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1
The Terra Nova
Expedition 1910-13
On
January 28, 1907 Scott wrote to the secretary of the Royal
Geographic Society, Mr. Scott Keltie, requesting financial
assistance (£30,000) for a second expedition to
Antarctica. He was already in touch with Barne, Mulock and
Skelton of the Discovery expedition. Unfortunately,
Ernest
Shackleton announced on
February 12 that he was pressing forward with his own plans
to lead an expedition to the South Pole. He had already
raised £30,000 and was soliciting the RGS for help as
well. Now the RGS felt caught in the middle which led to a
huge rift between Scott and Shackleton that was never to be
closed. A Clydebank shipbuilder, William Beardmore, had
agreed to guarantee funding for Shackleton with the money to
be repaid on Shackleton's return by writing a book,
lecturing and selling articles. Shackleton tried to persuade
Mulock to join him but Mulock declined because he had
already committed to Scott. This caught Shackleton by
surprise as he had no idea that Scott was planning on a
return expedition. Dr. Wilson was also approached by
Shackleton but likewise declined as he was in the middle of
an exhaustive project concerning his bird research in
Antarctica; it just wouldn't be appropriate to abandon his
studies at this time.
The day after Wilson received the
request from Shackleton, a letter showed up from Scott in
which he was curious if Shackleton had mentioned his own
desire to return to McMurdo Sound. This was the first Wilson
had heard of Scotts' plans. Scott was clearly upset for
essentially one basic reason: the view that an explorer may
have an exclusive right to his own territory was an unspoken
given. As the Frenchman Jean Charcot said, "There can be no
doubt that the best way to the Pole is by way of the Great
Ice Barrier, but this we regard as belonging to the English
explorers, and I do not propose to trespass on other
people's grounds". Shackleton had announced that he intended
to make his winter quarters at McMurdo Sound, an
announcement that should have been respectfully cleared
through Scott first. The courtesy was never extended to his
former commander. Nevertheless, Scott made an effort to not
let his personal feelings stand in his way as he wrote Scott
Keltie on March 1 and told him, "..it is our duty to work
together as Englishmen, I mean you, I and Shackleton and all
concerned. The first thing is to defeat the foreigners.
Whether Shackleton goes or I go or we both go, we must let
Arctowski clearly understand that the Ross Sea area is
England's and we will not appreciate designs on it". On the
other hand, Dr. Wilson wrote Shackleton, "I think that if
you go to McMurdo Sound, and even reach the Pole, the gilt
will be off the gingerbread, because of the insinuation
which will almost certainly appear in the minds of a good
many, that you forestalled Scott who had a prior claim on
the use of that base".
Shackleton and Scott met in London on
May 17, 1907 where Shackleton put in writing to leave
"McMurdo Sound base to you, and land either at the place
known as the Barrier Inlet or at King Edward VII Land,
whichever is the most suitable. If I land at either of those
places I will not work to the westward of the 170 meridian W
and shall not make any sledge journey going West...I think
this outlines my plan, which I shall rigidly adhere to, and
I hope this letter meets you on the points that you desire".
Scott replied, "Your letter is a very clear statement of the
arrangement to which we came. If as you say you will rigidly
adhere to it, I do not think our plans will clash".
Shackleton bought a small, dilapidated sealer, the
Nimrod, and attracted two former mates from the
Discovery expedition to join him, Frank Wild and
Ernest Joyce. The Nimrod sailed from the East India
docks on July 30, 1907, taking a motor car, the first to be
landed in Antarctica.
Scott
went back to sea as Captain of HMS Albermarle, a
battleship with a complement of over 700 men. His
appointment ended on August 25, 1907 and Scott went on
half-pay until his next appointment, on January 1, 1908, to
HMS Essex. It was between appointments that Scott
met, for the second time, a twenty-eight-year-old sculptor,
Kathleen Bruce. The two were invited to tea at Mabel
Beardsley's where Kathleen was struck by Scott's "rare
smile". Scott was hooked and for the next ten days he either
visited with her or wrote love notes: "Uncontrollable
footsteps carried me along the embankment to find no
light--yet I knew you were there dear heart--I saw the open
window and, in fancy, a sweetly tangled head of hair upon
the pillow within--dear head--it seems so long till
Friday--give me all the time you can". By the end of
November the two were engaged to be married.
Kathleen
Bruce
Although Con felt he owed his
mother his allegiance, Hannah wrote that "You must never let
me be a hindrance to your making a home and a life of your
own. You have carried the burden of the family since 1894.
It is time now for you to think of yourself and your future.
God bless and keep you".
Meanwhile,
Shackleton and the crew of the Nimrod could not
penetrate the ice pack to reach King Edward VII Land so they
had to turn back and land the explorer's party at McMurdo
Sound. This broke his promise to Scott and as the
Nimrod steamed westwards, Shackleton wrote to his
wife, "I have been through a sort of hell since the 23rd
(January 1908) and I cannot even now realise that I am on
the way back to McMurdo Sound and that all idea of wintering
on the Barrier at King Edward VII Land is at an end--that I
have had to break my word to Scott and go back to the old
base, and that all my plans and ideas have now to be
changed--changed by the overwhelming forces of Nature...I
never knew what it was to make such a decision as the one I
was forced to make last night". Scott felt that this was
Shackleton's intention from the very beginning and thus felt
further betrayed.
Con and
Kathleen's courtship continued into 1908. Although he never
mentioned any attempt at the Pole, Kathleen wrote Con in
July 1908 asking him to "Write and tell me that you
shall go to the Pole. Oh dear me what's the use of
having energy and enterprise if a little thing like
that can't be done. It's got to be done, so hurry up
and don't leave a stone unturned--and love me more and more,
because I need it". Finally, on September 2, 1908, Con and
Kathleen were married in the Chapel Royal at Hampton
Court.
A
sailor's wife in those days was one to be pitied as husbands
were generally at sea for perhaps ninety percent of their
married life. The wife was left to maintain the home and
care for the children while the husband was away at sea,
presumably having a gay old time with his fellow sailors and
a wife in every port. This was a popular theory but in this
case, the opposite were true. Kathleen was living it up in
London with all her friends while making a name for herself
as a sculptor. Meanwhile, Con was living a lonely life as
captain aboard the Bulwark. But Kathleen had her
moments too, as she wrote Con in November 1908, telling him
she was as "desperately, deeply, violently and wholly in
love" as he was and was missing him terribly. "There's
something so terribly real about you. I used to mend your
trouser placquette hole and there's something grotesquely
real about that. I never used to know anything about
loneliness. Sir have you robbed me of my self-sufficiency?"
Early in 1909 good news finally arrived. Kathleen wrote, "My
love my dear love my very dear love throw up your cap and
shout and sing triumphantly for it seems we are in a fair
way to achieve my aim". Kathleen was pregnant. Also, an
opportunity arose for Con to spend nine months living at
home with his wife as an ordinary human. A position as Naval
Assistant to Admiral Sir Francis Bridgeman was offered and
accepted at the end of March 1909.
Also in
March 1909 the news came that Shackleton had not reached the
Pole. Despite all the hardships, Shackleton, Adams, Marshall
and Wild had crossed the Barrier, struggled up the glacier
which Shackleton named after his patron, Mr. Beardmore, and
planted the flag at 88°23'S, some 97 miles from the
Pole. Meanwhile, Professor Edgeworth David, Scott's surgeon
A. F. Mackay and Douglas
Mawson pushed on beyond the
point reached by Scott on his western journey in 1903 and
planted a flag on the South Magnetic Pole.
On July
1, 1909, Scott wrote Shackleton, "If as I understand it does
not cut across any plans of your own, I propose to organise
the expedition to the Ross Sea which as you know I have had
so long in preparation so as to start next year. I am sure
you will wish me success; but of course I should be glad to
have your assurance that I am not disconcerting any plans of
your own". Shackleton replied that his plans "will not
interfere with any plans of mine". On September 13, 1909,
Scott announced his plans: "The main object of the
expedition is to reach the South Pole and secure for the
British Empire the honour of that achievement". That very
same day a son, Peter, was born to Kathleen and Con. James
Berrie, a personal friend and the Scots playwright who wrote
"Peter Pan", and Clements Markham were chosen as the
godfathers.
On April
6, 1909, Robert Edwin Perry, a fifty-six-year-old commander
on leave from the US Navy, together with Matthew Henson, his
Negro servant and companion, reached the North Pole on their
sixth attempt. The North was won so all thoughts of polar
exploration now turned towards the South. Several nations
now commenced with preparations for the trek: Perry
announced in New York his plans to form an Antarctic
expedition with the goal of the Pole attained by embarking
from a region within the Weddell
Sea; Germany's Lieutenant Wilhelm
Filchner announced similar
plans as the Americans but with the added goal of being the
first to march right across the Pole in a trans-Antarctic
expedition ending in McMurdo Sound; Frenchman
Jean-Baptiste
Charcot was exploring regions
in Graham Land; the Japanese, led by Lieutenant
Nobu Shirase, planned an
expedition to the very region which Scott hoped to explore
in King Edward VII Land.
Scott
went to work to raise the needed £40,000 for the
expedition. Unfortunately, donations were slow in coming.
Sir Edgar Speyer, the City financier, became Honorary
Treasurer of the British Antarctic Expedition's fund and
donated £1,000. Touring the countryside giving lectures
to unenthusiastic audiences, Scott spent many cold nights in
cheap hotel rooms. "Between £20 and £30 from
Wolverhampton...£40 today...nothing from Wales...this
place won't do, I'm wasting my time to some extent...I don't
think there is a great deal of money in the
neighbourhood...things have been so-so here...I spoke not
well but the room was beastly and attendance small...another
very poor day yesterday, nearly everyone out", Scott wrote.
But, £2,000 came from Manchester, £1,387 from
Cardiff and £750 from Bristol.
In
November 1909 Shackleton got the knighthood Scott had missed
and his book, The Heart of the Antarctic, was
published.
In
January 1910 the Government announced a grant of
£20,000 and now the expedition could buy a ship. Scott
wanted the Discovery but the Hudson's Bay Company
refused to sell her. After considering several others, Scott
purchased the Terra Nova for a down payment of
£5,000 with a promise of an additional £7,500 when
the funds could be raised.
Experiments
with motor sledges were now under way. Michael Barne, still
dealing with frostbitten hands from the Discovery
expedition, had designed a new sledge. (Barne declined the
opportunity to join Scott and was married before the
departure of the Terra Nova). Early in March 1910,
Scott went to Norway with Kathleen, Reginald Skelton, two
mechanics and a "motor expert", Bernard Day, to test the
experimental sledges. While in Christiania, Nansen
introduced an expert skier, Tryggve Gran, to them. Gran was
planning his own assault on the Pole but dropped his plans
and joined Scott. Lieutenant Teddy Evans, who had talked his
way into his appointment in the Morning, had started
to raise funds for yet another expedition to the Pole. When
he heard of Scott's plans, he agreed to abandon his personal
desires and join forces with Scott provided he was offered
the position of second-in-command. Although Skelton was
deeply hurt, Scott could not refuse the offer as the funds
raised by Evans would be a real windfall. Evans was given
the charge of getting the ship prepared for the South. Upon
her return from the Discovery expedition, the
Terra Nova had been used for whaling and sealing and
was now in a filthy, stinking condition.
The Crew
Money
may have been slow in coming but volunteers were coming in
from all over the world. More than 8,000 men volunteered to
join the expedition. Five members of the Discovery
crew were accepted: Petty Officers Thomas Williamson,
Edgar Evans and Thomas Crean, also Chief Stoker William
Lashly and William Heald. The scientists were carefully
picked and from the onset, Edward Wilson was Scott's first
choice. Three geologists were chosen: two Australians, Frank
Debenham and T. Griffith Taylor, plus Raymond Priestley who
had been with Shackleton's Nimrod expedition.
Canadian Charles Wright was selected as the physicist while
George Simpson came from the Indian meteorological service.
The one physicist who didn't go was the young lecturer from
the University of Adelaide, Douglas
Mawson, who was making his own
plans, like many others, to explore an unmapped stretch of
coast and country west of Victoria Land. In a letter to
Griffith Taylor on February 15, 1910, Mawson wrote, "I am
almost getting up an expedition of my own...Scott will not
do certain work that ought to be done...I quite agree that
to do much would be to detract from his chances of the Pole
and because of that I am not pressing the matter any
further. Certainly I think he is missing the main
possibilities of scientific work in the Antarctic by
travelling over Shackleton's old route. However he must beat
the Yankees...". The biologists were Edward Nelson and D. G.
Lillie.
While
Wilson was selecting the scientists, Scott and Evans worked
on forming the rest of the crew. From the Admiralty came
naval lieutenants: Harry Pennell, navigator and magnetic
observer, Henry Rennick in charge of the hydrographical
surveys and deep-sea soundings and Victor Campbell. Two
Lieutenant-Surgeons, G. Murray Levick and Edward Atkinson,
were appointed along with twenty-six petty officers and
seamen. Various other volunteers were taken for a number of
reasons. Herbert Ponting was a skilled, experienced
photographer whose pictures taken during the Russo-Japanese
War and been published in leading magazines in Great Britain
and the United States. Apsley Cherry-Garrard, aged
twenty-four and a relative of Reginald Smith's, contributed
£1,000 to be appointed assistant biologist. Captain L.
E. G. Oates of the 6th Inniskilling Dragoons, who walked
with a slight limp due to a wound received in the Boer War,
also contributed a similar amount and was put in charge of
the ponies as this was his area of expertise. Like Oates,
Henry Bowers, of the Royal Indian Marine, came from India to
join the expedition. Bowers, a Worcester cadet, was a
short, stocky man with red hair and a large nose which
quickly earned him the nickname Birdie. Another former cadet
from the Worcester, Wilfrid Bruce, joined the
expedition. This was Kathleen's thirty-six-year-old brother.
Bruce was instructed to travel to Vladivostok and meet up
with Cecil Meares who had just selected twenty Siberian-bred
ponies and thirty-four sledge-dogs for the expedition. The
animals were escorted to Lyttleton via Japan and Australia.
Losing only one pony and one dog on the long journey, the
animals were inoculated ten times and put ashore on Quail
Island.
Perhaps
Scott still retained fresh memories of the disastrous
results with the dogs during his southern journey on the
Discovery expedition, but whatever the reasons, his
transportation choices undoubtedly led to the expedition's
final results. The motor sledges were obviously
experimental, since none had ever been used before, while
the ponies would prove an even weaker link in the disastrous
chain of events. It is true that Shackleton took nineteen
ponies with him on his Nimrod expedition, but only
four survived to set out on the journey towards the Pole. Of
these, one had to be shot at the second depot; another gave
up at the third; and by the time they reached the foot of
the Beardmore Glacier only one was left. Soon afterwards,
this pony fell into a crevasse, leaving Wild, who had been
leading him, suspended by one elbow over the dark chasm.
Scott planned to use the sledges to motor across the Barrier
as far as possible, establishing depots along the way. The
ponies would then take over and haul the sledges to the foot
of the glacier. Scott felt that the animals would not be
able to make it up the glacier but would be a good source of
fresh meat upon their return from the Pole.
In retrospect, it is felt that Scott
would have had an easy go of it to the Pole had he
adequately trained men and dogs to make the assault.
Nevertheless, Scott wrote, "In my mind no journey ever made
with dogs can approach the height of that fine conception
which is realised when a party of men go forth to face
hardships, dangers, and difficulties with their own unaided
efforts, and by days and weeks of hard physical labour
succeed in solving some problem of the great unknown. Surely
in this case the conquest is more nobly and splendidly won".
On June 1, 1910, the Terra Nova was towed away from
the South-West India Docks as cheering crowds stood by.
Ponting, who was standing beside Scott, wondered what their
homecoming would be like and Scott answered, "I don't care
much for this sort of thing (as the crowds cheered and
steamers whistled). All I want is to finish the work we
began in the Discovery. Then I'll get back to my job
in the navy".
Kathleen and Con aboard
the Terra Nova
Scott did not sail with the
Terra Nova as he remained behind in an attempt to
raise additional funding. Scott, with his wife, left the
ship at Greenhithe where he was presented two flags by Queen
Alexandra, now the Queen Mother: one to be planted at the
farthest south attained while the second to be hoisted at
the same spot and then brought back. Scott stayed another
six weeks before leaving for South Africa to join the ship.
Kathleen made the difficult decision of leaving young Peter
behind and sailing on with Con as far as Sydney. They sailed
in HMS Saxon on July 16, 1910, and were seen off by
Wilhelm Filchner and Ernest Shackleton. Also aboard were
Edward Wilson's wife, Ory, and Teddy Evans wife, Hilda. They
reached Cape Town on August 2, 13 days before the Terra
Nova.
Like the Discovery, the
Terra Nova was a leaker. The leak wasn't too bad but,
nevertheless, everyone took a turn at the hand pumps
commencing at 6:00 a.m. and resuming every four hours around
the clock. When the ship reached the tropics, the heat was
incredible. After leaving Madeira, the winds became so light
that the engines were required. The men sweated and toiled
as they fed enormous amounts of coal into the three
furnaces. On July 25 the Terra Nova anchored off
uninhabited South Trinidad Island, some 700 miles east of
Brazil. (The Discovery had also visited the island in
1901, when a new petrel, named after Wilson ,Estrelata
wilsoni, was found). Wilson and Cherry-Garrard, armed
with guns, went after the birds; Lillie looked for plants
and rocks; Nelson and Simpson searched for fish in pools.
Five new species of spiders were collected and a new moth.
After leaving the island, the ship went "booming along"
before strong westerlies. They arrived in Simon's Bay, Cape
Town on August 15, 1910. The crew was soon reunited with
Scott and for the next few days each member was left to
himself to do as he pleased.
Although
not happy about it, Wilson was instructed to take an ocean
liner to Melbourne as Scott took over command of the
Terra Nova. Mrs. Scott, Mrs. Evans, Wilson and his
wife all sailed together aboard RMS Corinthic and
upon arrival in Melbourne, Wilson consulted with Professor
Edgeworth David and selected a third geologist. Meanwhile,
Scott was enjoying himself aboard the Terra Nova. The
object of taking command at Cape Town was to acquaint
himself with the crew and select the members of the two
shore parties; one party would remain at the expedition's
base of operations, in or near McMurdo Sound, carrying out
scientific research while the second party made the final
assault on the Pole. A splinter group of six men, called the
Eastern Party, was to be dispatched in unexplored King
Edward VII Land, four hundred miles to the east. This group
would be led by Victor Campbell. The naval lieutenants,
Pennell and Rennick, would remain in charge of the ship.
Scott wrote to his mother, "My companions are
delightful".
After
six weeks at sea, the Terra Nova reached Melbourne on
October 12, 1910. Wilson loaded the wives and a bag of mail
in a motor launch and set out to find the ship in pitch
darkness. Kathleen wrote in her dairy, as they approached
the ship "I heard my good man's voice and was sure there was
no danger, so insisted, getting more and more unpopular...We
at last got close to the beautiful Terra Nova with
our beautiful husbands on board. They came and looked down
into our faces with lanterns".
In
Scott's mail was a telegram sent from Madeira on September
9, 1910...a telegram from Amundsen
saying "Beg leave inform you proceeding Antarctic.
Amundsen". Scott was clearly troubled by this announcement.
Scott and much of the public resented the fact that
Amundsen's intentions appeared secretive in nature. He had
raised money for the publicly proclaimed intention of going
to the Arctic, managed to borrow the Fram from Nansen
without payment and then turned about face for the South
Pole. When the news arrived that Peary and Hansen had
reached the North Pole, Amundsen felt left with little
choice: "It was therefore with a clear conscience that I
decided to postpone my original plan for a year or two and
try to solve the last great problem...the South Pole".
Amundsen was heavily in debt and knew if there was any
chance to repay his debtors, a spectacular triumph would be
needed.
The Norwegians left Christiania on
August 9, 1910, with ninety-seven Greenland dogs, a hut in
sections and provisions for two years. When they arrived in
Madeira, only two members of the crew, his brother Leon and
the ship's commander, Lieutenant Nilsen, knew of his
intentions; the rest of the crew assumed they would be on
their way to Buenos Aires and then northwards to the Arctic.
At Madeira he informed the crew of his real plans and all
consented to go for the South. Amundsen chose to sail
directly for the Ross Sea, a non-stop voyage, so the
telegram for Scott was left with instructions for it not to
be sent until after the Fram had sailed. Once
Amundsen left Madeira, he vanished into the unknown.
Clements Markham put his spin on the situation when he
stated that "She (the Fram) has no more sailing
qualities than a haystack. In any case, Scott will be on the
ground and settled long before Amundsen turns up, if he ever
does". On October 15, 1910, Markham reported to the RGS
secretary that Amundsen had "quietly got a wintering hut
made on board and 100 dogs and a supply of tents and
sledges. His secret design must have been nearly a year old.
They believe his mention of Punta Aranas and Buenos Aires is
merely a blind, and that he is going to McMurdo Sound to try
to cut out Scott...If I were Scott I would not let them
land, but he is always too good-natured".
Scott,
still chasing money, went on to New Zealand, via Sydney, by
way of ocean liner. Meanwhile, Teddy Evans resumed command
of the ship as they left the harbor under full sail in full
view of the Admiral's 13,000 ton flagship and the rest of
the squadron. The Scotts arrived in New Zealand on October
27 and were greeted by Clements Markham's sister, Lady
Bowen, and her husband, Sir Charles. They stayed in
Lyttleton with the expedition's agent, Joseph J. Kinsey.
Kathleen wrote, "There we were for a happy fortnight working
and climbing with bare toes and my hair down and the sun and
my Con and all the Expedition going well. It was good and by
night we slept in the garden and the gods be
blest".
The
Terra Nova arrived and was promptly put into dry dock
in order to fix her leak. The ship had her stores rearranged
and repacked with everything getting banded: red for the
Main Party and green for the Eastern one. The scientific
instruments were checked and the hut was erected on land by
the men who would have the job of setting it up at winter
quarters. The three motor sledges, still in their crates,
were lashed to the deck. Oates argued for forty-five tons of
food for the ponies. (The ponies and dogs were waiting with
Bruce and Meares on Quail Island in Lyttleton Bay). Stalls
were built for nineteen ponies while the thirty-nine dogs
were chained to bolts and stanchions on the ice-house and
the main hatch, between the motor sledges. Scott managed to
get 430 tons of coal into the holds and 30 more tons stacked
in sacks on the upper deck. Oates managed to get an extra
two tons of fodder on board without Scott's knowledge. In
the ice-house were three tons of ice, 162 carcasses of
mutton, three of beef, and cases of sweetbreads and kidneys.
Scientific instruments were
everywhere: sledges, an acetylene plant, the wooden huts,
clothing, five ton of dog food and hundreds of other items
had to be squeezed in...there was hardly room for the men.
And, of course, there were other minor details. It seems
Petty Officer Evans got drunk again, as in Cardiff, and
disgraced the ship; and then the day before the final
departure from Port Chalmers, the other Evans came to Scott
with details of trouble between the wives. Tempers had
flared on the departure of their husbands and Oates reported
that "Mrs. Scott and Mrs. Evans had a magnificent battle,
they tell me it was a draw after 15 rounds. Mrs. Wilson
flung herself into the fight after the 10th round and there
was more blood and hair flying about the hotel than you see
in a Chicago slaughter-house in a month, the husbands got a
bit of the backwash and there is a certain amount of
coolness which I hope they won't bring into the hut with
them, however it won't hurt me even if they do". Once at
sea, all was well and later Kathleen stated, "If ever Con
has another expedition, the wives must be chosen more
carefully than the men---better still, have
none".
On
November 26 the Terra Nova sailed for Dunedin and
Port Chalmers. The Scotts did not sail with her but came
back in the harbor tug and spent their last two days
together walking over hills to Sumner. The next day, in the
afternoon, it was time to say farewell. There were massive
cheering crowds on the shore as a tug took off the three
wives. Wilson wrote of his wife, Ory, "There on the bridge I
saw her disappear out of sight waving happily, a goodbye
that will be with me till the day I see her again in this
world or the next---I think it will be in this world and
some time in 1912". Kathleen wrote, "I didn't say goodbye to
my man because I didn't want anyone to see him sad. On the
bridge of the tug Mrs. Evans looked ghastly white and said
she wanted to have hysterics but instead we took photos of
the departing ship. Mrs. Wilson was plucky and good...I
mustered them all for tea in the stern and we all chatted
gaily except Mrs. Wilson who sat looking somewhat
sphinx-like". The ship sailed at 4:30 p.m. on November 29,
1910. For most of the men it would be a year and a half
before they would see any green living thing; five others
would never return.
Other
than a little seasickness, the first few days at sea went
quite well. However, on December 2 they were hit by a huge
storm that dislodged the deck cargo creating dangerous
conditions topside. The seas crashed over the decks, tossing
the dogs from one side to the other, as water poured into
the engine room and cabins below. The ponies suffered the
most and when all was said and done, one dog had been lost
overboard while two ponies had been killed. Meanwhile, the
seawater mixed with coal dust thereby creating a sludge that
choked the bilge pumps. Water quickly rose to the furnaces
and, for the first time, the men were in fear of losing
their ship. The men finally resorted to using buckets to
bale the water out by hand. By morning the seas had begun to
settle down. By 10:00 p.m. that evening Williams and Davies
had succeeded in cutting a hole through the engine room
bulkhead which allowed Teddy Evans a big enough hole to
crawl through so he could reach the pumps. Standing up to
his neck in water, Teddy was able to clear the valves and
"To the joy of all a good stream of water came from the pump
for the first time".
Afterwards, Raymond Priestly wrote
that the ship at her worst would have given Dante a good
idea for another Circle of Hell "though he would have been
at a loss to account for such a cheerful and ribald lot of
Souls". Bowers wrote, "Under its worst conditions this earth
is a good place to live in". Wilson wrote, "I must say I
enjoyed it all from the beginning to end". I think this was
because he was one of the few who did not suffer from
seasickness! About ten tons of coal were lost, sixty-five
gallons of petrol and a case of biologists'
spirits.
On
December 8 the first berg was spotted and on the following
day, in latitude 65°8'S, the Terra Nova entered
the pack. For the next three weeks the ship had to be shoved
and bashed through a massive amount of ice, consuming a
great deal of precious coal in the process. On December 30
Scott wrote, "We are out of the pack at length and at last
one breathes again". On New Year's Day, 1911, Mount Erebus
came into view. They attempted to land at Cape Crozier,
where they had planned on setting up winter quarters, but
the seas were too rough. So, McMurdo Sound was their next
option. Rounding the northwest tip of Ross Island, they
proceeded down the coast past Cape Royds, Inaccessible
Island, and Cape Barne. When they arrived at the Skuary,
soon renamed Cape Evans, Scott, Evans and Wilson made the
decision to set up winter quarters. About a mile and a half
of ice lay between shore and open sea. On January 4 the
Terra Nova anchored to the ice and the unloading
began. The ponies were especially happy to finally be on
firm ground as they rolled and kicked in the
snow.
The
first two motor sledges were unloaded and immediately put to
work hauling stores to the new camp. As the third, and
largest, sledge was unloaded and hauled by twenty men
towards the shore, it decided to break through the ice and
sink in sixty fathoms of seawater. Scott blamed himself for
the tragedy as he was in a hurry to get the ship unloaded so
she could embark with Campbell and his crew for King Edward
VII Land.
The hut
went up rapidly: it measured fifty feet by twenty-five and
was nine feet to the eaves. It was insulated with quilted
seaweed, lined with matchboard, lit by acetylene gas,
provided with a stove and cooking range and divided into two
by a partition made of crates (including the wine) to
separate the men's from the officers' quarters. Within two
weeks the hut was built and occupied.
Before
starting on the depot-laying journey across the Barrier and
towards the Pole, Scott and Meares traveled the fifteen
miles south to revisit Hut Point. Scott was furious to find
a window had been left open. Snow had drifted in and frozen
into a solid block of ice. Scott knew that no one was to
blame other than Shackleton since he was the last to use the
hut when he had based at Cape Evans three years earlier.
Scott wrote, "It is difficult to conceive the absolutely
selfish frame of mind than can perpetrate a deed like
this...finding that such a simple duty had been neglected by
one's immediate predecessors disgusted me
horribly".
On
January 24 the depot-laying party got away, with all the
dogs and eight ponies, across the Glacier Tongue and on to
the Barrier. Two days later, Scott and a team of dogs went
back to the ship across the ice to say good-bye to
Lieutenant Pennell and his crew. Scott figured that by the
time they returned from the depot-laying, the Terra
Nova would have already deposited Campbell and his five
companions--Raymond Priestly, surgeon Levick, Browning,
Dickason and Abbott--somewhere in King Edward VII Land, and
would be on her return voyage to New Zealand. Also on board
were Griffith Taylor, Frank Debenham, Charles Wright and
Edgar Evans who were to do scientific work in the mountains
of Victoria Land.
Standing: Debenham and
Wright; sitting: Taylor and Priestley
Two days later the
depot-laying party was on the Barrier, establishing a camp
far enough from its edge to be out of any danger of the ice
breaking free. They called this Safety Camp and it was from
here that they made their final plans for the push to the
Pole. The first doubts about the ponies came as they sank
into the soft snow and floundered. One of them actually went
lame and although a complete set of snow-shoes for the
ponies had been unloaded from the ship, all but one set were
left back at Cape Evans. The lone set of snow-shoes were
attached to "Weary Willie" with astounding results so Meares
and Wilson headed back to base camp for the others. When
they arrived at the Glacier Tongue, they found that all the
sea ice had broken away leaving no path to reach the camp at
Cape Evans.
Meares and Wilson returned to Safety
Camp "shoeless" and on February 2 the party set forth with
five weeks' provisions, leaving behind two very disappointed
men: Atkinson with a sore heel and Crean to look after him.
They marched in an easterly direction until they arrived at
Corner Camp. At Corner Camp their first blizzard arrived
which kept them confined for three days. From Corner Camp
they marched due south for ten nights to make their final
depot. The ponies were becoming visibly weak, three in
particular. At Camp 11 Scott decided to send them back with
their escorts and push on with the remaining five. For the
next couple of days conditions worsened with heavy snow and
soon "Weary Willy", led by Gran, was overtaken by Meares and
Wilson with the dogs. The wolf in the dogs broke loose as
they pounced on the poor pony. The men were able to get them
off but not before the pony had been badly bitten. Next day
the ponies were able to proceed but at Camp 15, on February
17, Scott decided to turn back before reaching, as he had
hoped, the 80th parallel. At 79°28½'S, 142 miles
from Hut Point, they built a cairn and deposited more than
one ton of stores; this was One Ton Depot.
By this time Oates' nose had become
frostbitten as well as Bowers' ears and, besides, Scott
wanted to get back to Cape Evans to learn of any news left
by Pennell concerning Campbell's party at King Edward VII
Land. On the fourth day of the return trip, twelve miles
from Safety Camp, Wilson saw Meares' and Scott's dogs
disappear one after the other "exactly like rats running
down a hole--only I saw no hole. They simply went into the
white surface and disappeared". The sledge hung precariously
at the edge of the crevasse while eight dogs were left
dangling in the abyss, howling and struggling. Two of the
dogs had slipped their harness and fell forty feet to a
ledge where they curled up and went to sleep. Wilson and
Cherry-Garrard came to the rescue and hauled the eight dogs
out with great difficulty. There still remained the issue of
the two dogs left on the ledge, some sixty-five feet below.
Wilson protested but Scott insisted on being lowered into
the chasm to retrieve the dogs. As soon as the dogs were
hauled out, they engaged in a fight with Wilson's team.
Scott was left dangling in the abyss as the others rushed
off to separate the dogs. Finally, Scott was hauled in and
the next day they reached Safety Camp where they found Teddy
Evans, Ford and Keohane waiting for them. The three reported
to Scott that only one of the three ponies had survived the
return trip as the others had died from exhaustion. They
also had no news on Campbell, so after a meal and a few
hours of sleep they went on to Hut Point pulling the sledges
themselves.
When they reached the hut, they found
it to be empty. A note was pinned to the wall which said,
"Mail for Captain Scott is in bag inside south door" but
there was no bag and no mail. So, back they went to Safety
Camp where they found Atkinson and Crean with the mail.
"Every incident of the day pales before the startling
contents of the mail bag", Scott wrote. In the bag was a
letter from Victor Campbell. The Terra Nova had
sailed along the Barrier as far as King Edward VII Land but
found it impossible to go ashore. They turned back and on
February 3 sailed into the Bay of Whales only to find a
ship, anchored to the ice, which they recognized as the
Fram. Campbell, Levick and Pennell had breakfast in
the Fram and Amundsen, with two companions, had lunch
in the Terra Nova. Amundsen offered to give Scott
some dogs and Pennell offered to take the Fram's mail
to New Zealand. Amundsen reported that his attempt for the
Pole would not take place until the following Antarctic
summer.
As it
turns out, the Bay of Whales was the proper place for a
starting point on an attempt for the Pole. Scott was afraid
that too much was at risk to set up base camp at this
location: it was afloat and large chunks of it broke off
each year going out to sea. However, Amundsen knew that the
bay, charted by Ross in 1841, was still in the same position
when Borchgrevink landed there in 1900 and when Shackleton
sailed by in 1908 and named it the Bay of Whales. Besides,
the Bay was sixty miles closer to the Pole than McMurdo
Sound. Raymond Priestly was impressed when Amundsen drove
his dogs up next to the Terra Nova for lunch. When he
arrived next to the ship, he gave a whistle and the whole
team stopped as one dog. He turned the sledge upside down
and left the dogs in their tracks, to remain there, without
fighting, until he had finished his lunch. Dogs, plenty of
dogs, well-trained dogs was impressive. As much attention
was given the dogs as the men on the Fram: a false
deck had been built above the real one to protect the dogs
in stormy seas, an awning had been erected to protect them
from the sun, and their diet was a carefully balanced
mixture of dried fish, pemmican and lard.
When he read the news, Scott wrote,
"There is no doubt that Amundsen's plan is a very serious
menace to ours". Although Scott took the news in good
stride, many of the others were very angry and wanted to
march right into the Bay of Whales and have it out, once and
for all, with Amundsen. Cherry-Garrard wrote, "We had just
paid the first installment of making a path to the Pole; and
we felt, however unreasonably, that we had earned the first
right of way".
Scott
now had to get everyone back to Hut Point. On the last day
of February the move began with Meares and Wilson leading
off with the dog teams. Wilson went round by Cape Armitage
and arrived safely at Hut Point. The others followed with
the ponies and had to follow the sea-ice route. They had
barely started when "Weary Willie" collapsed and died. While
Scott, Oates and Gran stayed by Weary Willie's deathbed,
Bowers, Crean and Cherry-Garrard went on ahead with the four
surviving ponies and the loaded sledges. They dropped down
off the Barrier onto sea-ice and started to probe their way
round Cape Armitage. When the ponies could go no farther,
they camped and turned in but were aroused two hours later
by a strange noise.
When they stepped outside, it was
discovered that the ice had broke up and their camp was now
adrift on a floe. One of the ponies had disappeared and
survival seemed unlikely. The only hope was to take the
three remaining ponies and four sledges and "hop" from floe
to floe as they made their way back to the Barrier. Six
hours passed before they made it to the edge of the Barrier.
Using sledges as ladders, Scott and the others were able to
climb on to the Barrier but the ponies drifted away on their
floe as killer whales stood by. Scott replied, "Of course we
shall have a run for our money next season, but so far as
the Pole is concerned I have little hope". Next morning,
Bowers spotted the ponies' floe resting against a spur
jutting out from the Barrier. Bowers and Oates were able to
make their way out across the floes and reach the ponies.
Unfortunately, one pony immediately fell in so Oates had to
kill him with his pick-axe. Meanwhile, the other two ponies
were brought to the brink of safety. Both were hauled out
but one could not get to his feet. The pony would slip and
fall back into the water with each attempt and when the
killer whales showed up, Bowers shouted, "I can't leave him
alive to be eaten by those whales". Bowers grabbed the axe
and killed him. When all was said and done, only one pony
had survived. They had started their depot-laying journey
with eight ponies; they bot back to Hut Point with
two.
Now they
waited at Hut Point for the sea-ice to freeze over again so
they could continue on to Cape Evans. On March 15 they were
joined by the geologists, Griffith Taylor, Frank Debenham
and Charles Wright along with Petty Officer Edgar Evans who
had been exploring the western mountains in Victoria Land.
On April 11 Scott and half the party were able to get away
for Cape Evans, with the rest to follow. When they reached
the base they found the hut in good shape but one of the
ponies and another dog had died. That left ten ponies out of
the original nineteen. On April 23 the sun vanished beneath
the horizon for the last time until August. Scott wrote that
the sledging season had come to an end. That is, except for
one trip led by Wilson to Cape Crozier in search of birds.
The adventure is best told in a book written by
Cherry-Garrard, The Worst Journey in the
World.
A great
deal of scientific work was accomplished during the winter
at Cape Evans. Scott's diary is full of scientific data. He
was constantly thinking and observing as he went on solitary
walks, recording all things seen. He had a passion for
science and was sensitive to nature and beauty alike. His
spiritual growth was boundless..."There is infinite
suggestion in this phenomenon (the aurora)--mysterious--no
reality. It is the language of mystic signs and of
portents--the inspiration of the gods--wholly
spiritual--divine signalling". Needless to say, hours and
hours of preparation were put into the plans for the push to
the Pole. Always his thoughts came back to transport. During
the winter three more dogs died.
Six men
missing from the hut at Cape Evans were Victor Cambell and
his five companions who, having failed to get ashore on King
Edward VII Land, had been taken by the Terra Nova to
Cape Adare, where they established their base near
Borchgrevink's old camp. The "Eastern Party" had thus become
the "Northern Party". It had been arranged that the Terra
Nova would pick up Campbell's party from Cape Adare on
her return from New Zealand in early 1912. Geology, with
twenty-five-year-old Raymond Priestley in charge, was to be
the main pre-occupation, and surgeon Murray Levick was to
study birds and marine life. So, the winter at Cape Evans
passed. Scott celebrated his forty-third birthday with his
companions. Scott wrote, "They are boys, all of them, but
such excellent good-natured ones; there has been no sign of
sharpness or anger, no jarring note, in all these wordy
contests; all end with a laugh". A Discovery custom
Scott revived was the issue of the South Polar
Times.
The sun
returned on Victor Campbell's thirty-sixth birthday, August
23. Scott fixed the date of departure for the Pole as
November 1, 1911, at the latest. They couldn't start earlier
because the ponies would not survive the cold so, to fill in
the time, Scott, Bowers, Simpson and Edgar Evans left on
September 15 on "a remarkably pleasant and instructive
little spring journey" to the western mountains. It was
probably on this trip that Scott picked his companions for
the push to the Pole. Wilson was a given; Edgar "Taff"
Evans, too--the sterling sledger, strong as an ox; Bowers,
the only man Scott could rely on to grasp details and
remember them--"The greatest source of pleasure to me is to
realise that I have such men as Bowers and P.O. Evans for
the Southern journey".
At the
end of October, 1911, Scott called his men together to give
them some bad news. The expedition was under heavy financial
strain and had literally ran out of funding. Those men
capable of forgoing their salary for the coming year were
asked to do so. Some had already decided to return with the
Terra Nova when she called in the summer: Griffith
Taylor was expected back at his university, Ponting and
Day's work was finished while Clissold and Forde were in
poor health. Most of the others volunteered to stay another
winter even if they received no pay. Before the departure of
the Southern Party, Scott, like all the others, wrote to his
family and friends. He acknowledged in his letter to
Kathleen, "I don't know what to think of Amundsen's chances.
If he gets to the Pole it must be before we do, as he is
bound to travel fast with dogs, and pretty certain to start
early. On this account I decided at a very early date to act
exactly as I should have done had he not existed. Any
attempt to race must have wrecked my plan, besides which it
doesn't appear the sort of thing one is out for...You can
rely on my not saying or doing anything foolish, only I'm
afraid you must be prepared for finding our venture much
belittled. After all, it is the work that counts, not the
applause that follows". Scott wrote on the last page of the
diary that he left behind, "The future is in the lap of the
gods. I can think of nothing left undone to deserve
success". On November 1, 1911, the time came for the start
of his last journey.
The
first to leave Cape Evans were Day, Lashly, Teddy Evans and
Hooper with the motor sledges while the others with ponies
and dogs followed behind. One machine gave out just beyond
Safety Camp while the other had to be abandoned a mile
beyond Corner Camp. On November 1, ten men, each with a pony
and sledge, left Cape Evans in detachments: Scott, Wilson,
Bowers, Oates, Atkinson, Cherry-Garrard, Wright, Edgar
Evans, Crean and Keohane. Meares and Dimitri followed with
the dogs. Everyone else remained at Cape Evans to carry out
further exploration and research in Victoria Land. Scott
assumed the Terra Nova would return in January
bringing Victor Campbell and his Northern Party back to Cape
Evans whereby Campbell would take command.
The
distance from Hut Point to the Pole and back was 1766
statute miles. Every step of the way had to be marched on
foot, with or without skis. They traveled by night for the
benefit of the ponies. Temperatures never rose above zero
Farenheit. Fighting constant snowfalls, the team reached One
Ton Camp on the fifteenth day. There was a constant worry
that the ponies would give out and upon reaching Camp 20, on
November 24, the first pony was killed. Four camps later, on
December 1, the second pony was shot.
Depots
were made at regular intervals of roughly seventy miles,
each containing food and fuel for a week for the returning
parties. Scott wrote on December 3, "Our luck in weather is
preposterous...the conditions simply horrible". On December
5 they awoke to a blizzard. The temperature normally rose
just before and during a blizzard but in this case the
temperature rose exceptionally high resulting in melting
snow making everything wet. Scott wrote, "One cannot see the
next tent, let alone the land. What on earth does such
weather mean at this time of the year? It is more than our
share of ill-fortune, but the luck may turn yet". The wet,
warm blizzard kept them confined to their tents for the next
four days. (This event quite likely led to their deaths. If
they had not lost these four days they would have reached
One Ton Depot ahead of the blizzard that kept them pinned at
their last camp.)
On the third day of the blizzard Scott
wrote, "Resignation to misfortune is the only attitude, but
not one easy to adopt...It is very evil to lie here in a wet
sleeping-bag and think of the pity of it, whilst things go
steadily from bad to worse". On the fifth day the blizzard
let up enough for the men to break camp. They had to beat
the ponies as they floundered up to their bellies and,
Wilson wrote, "constantly collapsed and lay down and sank
down, and eventually we could only get them on five or six
yards at a time--they were clean done". They struggled for
eleven hours after which time the party camped. Five ponies
were shot, skinned and made into a depot. Wilson wrote,
"Thank God the horses are now all done for and we begin the
heavier work ourselves".
Two days later found them on the foot
of the Beardmore Glacier. After setting up the Lower Glacier
depot, Meares and Dimitri started back with the dogs and
mail. Day and Hooper had already turned back so a party of
twelve, divided into groups, set out to man-haul the sledges
up the glacier towards the summit 10,000 feet above.
(Amundsen was already there). The glacier is over 100 miles
long and in some places 40 miles wide. The struggle began
with each man pulling over 200 pounds through the soft snow
which they sank into nearly up to their knees. Some suffered
from snow-blindness as others stumbled into crevasses,
sledges and all. On December 13, the day before Amundsen
reached the Pole, in nine hours the party had advanced less
than four miles. Scott wrote, "I had pinned my faith on
getting better conditions as we rose, but it looks as though
matters are getting worse instead of better". Bowers wrote
that he had "never pulled so hard, or so nearly crushed my
inside into my backbone by the everlasting jerking with all
my strength on the canvas band round my unfortunate tummy".
The situation gradually improved as
they scaled the glacier and on December 20 Scott named the
first returning party: Atkinson, Wright, Cherry-Garrard and
Keohane. Scott had dreaded this moment as all had pulled to
the limit of their strength, but now four good men had to be
deprived of their just reward: the Pole. The next day the
men established Upper Glacier depot at 7,000 feet. After
completion, the first supporting party left for home and
reached Hut Point thirty-five days later on January 26,
1912. The two remaining groups went on with two sledges and
twelve weeks' supply of oil and fuel, pulling 190 pounds per
man. In Scott's group were Oates, Wilson and Taff Evans
while Bowers had Teddy Evans, Lashly and Crean. They went on
climbing for another sixteen days to reach their highest
altitude at 10,570 feet.
On Christmas day, with a strong wind
in their faces, they advanced seventeen-and-a-half miles.
The Christmas meal consisted of pony hoosh, ground biscuit,
a chocolate hoosh made from cocoa, sugar, biscuit and
raisins thickened with arrowroot, two-and-a-half square
inches each of plum-duff, a pannikin of cocoa, four caramels
each and four pieces of crystallized ginger. From here they
made remarkable marches of fourteen to seventeen miles a
day.
On January 3 Scott chose four men to
continue with him to the Pole and instructed the other three
to return. Bowers was brought into his tent and Teddy Evans,
Lashly and Crean would become the second returning support
party. Teddy Evans was very bitter about Scott's decision
but the rest of the crew knew it was a proper choice; aboard
ship he was of great help but on land he was a failure.
Wilson wrote, "I never thought for a moment he would be in
the final party". Bowers wrote, "Poor Teddy--I am sure it
was for his wife's sake he wanted to go. He gave me a little
silk flag she had given him to fly on the Pole". Lashly and
Crean were both in tears as the three men turned back at
87°32'S, at an altitude of 10,280 feet and 169 miles
from the Pole.
There
was no sign of the Norwegians as Scott and the others
followed Shackleton's route. On January 6 they crossed the
line of latitude where Shackleton turned back and were
farther south, as they believed, than any man had been
before. For the next few days the going was difficult. On
January 9 they stayed in their bags all day as a blizzard
roared outside. On January 10 they resumed their march, made
a depot of one weeks' provisions and reckoned they were only
ninety-seven miles from the Pole. On this day came the first
hint that everyone was growing tired.
Scott wrote, "I never had such
pulling; all the time the sledge rasps and creaks. We have
covered six miles, but at fearful cost to
ourselves...Another hard grind in the afternoon and five
miles added. About seventy-four miles from the Pole--can we
keep this up for seven days? It takes it out of us like
anything. None of us ever had such hard work before...Our
chance still holds good if we can put the work in, but it's
a terribly trying time". A day later "It is an effort to
keep up the double figures, but if we can do another four
marches we ought to get through. It is going to be a close
thing". Two days later, despite higher temperatures Scott
wrote, "It is most unaccountable why we should suddenly feel
the cold in this manner".
On
January 13 they crossed the 89th parallel. Next day they
started to descend and made their final depot of four days'
food. Scott wrote, "We ought to do it now". This was
the last cheerful entry in Scott's diary. The next day,
January 16, they made a good march and figured they would
reach the Pole the following day. In the afternoon, Bowers
spotted something ahead which looked like a cairn. Half and
hour later they realized the black speck to be a flag tied
to part of a sledge. Nearby was the remains of a camp along
with tracks made by sledges and dogs...many dogs. Scott
wrote, "This told us the whole story. The Norwegians have
forestalled us and are first at the Pole." Scott felt he had
let his loyal companions down and had utterly failed them.
Scott wrote, "Many thoughts come and much discussion have we
had...All the day dreams must go; it will be a wearisome
return".
On
January 17, a force five gale struck them along with
temperatures falling to fifty-four degrees of frost. Oates,
Evans and Bowers all suffered from severe frostbite as they
made an early lunch-camp. Scott wrote, "Great God! This is
an awful place and terrible enough for us to have laboured
to it without the reward of priority. Well, it is something
to have got here, and the wind may be our friend tomorrow".
Wilson wrote that it was "a tiring day" and despite Amundsen
having "beaten us in so far as he has made a race of it...We
have done what we came for all the same and as our programme
was made out".
The next morning they found the
Norwegian's camp about two miles away. Inside the tent was a
sheet of paper with five names on it: Roald Amundsen, Olav
Olavson Bjaaland, Hilmer Hanssen, Sverre H. Hassel and Oscar
Wisting. The date of the note was December 14, 1911. They
had taken twenty-one days less than Scott's party to reach
the Pole. They had arrived at the Pole with their dogs via a
glacier they had named the Axel Heiberg. On the day Scott
and his companions arrived at the Pole, Amundsen and his men
were only one week out from their winter quarters in the Bay
of Whales. The five men reached the Fram in the Bay
of Whales on January 25, 1912. In the Norwegian tent
Amundsen left a note for Scott and a letter to be delivered
to King Haakon. Bowers took photographs, and then they
marched seven miles south-south-east to a spot which put
them within half a mile of the Pole, altitude 9,500 feet.
Here they built a cairn, planted "our poor slighted Union
Jacks" and the rest of the flags, photographed themselves
and headed for home. Scott wrote, "Well we have turned our
back now on the goal of our ambition with sore feelings and
must face 800 miles of solid dragging--and goodbye to the
daydreams!"
At the Pole, L
to R: Wilson, Evans, Scott, Oates and Bowers
The return trip started out
fairly well but the temperatures were obviously becoming
colder. Scott wrote, "There is no doubt that Evans is a good
deal run down". On January 23 they had to camp early because
of frostbite to Evans' nose. Oates' feet were always cold
and when a blizzard held them up seven miles short of the
next food depot, Scott wrote, "I don't like the look of it.
Is the weather breaking up? If so God help us, with the
tremendous summit journey and scant food".
Despite the delays and difficult
travel, the marches were good. They were becoming very tired
as evidenced by the many injuries due to falls: Wilson
strained a leg tendon and had to limp painfully beside the
sledge for several days; Scott fell and bruised his shoulder
and Evans hand lost two fingernails. On February 7 they
reached the head of the Beardmore Glacier and the next day
they started their decent. On February 11, in difficult
conditions, they took a wrong turn and ended up in the worse
"ice mess" they had ever been in. For the next two days they
stumbled around in a maze of ridges, growing more weak and
despondent. They knew the next depot could not be far away
but they simply couldn't find it.
Down to their last meal, the men
accidentally came upon the depot which was shrouded in fog.
Scott wrote, "The relief was inexpressible. There is no
getting away from the fact that we are not pulling strong".
At this point it was determined to reduce rations since they
weren't making the distances between depots in a timely
manner. This only weakened them further as Evans began
losing heart and was "nearly broken down in brain, we
think". On February 16 Evans collapsed and camp had to be
made. Next day he felt better and said he could go on. He
would march for a while and then stop to adjust his boots
while the others went on. When he failed to catch up, the
others would go back only to find him kneeling in the snow
with a wild look in his eyes. His companions sledged him to
the next camp and soon after midnight he died.
After a few hours rest, they were on
their way again. At the foot of the glacier they reached the
pony meat and enjoyed their first full meal since leaving
the plateau. "New life seems to come with greater food
almost immediately". From here the travelling became
difficult as the snow became very soft. "Pray God we get
better travelling as we are not so fit as we were and the
season advances apace". They left the foot of the glacier on
February 19. On the 27th, Wilson's diary stopped. Bowers had
given up on his on January 25. They arrived at the Southern
Barrier depot six days later. Here they discovered a
shortage of oil, presumably due to evaporation from the
poorly sealed one-gallon tins. Another seventy miles brought
them to the Middle Barrier depot where they once again
discovered a short supply of oil.
By this time Oates could no longer
conceal his pain: his toes were black and gangrene was
setting in. Temperatures were down to -40°F and the
surface was so bad that even a strong wind in the sail would
not move the sledge. Scott wrote, "God help us, we can't
keep up this pulling, that is certain. Among ourselves we
are unendingly cheerful, but what each man feels in his
heart I can only guess". On March 7 Scott mentions the dogs
for the first time: "We hope against hope that the dogs have
been to Mt. Hooper (the next depot), then we might pull
through. If there is a shortage of oil again we can have
little hope...I should like to keep the track to the end".
On the same day, the dogs, driven by Cherry-Garrard and
Dimitri, were waiting at One Ton Depot, some seventy-two
miles from Mt. Hooper.
On March 9 Scott and his men reached
Mt. Hooper. "Cold comfort. Shortage on our allowance all
round...The dogs which would have been our salvation have
evidently failed". An unusual north-west wind kept them in
camp the next day as it was simply too cold to face. With
half-cooked food, all of them getting frostbitten, all
knowing they were doomed, they discussed the situation.
Months before, at Cape Evans, they had discussed what to do
if one of them became so injured as to not be able to
continue on. Wilson carried lethal doses of morphine and
opium in his medicine chest so one could eliminate himself
if the situation called for it. At this point Scott ordered
Wilson to hand over the drugs so Wilson handed each man
thirty opium tablets. They were never used as suicide was
against the code.
Things
got worse as the north wind continued to blow in their
faces. Wilson was now becoming weak so Scott and Bowers had
to make camp by themselves. The temperature fell to
-43°F. On March 16 or 17 (they lost track of the days)
Oates said he couldn't go on and wanted to be left in his
bag. The others refused and he struggled on. There was a
blizzard blowing in the morning when Oates said "I am just
going outside and may be some time" and he stumbled out of
the tent. Scott wrote, "We knew that poor Oates was walking
to his death, but though we tried to dissuade him, we knew
it was the act of a brave man and an English gentleman".
Oates was never to be seen again.
On March 20 they awoke to a raging
blizzard. Scott's right foot became a problem and he knew
"these are the steps of my downfall". Amputation was a
certainty "but will the trouble spread? That is the serious
question". They were only eleven miles from One Ton Depot
but the blizzard stopped them from continuing on. They were
out of oil and had only two days' rations. "Have decided it
shall be natural--we shall march for the depot and die in
our tracks", wrote Scott. They did not march again and on
March 29 Scott made his last entry: "It seems a pity, but I
do not think that I can write more. R. Scott. For God's sake
look after our people". On another page he scribbled, "Send
this diary to my widow".
Remarkably, Scott was able to find the
strength, despite being half starved and three quarters
frozen, to write twelve complete, legible letters. He wrote
to Kathleen and Hannah, to his brother-in-law, to his naval
comrades Sir Francis Bridgeman and Sir George Egerton, to
the Reginald Smiths and to Sir James Barrie. To Barrie he
wrote, "I may not have proved a great explorer but we have
done the greatest march ever made and come very near to
great success".
He wrote to Oates' and Bowers' mothers
and to Wilson's wife. Wilson wrote to his parents, "looking
forward to the day when we shall all meet together in the
hereafter. I have had a very happy life and I look forward
to a very happy life hereafter when we shall all be together
again. God knows I have no fear of meeting Him--for He will
be merciful to all of us. My poor Ory may or may not have
long to wait". Letters were written to J. J. Kinsey in New
Zealand and Sir Edgar Speyer expressing regrets for leaving
the expedition in such a state of affairs, "But we have been
to the Pole and we shall die like gentlemen".
In Scott's letter to Kathleen, he
wrote of hopes for his son, "I had looked forward to helping
you to bring him up, but it is a satisfaction to know that
he will be safe with you...Make the boy interested in
natural history if you can. It is better than games. They
encourage it in some schools. I know you will keep him in
the open air. Try to make him believe in a God, it is
comforting...and guard him against indolence. Make him a
strenuous man. I had to force myself into being strenuous,
as you know--had always an inclination to be idle". As for
Kathleen, "I want you to take the whole thing very sensibly,
as I am sure you will...You know I cherish no sentimental
rubbish about remarriage. When the right man comes to help
you in life you ought to be your happy self again--I wasn't
a very good husband but I hope I shall be a good
memory...The inevitable must be faced, you urged me to be
the leader of this party, and I know you felt it would be
dangerous. I have taken my place throughout, haven't
I?...What lots and lots I could tell you of this journey.
How much better it has been than lounging about in too great
comfort at home. What tales you would have had for the boy,
but oh, what a price to pay. Dear, you will be good to the
old Mother...I haven't had time to write to Sir Clements.
Tell him I thought much of him, and never regretted his
putting me in charge of the Discovery".
Finally, there was a Message to the
Public. He explained how the expedition's disaster was not
due to poor planning, but by bad weather and bad luck. It
was no one's fault..."but for my own sake I do not regret
this journey, which has shown that Englishmen can endure
hardships, help one another, and meet death with as great a
fortitude as ever in the past. We took risks, we knew we
took them; things have come out against us, and therefore we
have no cause for complaint, but bow to the will of
providence, determined still to do our best to the
last...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. These
rough notes and our dead bodies must tell the tale, but
surely, surely, a great rich country like ours will see that
those who are dependent on us are properly provided
for".
Even at
the very end Scott still felt comfortable with his decisions
and felt a need to defend that position when he wrote,
"Every detail of our food supplies, clothing and
depots...worked out to perfection...We have missed getting
through by a narrow margin which was justifiably within the
risk of such a journey". Death, to Scott, was not a failure
since they had reached their goal---the Pole. He hoped he
had set an example of courage and loyalty to all those left
behind when he wrote to Sir Francis Bridgeman, "After all we
are setting a good example to our countrymen, if not by
getting into a tight place, by facing it like men when we
were there".
The
blizzard raged on for another ten days before Scott's last
entry on March 29, 1912. It was not until November 12 that
Surgeon Atkinson, leader of the search party, found their
tent all but buried in snow. When "Silas" Wright pulled the
flap aside, they saw the three men in their sleeping bags.
On the left was Wilson, his hands crossed on his chest; on
the right, Bowers, wrapped in his bag. It appeared that both
had died peacefully in their sleep. But Scott was lying half
out of his bag with one arm stretched towards Wilson.
Tryggve Gran said, "It was a horrid sight. It was clear he
had had a very hard last minutes. His skin was yellow,
frostbites all over". Gran envied them. "They died having
done something great--how hard must not death be having done
nothing". Petty Officer Williamson said, "His face was very
pinched and his hands, I should say, had been terribly
frostbitten...Never again in my life do I want to behold the
sight we have just seen". At the age of forty-three, Scott
had been the last to die.
Atkinson
took charge of the diaries and letters and read aloud the
account of Oates' death and the Message to the Public. He
then read the Burial Service and a chapter from Corinthians
after which all the men gathered and sang Scott's favorite
hymn, "Onward Christian Soldiers". The tent was then
collapsed over the bodies and a snow cairn was built over
all. Placed on top was a pair of crossed skis. Here they
would lie until one day, drifting with the Barrier, they
would find their final resting place in the sea. Atkinson
led the search party back along the path believed taken by
Scott in hopes of finding Oates. They found his sleeping bag
but nothing more. Near the spot where they assumed he had
fallen, the men erected a cross with the following
inscription: "Hereabouts died a very gallant gentleman,
Captain L. E. G. Oates of the Inniskilling Dragoons. In
March 1912, returning from the Pole, he walked willingly to
his death in a blizzard to try to save his comrades, beset
by hardship".
The
expedition was expected back in New Zealand early in April
1913. In January, Kathleen set out to meet him by way of the
United States. After a few days of camping with cowboys in
New Mexico, she set out from San Francisco aboard RMS
Aorangi. On February 19, between Tahiti and
Raratonga, she was called to the captain's cabin. With
shaking hands, he showed her a message received by wireless:
"Captain Scott and six others perished in a blizzard after
reaching the South Pole January 18th".
She went into mental shock as she went
about her business the rest of the day: playing cards,
taking a Spanish lesson and discussing American politics.
Her brother Wilfrid met her in Wellington along with Ory
Wilson, Atkinson and Teddy Evans who had taken the Terra
Nova down to McMurdo Sound to embark Scott's party and
the rest of the expedition. Atkinson handed Kathleen her
husband's diary and last letter. It was now Kathleen's turn
to be courageous in the face of tremendous debt still owed
from the expedition. Ironically, with the death of the
leader came funding that retired the £30,000 debt.
Before long, £75,509 had come in which paid all
outstanding debt and allowed grants to all dependants. There
was still £12,000 remaining and this was handed over to
Cambridge University which used the gift towards the
foundation of the Scott
Polar Research Institute.
Officially constituted in 1926, Frank Debenham became the
first director. The honor that would have been bestowed upon
Scott was awarded to his wife, Kathleen; she became Lady
Scott. Kathleen continued to carve statues of many leaders
of her day: kings, prime ministers, writers and adventurers,
including Nansen, who wanted her to marry him. She rejected
the proposal but kept him as a friend. Kathleen went on to
marry Edward Hilton Young, a politician who later became
Lord Kennet of the Dene. She died of leukemia in
1947.
Other
than Kathleen and the family, no one grieved more than Sir
Clements Markham. He was now eighty-three and plagued by
gout. The electric light bulb was widely used but Markam
still preferred to read by candlelight. One night, while
reading in bed, the bedclothes caught fire. The butler
rushed in and extinguished the flames but the shock was too
great and the old man died, unconscious, in January
1916.
Vince's Cross
on Hut Point
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