points where Earth's axis of rotation intersects its surface. It is the southernmost point on Earth and lies antipod ...
on 17 January 1912, less than five weeks after
Amundsen's South Pole expedition
The first ever expedition to reach the geographic Southern Pole was led by the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen. He and four others arrived at the pole on 14 December 1911, five weeks ahead of a British party led by Robert Falcon Scott as p ...
.
A planned meeting with supporting dog teams from the base camp failed, despite Scott's written instructions, and at a distance of 162 miles (261 km) from their base camp at
Hut Point and approximately 12.5 miles (20 km) from the next depot, Scott and his companions died. When Scott and his party's bodies were discovered, they had in their possession the first Antarctic
fossil
A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...
s ever discovered.
The fossils were determined to be from the ''
Glossopteris
''Glossopteris'' tymology: from Ancient Greek γλῶσσα (glôssa, " tongue ") + πτερίς (pterís, " fern ")is the largest and best-known genus of the extinct Permian order of seed ferns known as Glossopteridales (also known as Arberia ...
'' tree and proved that Antarctica was once forested and joined to other continents.
Before his appointment to lead the ''Discovery'' expedition, Scott had a career as a naval officer in the Royal Navy. In 1899, he had a chance encounter with Sir
Clements Markham
Sir Clements Robert Markham (20 July 1830 – 30 January 1916) was an English geographer, explorer and writer. He was secretary of the Royal Geographical Society (RGS) between 1863 and 1888, and later served as the Society's president for ...
, the president of the
Royal Geographical Society, and thus learned of a planned Antarctic expedition, which he soon volunteered to lead. Having taken this step, his name became inseparably associated with the Antarctic, the field of work to which he remained committed during the final 12 years of his life.
Following the news of his death, Scott became a celebrated hero, a status reflected by memorials erected across the UK. However, in the last decades of the 20th century, questions were raised about his competence and character. Commentators in the 21st century have regarded Scott more positively after assessing the temperature drop below in March 1912, and after re-discovering Scott's written orders of October 1911, in which he had instructed the dog teams to meet and assist him on the return trip.
Early life
Family
![Robert Falcon Scott aged 13](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/be/Robert_Falcon_Scott_aged_13.jpg)
Scott was born on 6 June 1868, the third of six children and elder son of John Edward, a brewer and magistrate, and Hannah (née Cuming) Scott of
Stoke Damerel
Stoke, also referred to by its earlier name of Stoke Damerel, is a parish, that was once part of the historical Devonport, England; this was prior to 1914. In 1914, Devonport and Plymouth amalgamated with Stonehouse: the new town took the nam ...
, near
Devonport. There were also naval and military traditions in the family, Scott's grandfather and four uncles all having served in the army or navy. John Scott's prosperity came from the ownership of a small
Plymouth brewery which he had inherited from his father and subsequently sold. Scott's early childhood years were spent in comfort, but some years later, when he was establishing his naval career, the family suffered serious financial misfortune.
In accordance with the family's tradition, Scott and his younger brother Archie were predestined for careers in the armed services. Scott spent four years at a local day school before being sent to
Stubbington House School
Stubbington House School was founded in 1841 as a boys' preparatory school, originally located in the Hampshire village of Stubbington, around from the Solent. Stubbington House School was known by the sobriquet "the cradle of the Navy". The sc ...
in Hampshire, a
cramming establishment that prepared candidates for the entrance examinations to the naval training ship at
Dartmouth. Having passed these exams Scott began his naval career in 1881, as a 13-year-old cadet.
Early naval career
![Robert Falcon Scott c1900](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/06/Robert_Falcon_Scott_c1900.jpg)
In July 1883, Scott passed out of ''Britannia'' as a midshipman, seventh overall in a class of 26. By October, he was en route to South Africa to join , the flagship of the Cape squadron, the first of several ships on which he served during his midshipman years. While stationed in
St Kitts
Saint Kitts, officially the Saint Christopher Island, is an island in the West Indies. The west side of the island borders the Caribbean Sea, and the eastern coast faces the Atlantic Ocean. Saint Kitts and the neighbouring island of Nevis cons ...
,
West Indies
The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greate ...
, on , he had his first encounter with
Clements Markham
Sir Clements Robert Markham (20 July 1830 – 30 January 1916) was an English geographer, explorer and writer. He was secretary of the Royal Geographical Society (RGS) between 1863 and 1888, and later served as the Society's president for ...
, then Secretary of the Royal Geographical Society, who would loom large in Scott's later career. On this occasion, 1 March 1887, Markham observed Midshipman Scott's cutter winning that morning's race across the bay. Markham's habit was to "collect" likely young naval officers with a view to their undertaking polar exploration work in the future. He was impressed by Scott's intelligence, enthusiasm and charm, and the 18-year-old midshipman was duly noted.
In March 1888 Scott passed his examinations for sub-lieutenant, with four first class certificates out of five. His career progressed smoothly, with service on various ships and promotion to lieutenant in 1889. In 1891, after a long spell in foreign waters, he applied for the two-year torpedo training course on , an important career step. He graduated with first class certificates in both the theory and practical examinations. A small blot occurred in the summer of 1893 when, while commanding a torpedo boat, Scott ran it aground, a mishap which earned him a mild rebuke.
During the research for his dual biography of Scott and Roald Amundsen, polar historian
Roland Huntford
Roland Huntford ( Horwitch;Race To The Pole: Tragedy, Heroism, and Scott's Antarctic Quest, Ranulph Fiennes, Hyperion, 2004, p. 387 born 1927) is an author, principally of biographies of Polar explorers.
Background and education
Huntford, the ...
investigated a possible scandal in Scott's early naval career, related to the period 1889–1890 when Scott was a lieutenant on . According to Huntford, Scott "disappears from naval records" for eight months, from mid-August 1889 until 26 March 1890. Huntford hints at involvement with a married American woman, a cover-up, and protection by senior officers. Biographer David Crane reduces the missing period to eleven weeks, but is unable to clarify further. He rejects the notion of protection by senior officers on the grounds that Scott was not important or well-connected enough to warrant this. Documents that may have offered explanations are missing from Admiralty records.
In 1894, while serving as torpedo officer on the depot ship , Scott learned of the financial calamity that had overtaken his family. John Scott, having sold the brewery and invested the proceeds unwisely, had lost all his capital and was now virtually bankrupt. At the age of 63, and in poor health, he was forced to take a job as a brewery manager and move his family to
Shepton Mallet, Somerset. Three years later, while Robert was serving with the
Channel squadron flagship , John Scott died of heart disease, creating a fresh family crisis. Hannah Scott and her two unmarried daughters now relied entirely on the service pay of Scott and the salary of younger brother Archie, who had left the army for a higher-paid post in the colonial service. Archie's own death in the autumn of 1898, after contracting
typhoid fever
Typhoid fever, also known as typhoid, is a disease caused by '' Salmonella'' serotype Typhi bacteria. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often there is a gradual onset of a high fever over several ...
, meant that the whole financial responsibility for the family rested on Scott.
Promotion, and the extra income this would bring, now became a matter of considerable concern to Scott. In the Royal Navy however, opportunities for career advancement were both limited and keenly sought after by ambitious officers. Early in June 1899, while home on leave, he had a chance encounter in a London street with Clements Markham, who was now knighted and President of the Royal Geographical Society (RGS), and learned for the first time of an impending Antarctic expedition with , under the auspices of the RGS. It was the opportunity for early command and a chance to distinguish himself, rather than any predilection for polar exploration which motivated Scott, according to Crane. What passed between them on this occasion is not recorded, but a few days later, on 11 June, Scott appeared at the Markham residence and volunteered to lead the expedition.
''Discovery'' expedition, 1901–1904
![ATLNZ 11714](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8a/ATLNZ_11714.jpeg)
The British National Antarctic Expedition, later known as the ''Discovery'' Expedition, was a joint enterprise of the RGS and the
Royal Society
The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...
. A long-cherished dream of Markham's, it required all of his skills and cunning to bring the expedition to fruition, under naval command and largely staffed by naval personnel. Scott may not have been Markham's first choice as leader but, having decided on him, the older man remained a constant supporter. There were committee battles over the scope of Scott's responsibilities, with the Royal Society pressing to put a scientist in charge of the expedition's programme while Scott merely commanded the ship. Eventually, however, Markham's view prevailed; Scott was given overall command, and was promoted to the rank of commander before sailed for the Antarctic on 6 August 1901.
King Edward VII
Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910.
The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria a ...
, who showed a keen interest in the expedition, visited the ''Discovery'' the day before the ship left British shores in August 1901, and during the visit appointed Scott a Member Fourth Class of the
Royal Victorian Order
The Royal Victorian Order (french: Ordre royal de Victoria) is a dynastic order of knighthood established in 1896 by Queen Victoria. It recognises distinguished personal service to the British monarch, Canadian monarch, Australian monarch, or ...
, his personal gift.
Experience of Antarctic or Arctic waters was almost entirely lacking within the 50-strong party and there was very little special training in equipment or techniques before the ship set sail. Dogs were taken, as were skis, but the dogs succumbed to disease in the first season. Nevertheless, the dogs' performance impressed Scott, and, despite moral qualms, he implemented the principle of slaughtering dogs for dog food to increase the others' range. During an early attempt at ice travel, a blizzard trapped expedition members in their tent and their decision to leave it resulted in the death of George Vince, who slipped over a precipice on 11 March 1902. The expedition also experienced problems with
scurvy
Scurvy is a disease resulting from a lack of vitamin C (ascorbic acid). Early symptoms of deficiency include weakness, feeling tired and sore arms and legs. Without treatment, decreased red blood cells, gum disease, changes to hair, and bleeding ...
, which affected Scott's domestic reputation.
![Scott hut mcmurdo](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d4/Scott_hut_mcmurdo.jpg)
The expedition had both scientific and exploration objectives; the latter included a long journey south, in the direction of the South Pole. This march, undertaken by Scott,
Ernest Shackleton
Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton (15 February 1874 – 5 January 1922) was an Anglo-Irish Antarctic explorer who led three British expeditions to the Antarctic. He was one of the principal figures of the period known as the Heroic Age of ...
and
Edward Wilson, took them to a latitude of 82°17′S, about 530 miles (853 km) from the pole. A harrowing return journey brought about Shackleton's physical collapse and his early departure from the expedition. The second year showed improvements in technique and achievement, culminating in Scott's western journey which led to the discovery of the
Polar Plateau
The Antarctic Plateau, Polar Plateau or King Haakon VII Plateau is a large area of East Antarctica which extends over a diameter of about , and includes the region of the geographic South Pole and the Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station. This h ...
. This has been described by one writer as "one of the great polar journeys". The scientific results of the expedition included important biological, zoological and geological findings. Some of the meteorological and magnetic readings, however, were later criticised as amateurish and inaccurate.
At the end of the expedition it took the combined efforts of two relief ships and the use of explosives to free ''Discovery'' from the ice. Scott's insistence during the expedition on Royal Navy formalities had made for uneasy relations with the merchant navy contingent, many of whom departed for home with the first relief ship in March 1903. Second-in-command
Albert Armitage, a merchant officer, was offered the chance to go home on compassionate grounds, but interpreted the offer as a personal slight, and refused. Armitage also promoted the idea that the decision to send Shackleton home on the relief ship arose from Scott's animosity rather than Shackleton's physical breakdown. Although there was later tension between Scott and Shackleton, when their polar ambitions directly clashed, mutual civilities were preserved in public; Scott joined in the official receptions that greeted Shackleton on his return in 1909 after the
''Nimrod'' Expedition, and the two exchanged polite letters about their respective ambitions in 1909–1910.
Between expeditions
Popular hero
![Robert Falcon Scott by Daniel Albert Wehrschmidt 1905](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cc/Robert_Falcon_Scott_by_Daniel_Albert_Wehrschmidt_1905.jpg)
''Discovery'' returned to Britain in September 1904. The expedition had caught the public imagination, and Scott became a popular hero. He was awarded a cluster of honours and medals, including many from overseas, and was promoted to the rank of captain. He was invited to
Balmoral Castle, and King
Edward VII
Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910.
The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria and ...
promoted him to Commander of the
Royal Victorian Order
The Royal Victorian Order (french: Ordre royal de Victoria) is a dynastic order of knighthood established in 1896 by Queen Victoria. It recognises distinguished personal service to the British monarch, Canadian monarch, Australian monarch, or ...
.
Scott's next few years were crowded. For more than a year he was occupied with public receptions, lectures and the writing of the expedition record, ''The Voyage of the Discovery''. In January 1906, he resumed his full-time naval career, first as an Assistant Director of
Naval Intelligence
Military intelligence is a military discipline that uses information collection and analysis approaches to provide guidance and direction to assist commanders in their decisions. This aim is achieved by providing an assessment of data from a ...
at the
Admiralty
Admiralty most often refers to:
*Admiralty, Hong Kong
*Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964
*The rank of admiral
*Admiralty law
Admiralty can also refer to:
Buildings
* Admiralty, Traf ...
and, in August, as
flag-captain
In the Royal Navy, a flag captain was the captain of an admiral's flagship. During the 18th and 19th centuries, this ship might also have a "captain of the fleet", who would be ranked between the admiral and the "flag captain" as the ship's "First ...
to Rear-Admiral Sir George Egerton on . He was now moving in ever more exalted social circles—a telegram to Markham in February 1907 refers to meetings with Queen
Amélie of Orléans
Dona Maria Amélia (french: Marie Amélie Louise Hélène; 28 September 1865 – 25 October 1951) was the last Queen consort of Portugal as the wife of Carlos I of Portugal. She was regent of Portugal during the absence of her spouse in 1895.
E ...
and
Luis Filipe, Prince Royal of Portugal
Luis is a given name. It is the Spanish form of the originally Germanic name or . Other Iberian Romance languages have comparable forms: (with an accent mark on the i) in Portuguese and Galician, in Aragonese and Catalan, while is archaic ...
, and a later letter home reports lunching with the Commander-in-Chief of the Fleet and
Prince Heinrich of Prussia
A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. The ...
. The telegram related to a collision involving Scott's ship, . Scott was cleared of blame. , a battleship commanded by Scott, collided with the battleship on 11 February 1907, suffering minor bow damage.
Dispute with Shackleton
By early 1906, Scott queried the RGS about the possible funding of a future Antarctic expedition. It was therefore unwelcome news to him that
Ernest Shackleton
Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton (15 February 1874 – 5 January 1922) was an Anglo-Irish Antarctic explorer who led three British expeditions to the Antarctic. He was one of the principal figures of the period known as the Heroic Age of ...
had announced his own plans to travel to ''Discovery''s old
McMurdo Sound
McMurdo Sound is a sound in Antarctica. It is the southernmost navigable body of water in the world, and is about from the South Pole.
Captain James Clark Ross discovered the sound in February 1841, and named it after Lt. Archibald McMurdo ...
base and launch a bid for the South Pole from there. Scott claimed, in the first of a series of letters to Shackleton, that the area around McMurdo was his own "field of work" to which he had prior rights until he chose to give them up, and that Shackleton should therefore work from an entirely different area. In this, he was strongly supported by ''Discovery''s former zoologist,
Edward Wilson, who asserted that Scott's rights extended to the entire
Ross Sea
The Ross Sea is a deep bay of the Southern Ocean in Antarctica, between Victoria Land and Marie Byrd Land and within the Ross Embayment, and is the southernmost sea on Earth. It derives its name from the British explorer James Clark Ross who ...
sector. Shackleton refused to concede.
According to a letter written to
Stanfords bookshop owner
Edward Stanford
Edward Stanford (27 May 1827 3 November 1904) was the founder of Stanfords, now a pair of map and book shops based in London and Bristol, UK.
Biography
Born in 1827, and educated at the City of London School, Edward Stanford developed his i ...
, Scott seemed to take offence with a map that was published that had shown how far south Scott and Shackleton had travelled during the Discovery Expedition. Scott implied in this letter, dated in 1907 and discovered in the shop archives in 2018, that having the two men's names together on this map indicated that there was "dual leadership" between Scott and Shackleton which was "not in accordance with fact." After the owner replied with an apology over the issue, Scott expressed his regret at the nature of the previous letter and stated, "I tried to be impartial in giving credit to my companions who one and all laboured honestly and well as I have endeavoured to record....I understand now of course that you had no personal knowledge of the wording and I must express regret that I failed to realise your identity when I first wrote."
Finally, to end the impasse, Shackleton agreed, in a letter to Scott dated 17 May 1907, to work to the east of the 170°W meridian and therefore to avoid all the familiar ''Discovery'' ground. In the end it was a promise that he was unable to keep after his search for alternative landing grounds proved fruitless. With his only other option being to return home, he set up his headquarters at
Cape Royds
Cape Royds is a dark rock cape forming the western extremity of Ross Island, facing on McMurdo Sound, Antarctica. It was discovered by the Discovery Expedition (1901–1904) and named for Lieutenant Charles Royds, Royal Navy, who acted as meteor ...
, close to the old ''Discovery'' base. For this he was roundly condemned by the British polar establishment at the time.
Among modern polar writers,
Ranulph Fiennes
Sir Ranulph Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes, 3rd Baronet (born 7 March 1944), commonly known as Sir Ranulph Fiennes () and sometimes as Ran Fiennes, is a British explorer, writer and poet, who holds several endurance records.
Fiennes served in the ...
regards Shackleton's actions as a technical breach of honour, but adds: "My personal belief is that Shackleton was basically honest but circumstances forced his McMurdo landing, much to his distress." The polar historian Beau Riffenburgh states that the promise to Scott "should never ethically have been demanded," and compares Scott's intransigence on this matter unfavourably with the generous attitudes of the Norwegian explorer
Fridtjof Nansen, who gave freely of his advice and expertise to all, whether they were potential rivals or not.
Marriage
![R](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/56/R.F.Scott_%26_Kathleen_Scott.jpg)
Scott, who because of his ''Discovery'' fame had entered
Edwardian
The Edwardian era or Edwardian period of British history spanned the reign of King Edward VII, 1901 to 1910 and is sometimes extended to the start of the First World War. The death of Queen Victoria in January 1901 marked the end of the Victori ...
society, first met
Kathleen Bruce early in 1907 at a private luncheon party. She was a sculptor, socialite and cosmopolitan who had studied under
Auguste Rodin and whose circle included
Isadora Duncan
Angela Isadora Duncan (May 26, 1877 or May 27, 1878 – September 14, 1927) was an American dancer and choreographer, who was a pioneer of modern contemporary dance, who performed to great acclaim throughout Europe and the US. Born and raised in ...
,
Pablo Picasso
Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...
and
Aleister Crowley
Aleister Crowley (; born Edward Alexander Crowley; 12 October 1875 – 1 December 1947) was an English occultist, ceremonial magician, poet, painter, novelist, and mountaineer. He founded the religion of Thelema, identifying himself as the pr ...
. Her initial meeting with Scott was brief, but when they met again later that year, the mutual attraction was obvious. A stormy courtship followed; Scott was not her only suitor—his main rival was would-be novelist
Gilbert Cannan
Gilbert Eric Cannan (25 June 1884 – 30 June 1955) was a British novelist and dramatist.
Early life
Born in Manchester of Scottish descent, he got on badly with his family, and in 1897 he was sent to live in Oxford with the economist Edwin Ca ...
—and his absences at sea did not assist his cause. However, Scott's persistence was rewarded and, on 2 September 1908, at the Chapel Royal,
Hampton Court Palace, the wedding took place. Their only child,
Peter Markham Scott, born 14 September 1909, was to found the
World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).
''Terra Nova'' expedition, 1910–1913
Preparation
![Antarctic expedition map (Amundsen - Scott)-en](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bd/Antarctic_expedition_map_%28Amundsen_-_Scott%29-en.svg)
Shackleton returned from the Antarctic having narrowly failed to reach the Pole, and this gave Scott the impetus to proceed with plans for his second Antarctic expedition. On 24 March 1909, he took the Admiralty-based appointment of naval assistant to the
Second Sea Lord
The Second Sea Lord and Deputy Chief of Naval Staff (formerly Second Sea Lord) is deputy to the First Sea Lord and the second highest-ranking officer to currently serve in the Royal Navy and is responsible for personnel and naval shore establish ...
which placed him conveniently in London. In December, he was released on half-pay, to take up the full-time command of the British Antarctic Expedition 1910, to be known as the
''Terra Nova'' expedition from its ship, .
It was the expressed hope of the RGS that this expedition would be "scientific primarily, with exploration and the Pole as secondary objects" but, unlike the
''Discovery'' expedition, neither they nor the Royal Society were in charge this time. In his expedition prospectus, Scott stated that its main objective was "to reach the South Pole, and to secure for the British Empire the honour of this achievement". Scott had, as Markham observed, been "bitten by the Pole mania".
In a memorandum of 1908, Scott presented his view that man-hauling to the South Pole was impossible and that motor traction was needed. Snow vehicles did not yet exist however, and so his engineer
Reginald Skelton
Sir Reginald William Skelton (3 June 1872 – 5 September 1956) was a British vice-admiral and engineer who served as chief engineer and official photographer of the 1901-1904 Discovery Expedition to Antarctica.
Early life
Skelton was born at Lon ...
developed the idea of a caterpillar track for snow surfaces. In the middle of 1909 Scott realised that motors were unlikely to get him all the way to the Pole, and decided additionally to take horses (based on Shackleton's near success in attaining the Pole, using ponies), and dogs and skis after consultation with Nansen during trials of the motors in Norway in March 1910. Man-hauling would still be needed on the Polar Plateau, on the assumption that motors and animals could not ascend the crevassed
Beardmore Glacier.
Dog expert
Cecil Meares was going to
Siberia
Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive region, geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a ...
to select the dogs, and Scott ordered that, while he was there, he should deal with the purchase of Manchurian ponies. Meares was not an experienced horse-dealer, and the ponies he chose proved mostly of poor quality, and ill-suited to prolonged Antarctic work. Meanwhile, Scott also recruited Bernard Day, from Shackleton's expedition, as his motor expert.
First season
![Robert Falcon Scott in the Cape Evans hut, October 1911](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/92/Robert_Falcon_Scott_in_the_Cape_Evans_hut%2C_October_1911.jpg)
On 15 June 1910, Scott's ship, ''Terra Nova'', an old converted whaler, set sail from
Cardiff
Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...
, South Wales. Scott meanwhile was fundraising in Britain and joined the ship later in South Africa. Arriving in
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
, Australia in October 1910, Scott received a telegram from Amundsen stating: "Beg leave to inform you ''Fram'' proceeding Antarctic Amundsen," possibly indicating that Scott faced a race to the pole.
The expedition suffered a series of early misfortunes which hampered the first season's work and impaired preparations for the main polar march. On its journey from New Zealand to the Antarctic, ''Terra Nova'' nearly sank in a storm and was then trapped in
pack ice
Drift ice, also called brash ice, is sea ice that is not attached to the shoreline or any other fixed object (shoals, grounded icebergs, etc.).Leppäranta, M. 2011. The Drift of Sea Ice. Berlin: Springer-Verlag. Unlike fast ice, which is "fasten ...
for 20 days, far longer than other ships had experienced, which meant a late-season arrival and less time for preparatory work before the Antarctic winter. At Cape Evans, Antarctica, one of the motor sledges was lost during its unloading from the ship, breaking through the sea ice and sinking.
Deteriorating weather conditions and weak, unacclimatised ponies affected the initial depot-laying journey, so that the expedition's main supply point, One Ton Depot, was laid north of its planned location at 80°S.
Lawrence Oates
Lawrence Edward Grace "Titus" Oates (17 March 188017 March 1912) was a British army officer, and later an Antarctic explorer, who died from hypothermia , in charge of the ponies, advised Scott to kill ponies for food and advance the depot to 80°S, which Scott refused to do. Oates is reported as saying to Scott, "Sir, I'm afraid you'll come to regret not taking my advice." Four ponies died during this journey either from the cold or because they slowed the team down and were shot.
![TerraNova-Ponting](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d5/TerraNova-Ponting.jpg)
On its return to base, the expedition learned of the presence of Amundsen, camped with his crew and a large contingent of dogs in the
Bay of Whales
The Bay of Whales was a natural ice harbour, or iceport, indenting the front of the Ross Ice Shelf just north of Roosevelt Island, Antarctica. It is the southernmost point of open ocean not only of the Ross Sea, but worldwide. The Ross Sea ex ...
, 200 miles (322 km) to their east. Scott conceded that his ponies would not be able to start early enough in the season to compete with Amundsen's cold-tolerant dog teams for the pole, and also acknowledged that the Norwegian's base was closer to the pole by 69 miles (111 km).
Wilson was more hopeful, whereas Gran shared Scott's concern. Shortly afterwards, the death toll among the ponies increased to six, three drowning when sea-ice unexpectedly disintegrated, casting in doubt the possibility of reaching the pole at all. However, during the 1911 winter Scott's confidence increased; on 2 August, after the return of a three-man party from their winter journey to
Cape Crozier
Cape Crozier is the most easterly point of Ross Island in Antarctica. It was discovered in 1841 during James Clark Ross's expedition of 1839 to 1843 with HMS ''Erebus'' and HMS ''Terror'', and was named after Francis Crozier, captain of HMS ' ...
, Scott wrote, "I feel sure we are as near perfection as experience can direct".
Journey to the Pole
Scott outlined his plans for the southern journey to the entire shore party, leaving open who would form the final polar team, according to their performance during the polar travel. Eleven days before Scott's teams set off towards the pole, Scott gave the dog driver Meares the following written orders at Cape Evans dated 20 October 1911 to secure Scott's speedy return from the pole using dogs:
The march south began on 1 November 1911, a caravan of mixed transport groups (motors, dogs, horses), with loaded sledges, travelling at different rates, all designed to support a final group of four men who would make a dash for the Pole. The southbound party steadily reduced in size as successive support teams turned back. Scott reminded the returning Surgeon-Lieutenant
Atkinson Atkinson may refer to:
Places
*Atkinson, Nova Scotia, Canada
* Atkinson, Dominica, a village in Dominica
*Atkinson, Illinois, U.S.
* Atkinson, Indiana, U.S.
*Atkinson, Maine, U.S.
*Atkinson Lake, a lake in Minnesota, U.S.
*Atkinson, Nebraska, U. ...
of the order "to take the two dog-teams south in the event of Meares having to return home, as seemed likely". By 4 January 1912, the last two four-man groups had reached 87°34′S. Scott announced his decision: five men—himself,
Wilson,
Bowers,
Oates and
E. Evans—would go forward, the other three (
Teddy Evans,
William Lashly and
Tom Crean Tom or Thomas Crean may refer to:
*Thomas Crean (1873–1923), Irish rugby union player, British Army soldier and doctor
*Tom Crean (explorer) (1877–1938), Irish seaman and Antarctic explorer
*Tom Crean (basketball)
Thomas Aaron Crean (born Ma ...
) would return. The chosen group marched on, reaching the Pole on 17 January, only to find a tent left in place by Amundsen, in it containing a letter dated 18 December. Scott's anguish is indicated in his diary: "The worst has happened
..All the day dreams must go
..Great God! This is an awful place".
Last march
![Scott's party at the South Pole](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3f/Scott%27s_party_at_the_South_Pole.jpg)
The deflated party began the 862 mile (1387 km) return journey on 19 January. "I'm afraid the return journey is going to be dreadfully tiring and monotonous", wrote Scott on that day. The party made good progress despite poor weather, and had completed the Polar Plateau stage of their journey, approximately 300 miles (483 km), by 7 February. In the following days, as the party made the 100 mile (161 km) descent of the
Beardmore Glacier, the physical condition of Edgar Evans, which Scott had noted with concern as early as 23 January, declined sharply. A fall on 4 February had left Evans "dull and incapable," and on 17 February, after another fall, he died near the glacier foot. With 400 miles (644 km) still to travel across the
Ross Ice Shelf, Scott's party's prospects steadily worsened as, with deteriorating weather, a puzzling lack of fuel in the depots, hunger and exhaustion, they struggled northward.
Meanwhile, back at Cape Evans, the ''Terra Nova'' arrived at the beginning of February, and Atkinson decided to unload the supplies from the ship with his own men rather than set out south with the dogs to meet Scott as ordered. When Atkinson finally did leave south for the planned rendezvous with Scott, he encountered the scurvy-ridden Edward ("Teddy") Evans who needed urgent medical attention. Atkinson therefore tried to send the experienced navigator Wright south to meet Scott, but chief meteorologist Simpson declared he needed Wright for scientific work. Atkinson then decided to send the short-sighted Cherry-Garrard on 25 February, who was not able to navigate, only as far as One Ton depot (which is within sight of Mount Erebus), effectively cancelling Scott's orders for meeting him at latitude 82 or 82.30 on 1 March.
On the return journey from the Pole, Scott reached the 82°S meeting point for the dog teams, 300 miles (483 km) from
Hut Point, three days ahead of schedule, noting in his diary for 27 February 1912, "We are naturally always discussing possibility of meeting dogs, where and when, etc. It is a critical position. We may find ourselves in safety at the next depot, but there is a horrid element of doubt." On 2 March, Oates began to suffer from the effects of frostbite and the party's progress slowed as he was increasingly unable to assist in the workload, eventually only able to drag himself alongside the men pulling the sledge. By 10 March the temperature had dropped unexpectedly to below .
![Last_Rest_(Grave_of_Scott,_Wilson,_and_Bowers)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9d/Last_Rest_%28Grave_of_Scott%2C_Wilson%2C_and_Bowers%29.png)
In a farewell letter to
Sir Edgar Speyer, dated 16 March, Scott wondered whether he had overshot the meeting point and fought the growing suspicion that he had in fact been abandoned by the dog teams: "We very nearly came through, and it's a pity to have missed it, but lately I have felt that we have overshot our mark. No-one is to blame and I hope no attempt will be made to suggest that we had lacked support." On the same day, Oates, whose toes had become frostbitten, voluntarily left the tent and walked to his death. Scott wrote that Oates' last words were "I am just going outside and may be some time".
After walking farther despite Scott's toes now becoming frostbitten, the three remaining men made their final camp on 19 March, approximately 12.5 miles (20 km) short of One Ton Depot. The next day a fierce blizzard prevented their making any progress. During the next nine days, as their supplies ran out, and with storms still raging outside the tent, Scott and his companions wrote their farewell letters. Scott gave up his diary after 23 March, save for a final entry on 29 March, with its concluding words: "Last entry. For God's sake look after our people". He left letters to Wilson's mother, Bowers' mother, a string of notables including his former commander, Sir
George Egerton
Mary Chavelita Dunne Bright (born Mary Elizabeth Annie Dunne; 14 December 1859 – 12 August 1945), better known by her pen name George Egerton (pronounced Edg'er-ton), was a writer of short stories, novels, plays and translations, noted for ...
, his own mother and his wife.
He also wrote his "Message to the Public", primarily a vindication of the expedition's organisation and conduct in which the party's failure is attributed to weather and other misfortunes, but ending on an inspirational note, with these words:
Scott is presumed to have died on 29 March 1912, or possibly one day later. The positions of the bodies in the tent when it was discovered eight months later suggested that Scott was the last of the three to die.
![Cross on Observation Hill, McMurdo Station](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b0/Cross_on_Observation_Hill%2C_McMurdo_Station.jpg)
The bodies of Scott and his companions were discovered by a search party on 12 November 1912 and their records retrieved.
Tryggve Gran
Jens Tryggve Herman Gran (20 January 1888 – 8 January 1980) was a Norwegian aviator, polar explorer and author.
He was the skiing expert on the 1910–13 Scott Antarctic Expedition and was the first person to fly across the North Sea from ...
, who was part of the search party, described the scene as, "snowcovered til up above the door, with Scott in the middle, half out of his ... the frost had made the skin yellow & transparent & I’ve never seen anything worse in my life." Their final camp became their tomb; the tent roof was lowered over the bodies and a high
cairn of snow was erected over it, topped by a roughly fashioned cross, erected using Gran's skis. Next to their bodies lay of ''
Glossopteris
''Glossopteris'' tymology: from Ancient Greek γλῶσσα (glôssa, " tongue ") + πτερίς (pterís, " fern ")is the largest and best-known genus of the extinct Permian order of seed ferns known as Glossopteridales (also known as Arberia ...
'' tree fossils which they had dragged on hand sledges. These were the first ever discovered Antarctic fossils and proved that Antarctica had once been warm and connected to other continents.
In January 1913, before ''Terra Nova'' left for home, a large wooden cross was made by the ship's carpenters, inscribed with the names of the lost party and
Tennyson
Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was an English poet. He was the Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal at Cambridge for one of his ...
's line from his poem
''Ulysses'': "To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield", and was erected as a permanent memorial on
Observation Hill, overlooking
Hut Point.
Reputation
Recognition
The world was informed of the tragedy when ''Terra Nova'' reached
Oamaru
Oamaru (; mi, Te Oha-a-Maru) is the largest town in North Otago, in the South Island of New Zealand, it is the main town in the Waitaki District. It is south of Timaru and north of Dunedin on the Pacific coast; State Highway 1 and the rai ...
, New Zealand, on 10 February 1913. Within days, Scott became a national icon. A nationalistic spirit was aroused; the ''
London Evening News
The ''London Evening News'' was a newspaper whose first issue was published on 14 August 1855.
Usually, when people mention the ''London Evening News'', they are actually referring to '' The Evening News'', published in London from 1881 to 1980, ...
'' called for the story to be read to schoolchildren throughout the land, to coincide with the memorial service at
St Paul's Cathedral on 14 February.
Robert Baden-Powell
Lieutenant-General Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell, ( ; (Commonly pronounced by others as ) 22 February 1857 – 8 January 1941) was a British Army officer, writer, founder and first Chief Scout of the wor ...
, founder of the
Boy Scouts Association
The Scout Association is the largest Scouting organisation in the United Kingdom and is the World Organization of the Scout Movement's recognised member for the United Kingdom. Following the origin of Scouting in 1907, the association was for ...
, asked: "Are Britons going downhill? No! ... There is plenty of pluck and spirit left in the British after all. Captain Scott and Captain Oates have shown us that".
![Robert Falcon Scott Statue - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b2/Robert_Falcon_Scott_Statue_-_geograph.org.uk_-_548114.jpg)
The expedition's survivors were suitably honoured on their return, with
polar medal
The Polar Medal is a medal awarded by the Sovereign of the United Kingdom to individuals who have outstanding achievements in the field of polar research, and particularly for those who have worked over extended periods in harsh climates. It ...
s and promotions for the naval personnel. In place of the knighthood that might have been her husband's had he survived, Kathleen Scott was granted the rank and precedence of a widow of a
Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved bathing (as a symbol of purification) as o ...
. In 1922, she married
Edward Hilton Young, later Lord Kennet, and remained a doughty defender of Scott's reputation until her death, aged 69, in 1947.
An article in ''
The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...
'', reporting on the glowing tributes paid to Scott in the New York press, claimed that both Amundsen and Shackleton were "
mazedto hear that such a disaster could overtake a well-organized expedition". On learning the details of Scott's death, Amundsen is reported to have said, "I would gladly forgo any honour or money if thereby I could have saved Scott his terrible death". Scott was the better wordsmith of the two, and the story that spread throughout the world was largely that told by him, with Amundsen's victory reduced in the eyes of many to an unsporting stratagem.
The response to Scott's final plea on behalf of the dependents of the dead was enormous by the standards of the day. The Mansion House Scott Memorial Fund closed at . This was not equally distributed; Scott's widow, son, mother and sisters received a total of . Wilson's widow received and Bowers's mother received . Edgar Evans's widow, children, and mother received between them.
In the dozen years following the tragedy, more than 30 monuments and memorials were set up in Britain alone. These ranged from simple relics—e.g. Scott's sledging flag in
Exeter Cathedral—to the foundation of the
Scott Polar Research Institute at
Cambridge
Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...
. Many more were established in other parts of the world, including a
statue sculpted by Scott's widow for his New Zealand base in Christchurch.
The
Museum of Oxford
The Museum of Oxford (MOX) is a history museum in Oxford, England, covering the history of the City and its people. The museum includes both permanent and temporary displays featuring artefacts relating to Oxford's history from prehistoric time ...
contains some of his personal belongings on display, including a
marmalade
Marmalade is a fruit preserve made from the juice and peel of citrus fruits boiled with sugar and water. The well-known version is made from bitter orange. It is also made from lemons, limes, grapefruits, mandarins, sweet oranges, bergamot ...
tin gifted to him by an Oxford businessman which was recovered from the site of his death.
Modern reactions
![Scott memorial binton](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/84/Scott_memorial_binton.jpg)
Scott's reputation survived the period after
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, beyond the 50th anniversary of his death. In 1948, the film ''
Scott of the Antarctic'' was released in cinemas and was the third most popular film in Britain the following year. It portrays the team spirit of the expedition and the harsh Antarctic environment, but also includes critical scenes such as Scott regarding his broken down motors and ruefully remembering Nansen's advice to take only dogs. Evans and Cherry-Garrard were the only surviving expedition members to refuse participation in the film, but both re-published their respective books in its wake.
In 1966,
Reginald Pound, the first biographer given access to Scott's original sledging journal, revealed personal failings which cast a new light on Scott, although Pound continued to endorse his heroism, writing of "a splendid sanity that would not be subdued". Another book critical of Scott,
David Thomson's ''Scott's Men'', was released in 1977. In Thomson's view, Scott was not a great man, "at least, not until near the end"; his planning is described as "haphazard" and "flawed", his leadership characterised by lack of foresight. Thus by the late 1970s, biographer Max Jones stated, "Scott's complex personality had been revealed and his methods questioned".
In 1979 came the first extreme attack on Scott, from
Roland Huntford
Roland Huntford ( Horwitch;Race To The Pole: Tragedy, Heroism, and Scott's Antarctic Quest, Ranulph Fiennes, Hyperion, 2004, p. 387 born 1927) is an author, principally of biographies of Polar explorers.
Background and education
Huntford, the ...
's dual biography ''Scott and Amundsen'' in which Scott is depicted as a "heroic bungler". Huntford's thesis had an immediate impact, becoming the contemporary orthodoxy. After Huntford's book, several other mostly negative books about Captain Scott were published;
Francis Spufford
Francis Spufford FRSL (born 1964) is an English author and teacher of writing whose career has seen him shift gradually from non-fiction to fiction. His first novel ''Golden Hill'' received critical acclaim and numerous prizes including the Costa ...
, in a 1996 history not wholly antagonistic to Scott, refers to "devastating evidence of bungling", concluding that "Scott doomed his companions, then covered his tracks with rhetoric". Travel writer
Paul Theroux summarised Scott as "confused and demoralised ... an enigma to his men, unprepared and a bungler". This decline in Scott's reputation was accompanied by a corresponding rise in that of his erstwhile rival Shackleton, at first in the United States but eventually in Britain as well. A 2002 nationwide poll in the United Kingdom to discover the "
100 Greatest Britons
''100 Greatest Britons'' is a television series that was broadcast by the BBC in 2002. It was based on a television poll conducted to determine who the British people at that time considered the greatest Britons in history. The series included in ...
" showed Shackleton in eleventh place, Scott well down the list at 54th.
In 1986, Spanish tecno-pop trio
Mecano released "Héroes de la Antártida," immortalizing Scott's final expedition. The song closes with th
refrainwhere the listener is directed to the variance in punctuation which highlights a significant change in meaning:
''Castellano:''
''¿Quién se acuerda del capitán Scott, Evans, Wilson, Bowers y Oates?''
''¿Quién se acuerda del capitán Scott? Evans, Wilson, Bowers y Oates.''
''English:''
''Who remembers Capt. Scott, Evans, Wilson, Bowers, and Oates?''
''Who remembers Capt. Scott? Evans, Wilson, Bowers, and Oates.''
The 21st century has seen a shift of opinion in Scott's favour, in what cultural historian Stephanie Barczewski calls "a revision of the revisionist view". Meteorologist
Susan Solomon
Susan Solomon (born January 19, 1956 in Chicago) is an American atmospheric chemist, working for most of her career at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. In 2011, Solomon joined the faculty at the Massachusetts Institute of Tech ...
's 2001 account ''The Coldest March'' ties the fate of Scott's party to the extraordinarily adverse Barrier weather conditions of February and March 1912 rather than to personal or organisational failings and, while not entirely questioning any criticism of Scott, Solomon principally characterises the criticism as the "Myth of Scott as a bungler".
In 2005
David Crane published a new Scott biography in which he comes to the conclusion that Scott is possibly the only figure in polar history except Lawrence Oates "so wholly obscured by legend". According to Barczewski, he goes some way towards an assessment of Scott "free from the baggage of earlier interpretations". What has happened to Scott's reputation, Crane argues, derives from the way the world has changed since the "hopeless heroism and obscene waste" of the First World War. At the time of Scott's death, people clutched at the proof he gave that the qualities that made Britain, indeed the
British Empire
The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts e ...
, great were not extinct. Future generations mindful of the carnage that started years later, the ideals of unquestionable duty, self-sacrifice, discipline, patriotism and hierarchy associated with his tragedy take on a different and more sinister colouring.
Crane's main achievement, according to Barczewski, is the restoration of Scott's humanity, "far more effectively than either Fiennes's stridency or Solomon's scientific data." ''
Daily Telegraph'' columnist Jasper Rees, likening the changes in explorers' reputations to climatic variations, suggests that "in the current Antarctic weather report, Scott is enjoying his first spell in the sun for twenty-five years". The ''New York Times Book Review'' was more critical, pointing out Crane's support for Scott's account regarding the circumstances of the freeing of the ''Discovery'' from the pack ice, and concluded that "For all the many attractions of his book, David Crane offers no answers that convincingly exonerate Scott from a significant share of responsibility for his own demise."
In 2012, Karen May published her discovery that Scott had issued written orders, before his march to the Pole, for Meares to meet the returning party with dog-teams, in contrast to Huntford's assertion in 1979 that Scott issued those vital instructions only as a casual oral order to Evans during the march to the Pole. According to May, "Huntford's scenario was pure invention based on an error; it has led a number of polar historians down a regrettable false trail".
The expedition was the subject of ''Terra Nova'', a 1977 play by
Ted Tally
Ted Tally (born April 9, 1952) is an American playwright and screenwriter. He adapted the Thomas Harris novel '' The Silence of the Lambs'' into the film of the same name, for which he received the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, the ...
(who later wrote the screenplay for ''
The Silence of the Lambs'').
Beryl Bainbridge's 1991 novel
The Birthday Boys also gives a fictionalised account of the expedition, with monologues from the five men who died on the return from the pole.
See also
*
Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station, permanent base at the pole
*
Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration
*
List of solved missing person cases
Lists of solved missing person cases include:
* List of solved missing person cases: pre-2000
* List of solved missing person cases: post-2000
See also
* List of kidnappings
* List of murder convictions without a body
* List of people who di ...
References
Footnotes
Bibliography
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Scott, Robert Falcon
1868 births
1912 deaths
Antarctic expedition deaths
Collections of the Scott Polar Research Institute
Commanders of the Royal Victorian Order
Deaths by starvation
Deaths from hypothermia
English explorers
Explorers of Antarctica
Officiers of the Légion d'honneur
People educated at Stubbington House School
Military personnel from Plymouth, Devon
People of the Victorian era
Recipients of the Cullum Geographical Medal
Recipients of the Polar Medal
Royal Navy officers
Robert
The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...
Terra Nova expedition