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Image: SPRI, University of Cambridge
Who was Captain Scott?
The tale of Captain Scott's ill-fated expedition to the South Pole has acquired the dimensions of a myth, passed down through the generations as a tale of heroism and the limits of human endurance. The noble death of expeditionary Lawrence Oates, who committed suicide by walking out of the tent into the freezing night rather than hold up the progress of his fellows, is an oft-repeated tale that seemingly typifies a culture of British gallantry and grace that is now lost. In the immediate aftermath of the news of the expedition's failure and the deaths of Oates, Edgar Evans, Henry Bowers, Dr Edward Wilson, and, of course, Captain Scott, the nation grieved for its heroes at a memorial service at St Paul's Cathedral, attended by the King. As the 10,000-strong crowd that gathered outside the cathedral attests, legendary status had already been conferred on the explorers, and the expedition was seen as a noble defeat and tragic sacrifice in the face of overwhelmingly harsh conditions.
Central to the expedition was Captain Scott, whose refusal to abandon the scientific goals of the Antarctic mission has been cited as a reason for the expedition's failure to beat Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen to the Pole. Who was this man, whose personal qualities were so central to the expedition, and whose diaries, discovered by a rescue mission three months after his death, continue to provide a moving and emotive demonstration of his resolve and dignity in such unthinkable circumstances?
Born in 1868, Robert Falcon Scott joined a Royal Navy training ship at the age of thirteen, and went on to ascend through the ranks of the navy, becoming torpedo lieutenant firstly of the HMS Empress of India and later the HMS Majestic in 1887. In the course of his service with the navy, he made the acquaintance of Clements Markham, who told him of a proposed Antarctic exhibition aboard the Discovery. Scott duly applied to command it, and was appointed to the position in 1900. This first Antarctic mission saw Scott, accompanied by, among others, Edward Wilson and Ernest Shackleton, gather many volumes of scientific data on the Antarctic and make pioneering excursions into the interior. Newly-promoted to Captain, Scott wrote up his adventures in The Voyage of the Discovery on his return in 1904.
From 1907-1909, Scott's erstwhile companion Shackleton led a further British Antarctic Expedition to the Antarctic, locating the South Pole high on the ice plateau. Scott planned to finish what Shackleton had begun, and a privately-funded expedition was raised which led to the purchase of the expedition ship the Terra Nova for £12,500. Although he declared that the ‘main object of the expedition is to reach the South Pole and secure for the British Empire the honour of that achievement,' Scott also had geological, biological and meteorological goals, and incorporated a number of experimental features into the expedition-including a pair of innovative mechanised sledges, both of which failed and were abandoned.
Although the Norwegian explorer Amundsen had declared his intention was to explore the Arctic, rival claims by two Americans, who announced they had reached the North Pole within weeks of each other in 1909, meant that he altered his intentions at the last minute. Scott, on his arrival in Melbourne, was greeted with a telegram that read ‘Beg leave to inform. Fram [Amundsen's ship] heading south. Amundsen.' The news shocked Scott and his party, but, rather than abandon the expedition's scientific aims and enter into a straightforward race to the Pole, they persevered with their measurement and collecting activities. Enduring enormous hardships, the team battled with the Antarctic midwinter in order to collect emperor penguin eggs and geological specimens that added considerable weight to their load. Their important finds now lie in the Natural History Museum and the Scott Polar Research Institute in Cambridge.
The explorers divided into groups to perform different missions. Arriving at the South Pole on 17 January 1912, the exhausted five-man polar party, which included the expedition's captain, was greeted by one of Amundsen's marker flags in the distance. The Norwegian team had defeated them to the Pole by 35 days. Some commentators believe that, had the British team reached the Pole first, their good spirits would have motivated them to keep moving before their supplies of pemmican, dried fruit and biscuits ran out. As it was, the malnourished and frostbitten explorers contested with bitter weather and dwindling food rations, and concussed Edgar Evans, who Scott describes having found ‘on his knees with clothing disarranged, hands uncovered and frostbitten, and a wild look in his eyes,' was the first to die on 17 February. On 16 March, Oates made his famous self-sacrifice, which has been described by polar travel writer Sara Wheeler as ‘a luminous moment in our history.' The remaining three expedition members died at the end of March, only 11 miles away from their pre-arranged One Ton supply depot.
Until the very end-his last letter is dated 29 March-Scott added copiously to his journals, as well as writing numerous letters, the most heartfelt and poignant of which were addressed to his beloved wife, Kathleen, and small son Peter. When a mission of British explorers arrived in November 1912, they uncovered these writings alongside the yellow, glassy bodies of Bowers, Wilson, and lying between them, Captain Scott. ‘Had we lived, I should have had a tale to tell of the hardihood, endurance and courage of my companions which would have stirred the heart of every Englishman,' Scott wrote. ‘These rough notes and our dead bodies must tell the tale.'
Scott's refusal to deviate from the expedition's aims and intentions may have meant that Amundsen's was the first party to reach the Pole, but Scott's was far from a failed expedition. As he anticipated, the story went down in British history as a tale of gallantry and endurance. In this centenary year, Conquering the Antarctic aims to bring the reality of the expedition to life, focusing on the words and images that show how, despite ostensible failure, victory can be achieved in posterity thanks to an indomitable spirit. It is through his highly emotive letters and journals, which have served our composers as inspiration, that we can glimpse the remarkable man at the expedition's centre.
Alice Usher
