Scott information

Robert Falcon Scott was a British naval captain. He failed to achieve his ambition of being the first to reach the South Pole. His rival Roald Amundsen got there a month ahead.

In June 1910, Scott set sail on the "Tela Nova". On the way, he heard that Amundsen was also heading to Antarctica.

Left: This photo of Scott was taken by Herbert Ponting, a member of the British Antarctic Expedition. Soon, Ponting and some of the team members were ordered to return to the base, leaving Scott and his 10 companions to advance to the Antarctic.

On November 1, 1911, a group of Scott's men left their camping base and headed for the Antarctic. Blizzards made travel difficult. Therefore, on January 3, 1912, Scott decided to go forward with only four companions, namely Edward Wilson, Henry Bowles, Edgar Evans, and Lawrence Oates.

On January 17, Scott and his party arrived at the South Pole. But Amundsen's Norwegian flag was already flying there. Deeply disappointed, they set out on their way home. Evans died of mental disorder; Oates suffered from severe frostbite and did not want to injure others, so he took the initiative to go out for a walk. In this environment, going out would only... The remaining three people had to camp. to avoid bad weather. But on March 29, Scott and three others died a few kilometers away from their camping base.

Details of Scott's last trip are known because he kept a diary up to the last day. In November 1912, a search party discovered the diary and the bodies of Scott and three others. The bodies of the three people were buried on the spot and are now deep under the Antarctic ice. Oates' body was never found.

The Last Trek - Excerpts from the Diary of Captain Scott

January 27, Saturday

In the morning we walked through a snow gully ravaged by a snowstorm . The damn snow arched into waves that looked like a rippling sea. Wilson and I led the way on skis while the rest walked. Finding the path was an extremely difficult job... Our sleeping bags were getting wet, not too fast, but getting wetter. We were gradually getting hungrier and it would have been beneficial to eat more, especially at lunch. If we want to get to the next supply station as quickly as possible, we have to go a little faster. The next supply station was less than 60 miles away, and we had a full week's worth of food. But don’t expect to have a real meal until you reach the supply station. It's a long way to go, but this journey is extremely difficult...

Thursday, February 1st

It took most of the day to trek. I walked 8 miles in 4 hours and 45 minutes. We were still walking at 8pm. We only had a quick lunch on December 29, only a week after leaving the supply station. Calculating three meals a day, we still have 8 days of food on hand, so there should be no problem reaching the next stop. Evans' fingers are now in bad shape, with two nails missing. It's frostbite...

February 17, Saturday

Things were bad today. Evans seemed better after getting a good night's sleep. He said everything was fine as usual. He stayed in the same spot, but half an hour later he lost his skis and had to leave the sled. The road conditions are extremely bad. Later we stopped for about an hour and Evans followed us, but very slowly. Half an hour later he lost his shoes again, and we stood halfway up Monument Rock looking at Evans, and later set up tent for lunch. After the meal, Evans still didn't show up. We looked around and saw him far away from us. Now we were alert, and the four of us slid back together. I was the first to come to the poor man, and was stunned by his appearance. He was kneeling on the snow, his clothes were disheveled, his gloves were gone, and his hands were covered with ice. There was a crazy look in his eyes. I asked him what happened, and he slowly said he didn't know, only that he thought he must have passed out. We helped him stand up, but after taking two or three steps he fell down again. He was completely frozen. Wilson, Powers, and I went back to haul the sled, and Oates stayed behind to take care of him. When we returned, Evans was unconscious. After we carried him into the tent, he was still unconscious. He died peacefully at 12:30 midnight.

Wednesday, February 22nd

Needless to say, we were destined to experience the most severe moments on our way home. Shortly after setting off today, the southeast wind became extremely strong and swept the ground wildly. We immediately lost sight of the already indistinct road signs. During lunch, I didn’t see the conical stone road sign I was expecting at all. …But these unfortunate events did not discourage us, and this should indeed be recorded. In the evening, we had a delicious horsemeat soup, which really made us energetic and energetic...

February 26, Sunday

It is night now , extremely cold. We set off with cold feet because the shoes and socks we wore during the day had not dried at all. We consume food prudently, but we should have more than enough food. I longed for the next supply depot, now only 50 miles away. Once there, we can bring enough supplies and continue the journey ahead.

About Scott's letters before his death (Zweig)

Those letters are very touching. Death is imminent, but there is no trace of sadness and despair in the letter, as if the letter is also permeated with the clear air under the lifeless sky. Those letters were written to people he knew, and they were also addressed to all mankind; those letters were written to that era, but the words they said will last forever.

He wrote to his wife. He reminded her to take good care of his most precious legacy, his son, and his main concern for her was not to let his son become lazy. At the end of completing one of the most noble deeds in world history, he made this confession: "You know, I have to force myself to pursue something-because I always like to be lazy." Before his death, At this moment, he still felt honored rather than regretful for his decision. "What can I tell you about this expedition? It's infinitely better than sitting comfortably at home!"

He expressed his sincerest friendship to those who were with him. Wives and mothers of fallen comrades wrote letters testifying to their heroism. Although he himself was about to die, he used strong and superhuman feelings - because he felt that such a death was worth remembering and such a moment was great - to comfort the bereaved families of his companions.

He wrote letters to his friends. He spoke of himself with great humility, but of the nation as a whole with great pride, saying that at such moments he rejoiced that he was a son of the nation—a man worthy of being called a son. He wrote: "I don't know if I am a great discoverer. But our outcome will prove that our nation has not lost that courageous spirit and endurance." He also made a speech to his friends before he died. A friendly confession, this is what he has not said out loud in his life due to male stubbornness. He wrote in a letter to his best friend: "In my life, I have never met a person who I admire and love as much as you, but I have never expressed it to you, Your friendship means so much to me, for you have so much to give me and I have so little to give you."

His last and most wonderful letter was written to him. of the motherland. He felt it necessary to say that, although he had failed in this struggle for British honor, it was through no personal fault. He listed the various accidents that led to his defeat one by one, and at the same time, in the extremely sad voice unique to the dead, he earnestly appealed to all British people not to abandon his survivors. His last thought still wasn't his fate. The last words he wrote were not about his own death, but about the living others: "For God's sake, please take care of our families!" Here are a few blank pages of letter paper.

(Excerpted from "The Struggle to Seize Antarctica", translated by Shu Shanchang)

American scientists rectify the names of British Antarctic explorers

Xinhuanet, September 14, 2001 A scientist from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration recently released a new book. This new book puts forward the view that the main culprit for the failure of British Robert Falcon Scott's Antarctic expedition nearly 90 years ago was not Scott's mistakes in decision-making, but the vagaries of cold weather. .

Previous comments always said that it was Scott's poor decision-making that led him and his four teammates to pull equipment on a sled and trek 1,450 kilometers on the Antarctic expedition before finally embarking on the expedition. Huangquan Road. But in this month's new book "The Coldest March," author Susan Solomon said that in the winter of 1911-1912, the weather with a minimum temperature of -37°C for several weeks was much colder than usual. It was this severe cold weather that disrupted Scott's carefully researched expedition plans.

Solomon, an atmospheric research chemist, analyzed the effects of cold weather on Scott's and his team's equipment and examined the effects of the weather conditions on books and diaries she found from around the world. record. Solomon himself received the U.S. National Medal of Science in 1999 for discovering the cause of the depletion of the ozone layer over Antarctica. She began reading diaries written by Scott and his teammates before their first trip to Antarctica to study the ozone layer.

Solomon compared this information with data collected over the past 17 years by automatic weather stations in Antarctica, some of which were collected just a few kilometers from Scott's expedition route. Data from automatic weather stations show that only in 1988 did temperatures fall as low as during Scott's Antarctic expedition, and for as long. After Solomon made an objective analysis of the correct decisions and mistakes made by Scott and his team, she put forward her own point of view. She believed that "this is not to give him (Scott) gold."

Solomon said that based on studying smaller expeditions and historical records, Scott and his team estimated that the weather in Antarctica would be very bad.

They therefore planned to use a sail on the sled to increase speed so that they could "scoot all the way home." Solomon said the plan was a good one. A few weeks before Scott's trip to the South Pole, a Norwegian expedition led by Roal Amundsen had landed on the Antarctic continent. They used dog sleds; Scott and his party used horses and human horses. He was pulling a sled, but the horses got stuck in the mud in the freezing cold.

After arriving in Antarctica, Scott and his team realized the price they had to pay for their trip.

On the return journey, Scott and his two teammates collapsed only 275 kilometers away from the base camp, and the other two teammates had also "taken the lead" before.

However, a New York Times article about Solomon's findings sparked letters from readers, several of which the newspaper later published. The letter pointed out that Amundsen and his teammates faced the same cold weather. The reason for their success was just that they were better prepared and thus became the first people to set foot on the Antarctic continent.

Their trip to the Antarctic is called a "great tragedy". Their spirit is great. They fully demonstrate the spirit of a hero who dares to devote himself to mankind, his persistence in his career, and his great collectivism. .

Antarctic Expedition

95 years ago, British Navy Captain Robert Falcon Scott led an expedition team to challenge the South Pole. Unfortunately, he failed to realize his ambition to be the first to reach the South Pole, and on the way back he was annihilated due to lack of supplies and being starved and cold. 95 years later, the University of Cambridge has made public for the first time the letters Scott wrote to his family before his death to commemorate the British explorer.

Adventure Hero

Scott was called the great hero of the exploration era in the early 20th century by the British. On June 1, 1910, he led the expedition team to leave Britain and launch a sprint to the South Pole. At that time, Norwegian Roald Amundsen also led another expedition to the South Pole. The two teams competed fiercely, both trying to win "national honor". As a result, Amundsen's team arrived first on December 14, 1911, while Scott's team arrived on January 18, 1912, more than a month later than Amundsen's team. Unfortunately, on the way back, the Antarctic cold weather arrived early. The Scott team was short of supplies and suffered from hunger and cold. They struggled hard in the severe cold for more than two months, and finally fell asleep in the snow and ice due to exhaustion.

Long before the last expedition to Antarctica, Scott was already a national hero in Britain. He conducted his first Antarctic expedition from 1902 to 1904, and his travelogue "Voyage of Discovery" was the best-selling book in the UK. The tragic story of his last Antarctic expedition has inspired generations of British people.

Suicide note

Scott's last letter to his wife Catherine was written over several days, documenting the final days of his life.

The explorer began his letter by writing that he and his teammates were "in good health and full of energy." Later, he told his wife, "Honey, it's only minus 70 degrees Fahrenheit here. It's extremely cold. I can barely write. We have nothing but a tent to protect ourselves from the cold... You know I love you very much, but the worst part now is that I can't Seeing you again - this is inevitable, I can only face it."

As the situation worsened, Scott became more desperate. In his letter, he advised his wife to remarry: "If there is a suitable man who faces difficulties with you, you should get out of sadness and start a new life." Life".

However, he also told his wife that in the face of death, he had no regrets or regrets, "What can I tell you about this expedition? It is better than sitting comfortably at home and not knowing. How much!”

In his last moments, Scott missed his son Peter, who was only 3 years old at the time. He wrote: “Maybe I won’t be a good husband, but I will be your beautiful memory. "Of course, don't be ashamed of my death. I think our child will have a good background and he will be proud." He also asked his wife to cultivate Peter to love nature and enjoy outdoor activities.

Generous Donation

This suicide note was written in March 1912 and was addressed to "my widow". It was found next to Scott's body in 1913.

Scott’s grandmother Dathra Scott said that the suicide note showed that Scott was still full of courage and fighting spirit even in desperate situations. “Looking at these writings, you can’t believe that they were written so far away. Antarctica, written in the freezing cold. It brought tears to my eyes."

This suicide note, together with more than 300 other letters written by Scott during the expedition, has been donated to the University of Cambridge by Scott's son, the wife of the late Sir Peter Scott. Special Polar Research Institute.

Julianne Doddswell, director of the Institute, said: “We are extremely grateful to the Scott family; but for their generous donation, Scott’s most poignant family letter could easily have been lost. In the hands of a private collector."

According to the British "Times" report on the 11th, these letters will be fully displayed for the first time starting on the 17th, and the public can personally interpret the explorer's tragic journey.