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Robert Falcon Scott (6 June 1868 – 29 March 1912) was a Royal Naval officer and Antarctic explorer. In the so-called 'Race to the South Pole' Scott came second, behind the Norwegian Roald Amundsen; and subsequently died, along with four companions, whilst trying to return to the safety of their base. Scott has become the most famous, and tragic, hero of the "heroic age" of Antarctic exploration. Childhood and early career Scott was born at "Outlands", Stoke Damerel, near Devonport in England, to John Edward Scott, a brewer and magistrate, and Hannah Cuming. Scott left home at the age of thirteen to join the naval vessel HMS ''Britannia'' at Dartmouth and began his training. Scott joined the Navy as a midshipman in 1881, first sailing on HMS ''Boadicea'', the flagship of the English Channel Fleet at that time. He transferred to HMS ''Rover'' in 1887. He was promoted to sub-lieutenant on his subsequent transfer to HMS ''Spider''. Scott rose to become an engineering lieutenant in 1891 on HMS ''Amphion'', specialising in torpedoes. He became a First Lieutenant in 1892 aboard the HMS Majestic, at the time the flagship of the Channel fleet. However, the engineers were looked down upon within the Royal Navy, and Scott appears to have burned with a desire for acceptance. Discovery expedition 1901-1904 At the request of Sir Clements Markham, the former polar explorer and then President of the Royal Geographical Society, Scott commanded the National Antarctic Expedition in Discovery which began in 1901. The major achievements of the expedition were an exploration of the Ross Sea, the land to the east of the ice sea was sighted for the first time and named "King Edward VII Land" in honour of the then British monarch, the Polar Plateau was discovered and a new "furthest south" was achieved. Scott and Dr Edward Wilson reached 82°17′ S on December 31 1902. Ernest Shackleton did not reach this furthest south, having been ordered to stay behind with the dogs at 82°15 ′ S. It was during the Discovery expedition that Scott met and explored with Ernest Shackleton, who served as his third lieutenant. Many subsequent biographers of both men wrote of an intense personal animosity and rivalry between the two. However Ranulph Fiennes, in his biography of Scott published in 2003, writes that there was in fact little evidence of this and that the two were friendly on the expedition. Fiennes dismisses the autobiography of Albert Armitage, Scott's navigator and second-in-command on the trip, whose account provides most of the primary source data of the split between Scott and Shackleton because Armitage, Fiennes says, felt slighted by Scott. Fiennes writes that Shackleton was sent home early (on the first relief ship) from the Discovery expedition only because he was ill, as Scott claimed, rather than because of a strained relationship between the two, as others have suggested. Scott and Shackleton both went on to organise and lead subsequent expeditions, and therefore found themselves in competition for experienced personnel and financial support. The Chief Engineer, Reginald Skelton, who was also in charge of photography on the expedition, was the first person to discover an Emperor penguin breeding colony and to photograph Emperor chicks. Terra Nova expedition 1910-1913 Scott had, following his Discovery expedition in 1902, been keen to return to Antarctica. And it was evident that he had enjoyed the command, the involvement with scientific endeavour, and had a strong personal desire to be the first to get to the South Pole. That it took nearly eight years for him to mount a second expedition was due to problems raising public interest (when the North Pole was a much more immediate challenge), and in handling financial difficulties in his own family. After his marriage to Kathleen Bruce on September 14 1908, and the birth in 1909 of his only son, Peter Scott, he embarked on his second polar expedition. His ship, Terra Nova, left London on June 1 1910, sailing via Cardiff, which it left on June 15. Scott sailed with the ship only as far as Rotherhithe and then returned to London to continue raising money for the expedition, and departed a month later to join the ship in South Africa. Scott was informed en route that Roald Amundsen, who had to all appearance been preparing an expedition heading to the North Pole was instead heading South. It has been suggested that Amundsen did not mean to deceive Scott, but rather Nansen who had lent him the unique ship Fram specifically for the Arctic journey. Amundsen (like Scott) had borrowed heavily to fund his expedition, and having been beaten to the North Pole by Peary in 1909, turned to the South Pole in an attempt to recoup his costs. Certainly it was Amundsen who sent word to Scott, and who hosted a party of Scott's men at his camp in Antarctica, and offered them a site adjacent to his own as a base for exploration. This amity aside, in the public mind there was certainly now a 'race to the Pole'. Scott could not have avoided it, a large part of the interest and funding for the expedition was based on 'priority', and Scott could not have been unaffected personally by a desire to be 'first'. Scott's expedition, however, had a very large scientific component that went well beyond the observations (primarily geographical and meteorological) that were expected of exploration parties at the time. Scott carried equipment and had a program of work for extensive geological and zoological study. Partly for this reason, and also because his ship Terra Nova did not have the strength of the Fram to withstand the ice further south, he elected to set up his base camp on Ross Island, some 100 km north of Amundsen's who had landed and set up base on the edge of the Ross Ice Shelf hundreds of miles from the nearest land. After a year spent undertaking science work, and laying provisions along the route of the party who were to make the journey to the South Pole, a five man party (Scott, Lieutenant Henry Bowers, Dr Edward Wilson, Petty Officer Edgar Evans and army Captain Lawrence Oates) set out. On arriving at the South Pole on January 17-18, 1912, Scott found that Amundsen had been there a month earlier. Scott had some months before predicted this would likely be the case. Amundsen returned to his base in good order, while Scott's entire party perished on the return journey. Scott acknowledged that there had been no margin for error or delay in his calculations and his party eventually succumbed to injury, frostbite, malnutrition and exhaustion. As their progress slowed the worsening (seasonal) weather further reduced their pace. It is plausible that had Scott's men 'beaten' Amundsen to the South Pole the moral effect might have given them more impetus on their return journey, and it may been that Wilson would have then countenanced (or Scott would have insisted on) leaving the rock samples behind (for later retrieval) during the worsening weather as they approached the One Ton supply depot. The first to die was Evans, who was injured in a fall and suffered a swift mental and physical breakdown near the foot of the Beardmore Glacier. Oates, afflicted by frostbite, had lost the use of one foot. His condition deteriorated, until at a point some 30 miles short of the One Ton supply depot he had come to the view that he could not go on. Waking one morning, Oates left the tent, stepping out into the blizzard with the memorable words "I am just going outside and may be some time". It was his 32nd birthday. His body was never found. The search party (see below) erected a cairn near the spot in memory of 'a very gallant gentleman'. The tent containing the bodies of the remaining three members of the South Pole party were found six months later by a search party led by Atkinson which included amongst others, Apsley Cherry-Garrard. The South Pole team's last camp was only eleven miles (20 km) from the One Ton supply depot. With them were found their diaries, and their sled still loaded with rock samples. Scott's journal contained the final lines: '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', and ending with the words, '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. For God's sake, look after our people. R. Scott'. Cherry-Garrard records that after retrieving the diaries and the rock samples, the tent was collapsed over the bodies of Scott, Wilson and Bowers and a cairn of ice and snow erected to mark the place. Atkinson knew that the place they made this burial was part of the Ross Ice Shelf, moving north towards the open sea at a rate of 500 metres a year, and that ultimately they were committing the bodies of Scott, Wilson and Bowers for burial at sea. After his death: the legend of "Scott of the Antarctic" News of Amundsen's success reached Europe before Scott's fate was known. When Scott's death, and that of his companions, became known there was genuine sentiment expressed throughout the British Empire. Cherry-Garrard described the somber mood as the Terra Nova returned to New Zealand with the remaining expeditioners. Scott's eloquent diary became a best seller, and through it the public became acquainted with the story of Oates and Scott. The British establishment (Church, Government and Military) on the verge of confrontation with Germany were quick to adopt and further the view of Scott as a heroic figure. Books, art, sculpture, film and poetry subsequently developed the tragic, as well as the heroic aspects of the story. Streets, churches and towns throughout the British Empire were named after Scott and his companions. Amundsen's achievement was unfairly eclipsed (in the British empire at least) by Scott's reputation. There were also accusations that Amundsen had breached convention by intruding into the Ross Sea, which had since James Clark Ross's discovery in 1841 been - in the public mind - an area of exclusively British endeavour. Conventions in exploration of that time gave subsequent exploration rights to the nation that first discovered an area. The public (but not Scott) would not have been aware that Norway had in fact previously undertaken significant exploration work - at the invitation of the British - in the Ross Sea in 1893 and 1898, and on the latter expedition discovered the Bay of Whales that Amundsen used as his base in 1911. The mythologising of Scott, particularly after Cherry-Garrard's publication of The Worst Journey in the World took on an extra dimension - that of Scott as the flawed but very human character compared with Amundsen. Amundsen was portrayed in the British press as a professional explorer in an age where the amateur was seen as morally superior, and as a man pursuing personal ambition rather than national glory or the advancement of science. In fact, Amundsen was not unlike Scott, a highly driven amateur who had at times difficult relations with his men and was uncomfortable in the public spotlight. Scott's widow, Kathleen, was granted the rank (but not the style) of a widow of a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath, but (despite popular belief) this did not amount to Scott being posthumously knighted, there being no such provision in English law. It has in recent times been suggested that Kathleen, as Scott lay dying, was conducting an affair with the famous polar explorer Fridtjof Nansen (who had hired his ship, the Fram, to Amundsen). Certainly if this was known at the time it was not reported widely. Kathleen Scott had a reputation for being independent and strong willed, but never more formidable than when defending the reputation of Robert Scott, and of their child, Peter Scott. Scott's brother-in-law, the Reverend Lloyd Harvey Bruce, was the rector of the Warwickshire village of Binton, and he commissioned a large stained glass memorial window, showing scenes from Scott's expedition, which still exists today. A large and recently refurbished memorial to Scott can be found in Plymouth, England overlooking the harbour. It is engraved with words from Scott's journal. Other notable memorials can be found in Christchurch and Port Chalmers, New Zealand, the Terra Novas last two ports of call before sailing for Antarctica. The New Zealand permanent research base on Ross Island and the US permanent research base at the Pole, are named Scott Base and Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station respectively. Three years after his death in 1912, the people of Cardiff, Wales raised a monument to Scott in Roath Park lake, in the form of a lighthouse with a small replica of his ship. It was erected in 1915 and a plaque reads, "Sailed in the Terra Nova from the port of Cardiff June 15 1910...to locate the South Pole, and in the pursuit of that great and successful scientific task, laid down their lives in Antarctic Regions. March 1912. Britons All, And very Gallant Gentlemen." Cardiff's affinity with Scott continues and in 2003 at Cardiff Bay near the site where Scott left on his fateful trip, "The Captain Scott Memorial" a sculpture by Jonathan Williams was unveiled. The debate Criticism of Scott, and particularly of his planning for and conduct of the Terra Nova expedition was naturally muted at the time of his death, and in the years of the First World War that followed. In addition to the pressure brought by the public and institutions, and by Scott's widow, Kathleen, to preserve Scott's 'memory' unsullied, there was a natural reluctance by those who had direct knowledge of the circumstances of that expedition to speak ill of the dead, or enter the public fray. Nevertheless, there was sufficient dissent from the view of Scott as 'faultless hero' for Apsley Cherry-Garrard in his 1922 classic 'The Worst Journey in the World' to address questions regarding Scott's competence. In doing so he opened the public debate on Scott, and the view that Scott was in some ways a flawed man whose character and errors of judgment contributed to the failure of the expedition. Cherry-Garrard, with the benefit of having 'been there', observed that the expedition was a success from the scientific viewpoint. He had no illusions that the scientific achievement was modest, but saw that it was part of a process of building knowledge of Antarctica. As a biologist he believed that a better understanding of the wildlife of Antarctica (particularly penguins) was a worthwhile endeavour. Significantly however, he indicated that there was nothing to be learnt from these early explorers in regard to travel across Antarctica. He predicted the future lay in air travel. Cherry-Garrard's defence of the scientific achievement of the Terra Nova expeditions, however, did not extend without qualification to Scott's planning and management of the journey to the pole. Cherry-Garrard had lost his closest friends, Wilson and Bowers, and he held Scott responsible to some degree. Cherry-Garrard clashed with Kathleen on what was 'appropriate' to say publicly, with the result that his criticism in his book was muted, and the full story remained in his private papers. Cherry-Garrard was, however, also troubled by his own role in resupplying, but not continuing beyond, the One Ton Depot in March 1912 while Scott was only 55 miles further south. Since Cherry-Garrard, others have weighed into the debate, notably Roland Huntford ("Scott and Amundsen/The Last Place on Earth", 1979) and Ranulph Fiennes ("Captain Scott", 2003). Certainly not just the elevation of Scott's reputation, but also the diminishment of Amundsen's achievement deserved 'correction', and the public seemed to gain an appetite for this by the 1970's. At that stage, looking back over 50 years, with nearly all of the participants dead, there was not much opportunity to discover new 'facts' about the case, and the discussion has turned largely on analysis of motives and decisions made by Scott, frequently with reference to Amundsen as a model of what Scott should have done and could have achieved. It is possible, that a meticulous recreation of the Scott and Amundsen expeditions financed by the UK broadcaster BBC, currently showing on BBC Two, may unearth new information and perspectives. A television series called Blizzard: Race to the Pole was aired for the first time in August 2006, following a Norwegian and a British group recreating the Scott and Amundsen expeditions using only the same equipment as would have been available to the original teams. The existing record shows that Scott and Cherry-Garrard were unstinting in praise for Admundsen's methods and abilities as an explorer, and that Scott particularly foresaw that Amundsen would reach the Pole first because he had more dogs, and had landed closer to the Pole. In that sense they agree with modern interpreters of Amundsen's achievement. Neither Scott or Cherry-Garrard, however, saw the Terra Nova expedition as having as its sole purpose simply 'getting to the South Pole'. Undoubtedly it was necessary to stress this aspect to gain funding and public support, and no doubt it appealed to some parts of the ego of some of the participants, not least Scott himself. The scientific aspect however was not unimportant in 'selling' the expedition to institutions and business who might see little benefit in the journeying to the frozen wasteland of the South Pole, but who could see profit in the advancement of knowledge of animal and mineral resources on the reasonably accessible coast. This was of course long before the concept of a non-commercial Antarctica where no State had claim to any part of the continent. The dual nature of Scott's expedition, incorporating both scientific and exploratory endeavour, needs to be taken into account by anyone making a comparison with Amundsen's which was perfectly focused on the single task of reaching the South Pole. This is important not just in trying to weigh up the 'real' achievement of each, but in understanding some of the compromises that Scott made to accommodate science. This is not to say however, that any comparison of Scott's and Amundsen's methods is invalid, or that Scott did not clearly make mistakes. Some of the key considerations are: The lessons we draw today from the experiences of Scott and Amundsen are not about the techniques of travel, but of the benefit of good and careful planning, and of the need particularly to carefully balance the desire to achieve outcomes while protecting the health and lives of people engaged in hazardous endeavour. It is a lesson as valid for the Space Shuttle program today as it is was for Scott in 1913. Because of the circumstances of Scott's death, however, the lesson most widely drawn from that tragedy was the value of both human life and human endeavour, and the ultimate triumph of the human spirit in the face of adversity and seeming failure. Further reading See also | |||||||
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