Scott RF
NAME: Scott, Robert Falcon
ACHIEVEMENTS: Explored the Antarctic, who got within a half-mile of the South Pole
NICKNAME/ALIAS: Scott of the Antarctic
DATE AND PLACE OF BIRTH: June 6, 1868, Stoke Damerel, Devonport, England
DATE/PLACE OF DEATH/AGE AT DEATH: 1912, Antarctic. Aged 44.
DISCIPLINE: Antarctic explorer
FIELD: Exploration.
LANGUAGE: English
PARENTS: John Edward Scott; Hannah Cuming
SIBLINGS: Archibald; Ettie; Rose; Grace; Katherine
SPOUSE: Kathleen Bruce
CHILDREN: Peter
EDUCATION: Exmouth House school, Stoke Damerel, England; Stubbington House school, Fareham, Hampshire, England; British Royal Navy
MAJOR WORK: "The Voyage of Discovery"; "Scott's Last Expedition"
LIFE AND TIMES:
At 18, Scott joined the HMS "Rover", a training ship bound for the West Indies. In St. Kitts, he met explorer and writer <co-opted by> Clements Markham*, who took a shine to Scott and told him of his dream of promoting a British expedition to the Antarctic. When the two met again in London, 13 years later, Markham announced he now had government money for the expedition, and Scott applied to lead it.
A year later, Scott was appointed head of the National Antarctic expedition and promoted to Commander. Scott was obliged to take along Markham's choice of meteorologist and an acquaintance of newspaper magnate Alfred Harmsworth (later Lord <funded by> Northcliffe*), who also had contributed. He was also obliged to take along <sailed with> Shackleton*, a young officer with the Union Castle line, who had been recommended by another contributor.
Scott traveled with Markham to Norway to meet <consulted> Nansen*, an experienced explorer, and he researched everything from sledding methods to tinned foods. In a new wooden ship, "The Discovery", built in Dundee, Scotland, the expedition set out from London in April, 1901.
The explorers crossed the Antarctic Circle in early January, 1902, and began to look for suitable winter quarters. They discovered the "apparent land", which British explorer <work related to> James Clark Ross* had speculated about. Scott named it King Edward VII Land. The group wintered in McMurdo Sound, in an anchorage off Hut Point, Ross Island.
Scott and Shackleton ventured south of the ice barrier along the edge of the plateau. They discovered the lay of the South Victoria Land mountain range as it continued south, and went further south than any previous explorer. The expedition returned to New Zealand in April, 1904. Despite the inexperience of the crew and several navigational errors, the expedition was considered a success. It had surveyed the coast of South Victoria Land, taken soundings of the Ross Sea, and investigated the nature of the ice barrier and the structure of the Antarctic continent.
Scott was promoted to captain, returned to his naval duties, and wrote a book about the journey: "The Voyage of Discovery", published in 1905. In 1906, Mabel Beardsley, sister of artist <knew sister of> Beardsley*, introduced Scott to Kathleen Bruce, who lived a bohemian life in Paris and consorted with dancer Isadora <knew> Duncan*, American writer <knew> Stein*, Spanish artist <knew> Picasso*, and American novelist <knew> Henry James*.
Scott married Kathleen in August, 1908, and a son, Peter, was born the next month. Author <son’s godfather was> Barrie* was godfather. The boy later achieved fame as a naturalist.
Four months after his marriage, Scott resigned from the Admiralty to raise funds for his next trip to the Antarctic. With money mostly from the British and Canadian governments, the expedition left in 1909. Also aboard was Lawrence Oates, a captain in the dragoons, who had bought his passage.
In South Africa, Scott got a telegram from <race for Pole with> Amundsen*, an experienced Norwegian explorer, who announced that he, too, was trying to be the first to the South Pole. The race was on.
In late November, 1910, Scott's ship, the "Terra Nova", left Lyttleton, New Zealand. Scott's strategy was to lay supply depots along the route, stocked with men, dogs, ponies and motor sleds for transport. A small party would then advance to the Pole, and return via the depots.
On Nov. 1, 1911, Scott set out for the Pole with nine men, each with a pony harnessed to a sled. Dogs with two handlers were to catch them up. It was a journey of over 1,500 miles on foot. A blizzard at the foot of the terrible <work related to> Beardmore* glacier cost them four days.
When the blizzard was over, the ponies could not cope with the soft snow and were shot. The men, each now hauling a sled with a weight of 200 lbs., sank into the snow at every step. On Dec. 13, they could make only four miles in nine hours. Some of the party were in agony with snow blindness. Four were told to go back. On Jan. 2, 1912, Scott set out on the final push of 169 miles with Wilson, Bowers, Petty Officer Evans and Captain Oates. On Jan. 16, they saw a cairn and paw marks and knew that Amundsen had beaten them to the Pole.
On Jan. 18, the five walked to where they calculated they were within half a mile of the Pole, built a cairn, took photographs, planted the British flag, then began the trip home. But by the end of the month, Scott knew they likely would not make it.
Evans died on Feb. 18. On March 14, Oates, lame from frostbite and aware he was slowing everyone down, left the tent with the words: "I am just going outside and may be some time". He never returned. Wilson, Bowers and Scott moved slowly on but were stopped by a blizzard on March 19, just 11 miles short of a depot. They had no oil and food for only two days.
Scott recorded in his diary, "Have decided it shall be natural; we shall march for the depot and die in our tracks". But they never left the tent. Scott's last diary entry was on March 29. Their bodies, together with letters and diaries, were found eight months later and a cairn was built over their them.
ASSESSMENT: Though Scott failed to be the first to reach the South Pole, his journey and the bravery of himself and his companions remain a moving portrait in the history of exploration; he became regarded as a hero.
EXTRA CONNECTIONS: Influenced <influenced> Ronne*
ONELINER: RF Scott, Antarctic explorer
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
De-La Noy, Michael, Scott of the Antarctic, Sutton Publishing, 1977
Huxley, Elspeth, Scott of the Antarctic, Weidenfeld and Nicholson, London, 1977