Robert Falcon scott's Antarctic expedition

19 10, Scott set out from England and returned to the South Pole. His goal this time is to reach the South Pole. But he found that this time he had a competitor: Roald Amundsen. Scott's five-member expedition arrived at the South Pole on1912 65438+10/7, only to find Amundsen arrived a month earlier than them. On the way back to the Antarctic edge, they encountered extreme cold and low temperature (since the temperature record in the Antarctic continent in the 1960 s, the temperature dropped to the level that Scott had encountered), and five people were killed one after another. When Scott and two others died, they were only 20 kilometers away from the nearest supply station. Their bodies and diaries were not discovered until half a year later, and they died with more than ten kilograms of rock specimens. He was knighted by the king of England.

Today, Amundsen-Scott Station in Antarctica is named after him and his competitors. Robert Falcon scott is a colonel in the British navy. He failed to realize his ambition of being the first to reach the South Pole. His opponent Roald Amundsen arrived there a month early.

In June, Scott set out on the New Era. On the way, he heard that Amundsen was going to the South Pole, too. Soon, Ponting and some of his team members were ordered to return to the base, leaving Scott and his 10 companions to advance to the South Pole.

19 1 1 year 1 1 month 1, Scott's team left their camping base and went to the South Pole. The snowstorm made travel very difficult. Therefore,1912,6543810.3, Scott decided to bring only four companions, namely Edward Wilson, herry bowers, edgar evans and lawrence oates. 191265438+1October 17, Scott and his party arrived at the south pole. But Amundsen's Norwegian flag is already flying there. Deeply disappointed, they embarked on their way home. Evans died of a neurological disorder; Oates suffered from severe frostbite and didn't want anyone else to get involved. He volunteered to go out for a walk. In this environment, going out will only lead to death. The remaining three people had to camp out from the bad weather. But on March 29th, 19 12, Scott and others all died more than 200 kilometers away from their camping base.

People know the details of Scott's last trip because his diary lasted until the last day. 1912165438+10, a search team found this diary and the bodies of three people, including Scott. Scott was accompanied by Edward Wilson, herry bowers, edgar evans and lawrence oates. They were all killed. The dead Scott still loves Wilson like a brother. The bodies of three people were buried in situ and are now buried deep under the Antarctic ice. Oates' body was never found. 65438+1Saturday, October 27th

In the morning, we walked through the snow ditch where the snowstorm raged. Damn snow arches the waves and looks like a raging sea. Wilson and I will lead the way on skis, and the rest will walk. Finding the road is an arduous and unusual task ... our sleeping bags are wet. It's not too fast, but it's getting wet. We are getting hungry. It would be nice if we ate more, especially lunch. If we want to get to the next supply station as soon as possible, we must walk faster. The next supply station is less than 60 miles from here, and we still have food for a whole week. But don't expect a real meal until you get to the supply station. The road is long in Xiu Yuan, but it is extremely difficult. ...

Thursday, February 65438 +0

I spent the whole day trekking. It took four hours and 45 minutes to walk eight miles. We are still walking at 8 pm. We only had a quick lunch on February 29th of 10, when we left the supply station for only one week. According to the calculation of three meals a day, we still have eight days' food in hand, so it should be no problem to get to the next stop. Evans' fingers were in poor condition and he lost two nails. It's frostbite

Saturday, February 6th, 5438+07

The situation today is very bad. Evans looks much better after a good sleep. As usual, he said he was fine. He still walked in his original position, but half an hour later his snowboard fell off and he had to leave the sled. The road conditions are extremely bad. Then we stopped for about 1 hour, and Evans followed, but walked slowly. Half an hour later, his shoes were lost again. We stood in the middle of the monument rock and looked at Evans. Later, we set up a tent for lunch. Evans still didn't show up after dinner. We looked around and saw that he was far away from us. Now we are alert, and the four of us slide back together. I was the first to come to this poor man and was shocked by his appearance. He knelt on the snow, disheveled, his gloves were gone, and his hands were covered with ice. There is a crazy expression in his eyes. I asked him what was wrong, but he said slowly that he didn't know, only that he thought he must have fainted. We helped him to his feet. After two or three steps, he fell down again. He was completely frozen. Wilson, Bowles and I went back to drag the sled, and Oates stayed where he was and took care of him. Evans was unconscious when we came back. He was still unconscious after we carried him into the tent. At midnight 12: 30, he passed away peacefully.

Wednesday, February 22nd

Needless to say, we are destined to experience the most severe moment on our way home. Shortly after leaving today, the southeast wind became extremely violent, and the wind swept the ground. We immediately lost the already blurred and indistinguishable road signs. I didn't see the expected conical stone signpost at lunch. ..... but these misfortunes have not discouraged us, which really should be recorded. In the evening, we drank thick soup made of horse meat, which was delicious. This is really refreshing and refreshing. ...

Sunday, February 26th

At night, it is extremely cold. We got cold feet because the shoes and socks we wore during the day were not dry at all. We consume food carefully, but we should have more food. I'm looking forward to the next supply station, which is only 50 miles away from us. When we get there, we will be able to carry enough supplies and continue our journey. Scott's last letter to his wife Catherine was written in a few days, recording the last time of his life.

The explorer wrote at the beginning of the letter that he and his teammates were "healthy and energetic". Later, he told his wife, "honey, it's only MINUS 70 degrees Fahrenheit here. It's extremely cold." I can hardly write. We have nothing but shelter from the cold ... you know I love you very much, but the worst thing now is that I will never see you again-it is inevitable and 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 to face difficulties with you, you should get out of your sadness and start a new life."

But he also told his wife that he had no regrets in the face of death. "What can I tell you about this expedition? Much better than sitting comfortably at home! "

At the last moment of his life, Scott was very concerned about his son Peter, who was only 3 years old at that time. He wrote: "Maybe I can'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 told his wife to train Peter to love nature and enjoy outdoor activities.

This suicide note was written in March of 19 12 and addressed to "my widow". 19 13 years, found next to Scott's body.

Scott's grandmother, Dasla Scott, said that the suicide note showed that Scott was still full of courage and fighting spirit when he was desperate. "Looking at these handwriting, you can't believe that they were written in the distant South Pole and in the cold. I have tears in my eyes. "

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

Julian Dowdeswell, director of the institute, said: "We are very grateful to the Scott family; If it weren't for their generous donation, Scott's saddest letters would easily fall into the hands of private collectors. "

(Excerpted from the Directory of World Famous Explorers edited by Zhang)

He writes to his friends. He is very humble when he talks about himself, but he is full of incomparable pride when he talks about the whole nation. He said that at such a moment, he is glad that he is the son of this nation-a person who can be called a son. He wrote: "I don't know if I am a great discoverer." But our ending will prove that our nation has not lost that brave spirit and endurance. "When he died, he made a friendly statement to his friends. He didn't say it because of the stubbornness of a man and the chastity of his soul in his life. In his letter to his best friend, he wrote: "I have never met anyone I admire and love like you in my life, but I have never shown you what your friendship means to me, because you have a lot to give me, but I have nothing to give you." "

His last and most wonderful letter was addressed to his motherland. He thought it necessary to explain that although he failed in the struggle for British honor, there was no personal fault. He listed all kinds of accidents that failed him one by one, and at the same time, he earnestly appealed to all British people not to abandon his survivors with the unique and extremely sad voice of the deceased. His last thought is still not his fate. The last sentence he wrote was not about his own death, but about other people alive: "For God's sake, please take care of our family!" " "Here are some blank stationery.

(Excerpted from The Struggle for the Antarctic, translated by Shu Changshan) Xinhuanet 2001September 14 A scientist of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the United States recently published a new book. This new book holds that the failure of robert Falcon scott's Antarctic expedition nearly 90 years ago was not caused by Scott's decision-making mistakes, but by the changeable cold weather.

Previous comments always said that Scott's decision-making mistakes led him and four teammates to trudge 1450 km on the road of Antarctic exploration with sledge and equipment, and finally embarked on the road of death. However, in the new book "The coldest March", the author Susan Solomon said that in the winter of191~1912, the weather with the lowest temperature of -37℃ for several weeks in a row is much colder than usual, which is exactly the case.

As an atmospheric research chemist, Solomon analyzed the influence of cold weather on Scott and his party's equipment, and consulted the records of weather conditions in books and diaries she found from all over the world. Solomon himself was awarded the National Science Medal of 1999 for discovering the reason of ozone depletion over Antarctica. Before her first trip to Antarctica to study the ozone layer, she began to read the diaries written by Scott and his teammates.

Solomon compared this information with the data collected by the Antarctic automatic weather station in the past 17 years, some of which were collected only a few kilometers away from Scott's expedition route. According to the data displayed by the automatic weather station, in these years, only the temperature of 1988 dropped to the same low temperature as that of Scott's expedition to Antarctica, and it lasted as long. Solomon objectively analyzed the correct decisions and mistakes of Scott and his party, and put forward his own views. She thinks that "this is not flattering him."

Solomon said that on the basis of studying small-scale exploration activities and historical records, Scott and his party estimated that the weather in Antarctica would be very bad.

So they plan to use the sails on the sleigh to speed up, so that they can "run all the way home". Solomon says this plan is very good. A few weeks before Scott's trip to the Antarctic, a Norwegian expedition led by Roald Amundsen had landed on the Antarctic continent, and they used dogs to pull sledges. Scott and his party used sledges pulled by horses and people, and as a result, the horses were frozen and stuck in the mud. Scott and his party didn't realize the cost of their trip until they reached the South Pole.

On the return trip, Scott and two teammates fell only 275 kilometers away from the base camp, and the other two teammates were "one step ahead" before.

However, The New York Times's articles about Solomon's research results triggered letters from readers, and the newspaper later published several of them. The letter pointed out that Amundsen and his teammates faced the same cold weather, and their success was only due to better preparation, thus becoming the first person to land on the Antarctic continent.

Their trip to the South Pole is called a great tragedy, and their spirit is great. They fully demonstrated the spirit of a hero who dared to sacrifice for mankind, their persistence in the cause and their great collectivism.

95 years ago, British Navy Colonel robert Falcon scott led an expedition to challenge the South Pole. Regrettably, he failed to realize his ambition of reaching the South Pole first, and was wiped out by hunger and cold on his way back. 95 years later, Cambridge University published the letter Scott wrote to his family before his death for the first time in memory of the British explorer.