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{{CaptRN}} '''Robert Falcon Scott''' (known as '''Scott of the Antarctic'''), F.R.G.S., Royal Navy (6 June, 1868 – 29 March, 1912) was a noted [[Royal Navy]] officer and Polar explorer who earned eternal glory when he and his [[National Antarctic Expedition|expedition]] came second in the race to the South Pole and died shortly afterwards.
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{{CaptRN}} '''Robert Falcon Scott''' (known as '''Scott of the Antarctic'''), C.V.O., F.R.G.S., Royal Navy (6 June, 1868 – 29 March, 1912) was a noted [[Royal Navy]] officer and Polar navigator who earned eternal glory when he and members of his [[National Antarctic Expedition|expedition]] became the second group of men to reach the South Pole.  His martyrdom, subsequent elevation to heroic status and vicious debunking through the Twentieth Century obscured the scientific achievements made by his polar work.
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==Introduction==
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Not surprisingly, a lot has been written about Captain Scott.  This editor believes that the biography by renowned British explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes is by far the best.  However, a freelance reviewer for ''The New York Times'' accused Fiennes of writing as if "his own experience as a polar explorer made him almost the only person who could write authoritatively on the subject."<ref>Dore, Jonathan (3 December, 2006).  [http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/03/books/review/Dore.t.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=ranulph%20fiennes%20and%20scott&st=cse "Sunday Book Review."]  ''The  New York Times''.</ref>  It is surely incontrovertible that someone who has actually spent years in the Polar extremities ''as well as'' thoroughly researching Scott's life is better qualified than many, if not most, to write a biography of Scott.  Certainly better than a hide-bound desk jockey.  Fiennes' work stands on its own merits. {{SIMON}}
  
 
==Early Life & Career==
 
==Early Life & Career==
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He was promoted to the rank of {{CommRN}} on 30 June, 1900.<ref>''London Gazette'': [http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/27211/pages/4433 no. 27211.  p. 4433.]  17 July, 1900.</ref>
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{{DNB}}
  
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==First Antarctic expedition, 1901–1904==
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Scott was appointed to the training ship [[H.M.S. Britannia (Training Ship)|''Britannia'']] on 15 July, 1881.  Diana Preston refers to "the harsh discipline" of ''Britannia'', without further explanation. She asserts that "The penalties for those who were lax or failed to concentrate or conform were severe."  Unsurprisingly, she does not elaborate on what these penalties were or their severity.<ref>Preston.  p. 22.</ref>  He left the training ship in July, 1883, passing out seventh in his class.<ref>{{TNA|ADM 6/469.}}</ref>  On 24 July he was appointed to the corvette ''Boadicea'' on the [[Cape of Good Hope Station]].  He was rated {{MidRN}} on 14 August without examination, having gained eleven months' time on passing out from ''Britannia'', meaning he only had to wait a month before being rated Midshipman.
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At the time little was known of Antarctica, whose very continentality was then only conjectured. Scott's formal instructions were to explore to its eastern extremity the ice barrier discovered by Sir James Clark Ross in 1841 and to search for the land believed by Ross to lie to its east. Additionally he was to ascertain the extent of Victoria Land, penetrate its interior, and carry out an extensive programme of scientific research. Lacking all knowledge of the techniques of polar travel, Scott wisely sought advice from the experienced Arctic explorer Fridtjof Nansen. Within a year he had completed the recruiting and provisioning required to overwinter in Antarctica, and on 6 August 1901 set sail in the purpose-built, ice-strengthened vessel Discovery.
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Scott's official narrative of the expedition, The Voyage of the ‘Discovery’ (1905), a classic of its genre, tells the story. The ship's officers were predominantly from the Royal Navy, an exception being Lieutenant Ernest Shackleton, an ex-merchant navy officer. The five civilian scientists included Dr Edward Adrian Wilson, who was to achieve a reputation as surgeon, zoologist, and artist, and was to become Scott's close friend and confidant on this and his last expedition. The long voyage south enabled Scott to get to know his men and to take on the direction of the scientific work and to master its details. The Discovery entered the pack ice in January 1902 and sailed the length of the Great Ice barrier (now Ross Ice shelf), Scott surmising correctly that this was no glacier but a floating ice mass of vast extent. To the east of the barrier the mountains of what was to be named Edward VII Land were discerned. Scott returned westward and established winter quarters off Hut Point, Ross Island. The Discovery was employed as a base from which to explore the adjacent barrier and mainland: exploration was to take the form of a series of probes, made by sledging parties, to the south and to the west. In the Antarctic spring of 1902 Scott, accompanied by Wilson and Shackleton, achieved the then record southerly latitude of 82°17' S, but the failure of the sledge dogs, incipient signs of scurvy, and the physical collapse of Shackleton compelled Scott to turn back. They reached winter quarters with great difficulty. In January 1903 the Discovery, held fast by ice, was located by the relief ship Morning (Captain W. Colbeck), which enabled Scott to repatriate Shackleton and to continue the scientific work for a second season. Notable among the many sledge journeys made was an expedition to the western mountains, when Scott, accompanied by Petty Officer Edgar Evans and Leading Stoker William Lashly, ascended the Ferrar glacier to the polar plateau at an altitude of 9000 ft and explored the ice sheet in a westerly direction for some 200 miles, a record achievement for that time. In February 1904 the Discovery was finally freed from the ice and, accompanied by the relief ships Morning and Terra Nova, returned home in triumph. With twenty-eight sledge journeys accomplished, the ice sheet explored, and a comprehensive scientific programme completed, Scott, notwithstanding the failure of his dogs (a form of polar traction to which he was to remain sentimentally and steadfastly averse) and his lack of previous experience, had more than proved his abilities as a leader of the first scientific expedition to pass two consecutive winters in a high latitude of Antarctica. In addition, the first extensive land journeys into the interior of the continent had been accomplished.
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On 15 August, 1885, he was appointed to ''Ganges'' for the training brig ''Liberty'', and on 19 September he was appointed to the ''Monarch'', [[Channel Squadron (Royal Navy)|Channel Squadron]]. He remained in her until 1 November, 1886, when he was appointed to the ''Rover'', [[Training Squadron (Royal Navy)|Training Squadron]].
  
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A criticism levelled against Sir Clements Markham, Scott's mentor, that he erred in selecting a naval officer and non-scientist as leader of the Discovery expedition, whose prime objectives were scientific, seems in retrospect to be unjustified. In the course of his career Scott had demonstrated a keen interest and expertise in all matters technical. The historian Hugh Robert Mill wrote of him as ‘a man not only born to command but sympathetic with every branch of scientific work’ (Mill, Siege of the South Pole, 409). Scott's powers of leadership may be debated but those who served under him in a scientific capacity all spoke highly of his unfailing interest and encouragement in their work.
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Having obtained a First Class certificate in Seamanship with 980 marks (out of a thousand) he was promoted to the rank of Acting {{SubRN}} on 14 August, 1887.  He was appointed to [[H.M.S. Excellent (Gunnery Training School)|H.M.S. ''Excellent'']] for study at the [[Royal Naval College, Greenwich]].
  
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==Naval career and marriage==
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On 4 July, 1888, he was appointed to the torpedo gunboat ''Spider'' for the annual man&oelig;uvres, and paid off on 28 August.  He was appointed to the protected cruiser ''Amphion'' on the [[Pacific Station (Royal Navy)|Pacific Station]] on 21 December.<ref>ADM 196/42. f. 501.</ref>
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On his return to England Scott was fêted as a national hero; he lectured, he socialized, and he laboured at his book. The navy promoted him captain, which brought a welcome rise in pay. His numerous honours included appointment as a CVO, the award of the polar medal, and the patron's gold medal of the Royal Geographical Society, all in 1904. In 1905 he was awarded honorary degrees of DSc from the universities of Cambridge and Manchester. Other honours numbered the gold medal of the Scottish Geographical Society, membership of the French Légion d'honneur, and awards from Russia, Denmark, Sweden, and the USA.
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In August 1906 Scott returned to active service, commanding in turn the Victorious (1906), the Albemarle (1907), the Essex (1908), and the Bulwark (1909). Finally in 1909 he secured a home posting, as naval assistant to the second sea lord. His professional career seemed assured, yet plans to return south to continue the work of the Discovery expedition, long dormant, were to be reactivated by rumours of rival expeditions, and more immediately by Shackleton's return to Ross Island in 1907 and his near attainment of the south pole in 1908. By then Scott had married, on 2 September 1908, the artist Kathleen Bruce (1878–1947) [see Scott, (Edith Agnes) Kathleen], the eleventh child of Revd Lloyd Steward Bruce, canon of York, and his wife, Janie, née Skene. Kathleen, like Scott, was a complex character. Their early courtship was tortured by mutual self-doubt, he thinking himself unworthy of her, she fearing that her own unconventional lifestyle would ill suit the structured routine of a naval officer. The birth on 14 September 1909 of a much desired son, Peter Markham Scott, was to change everything, prompting Kathleen to observe that the happy event was the cause of her falling for the first time ‘gloriously, passionately, wildly in love with my husband’ (L. Young, 108). The diary which she later kept for Scott during his absence in the Antarctic provides convincing evidence for the strength of her feelings for him. She was an ardent supporter of his plans to return to Antarctica; the day before his son's birth he publicly announced his intention to plant the union flag at the south pole.
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He was promoted to the rank of {{LieutRN}} on 14 August, 1889,{{Gaz|25969|4737|30 August, 1889}} at a relatively early date, having attained four first class certificates in passing for the rank.<ref>ADM 196/88.  f. 62.</ref>
  
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==Scott's last expedition, 1910–1912==
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Upon his return to Britain Scott was appointed to ''Sharpshooter'' for the annual man&oelig;uvres on 8 July, 1891.  On 30 September he was appointed to [[H.M.S. Vernon (Torpedo Training School)|''Vernon'']] to qualify in torpedo duties. Apart from a spell in ''Curlew'' for the annual man&oelig;uvres of 1892 and in {{UK-TB87}} in those of 1893,<ref>"The Naval Manœuvres". ''The Times''.  Monday, 10 July, 1893.  Issue '''33999''', col D, p. 10.</ref> he would remain in ''Vernon'' until 24 August, 1893. He attained a first class torpedo certificate at the Royal Naval College in July, 1892, and obtained a first class on the practical course in July, 1893.
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In contrast to the Discovery expedition, Scott's British Antarctic expedition was a private venture for which he alone was responsible. His reputation as an explorer attracted some 8000 volunteers, from whom he chose several former Discovery men, including Wilson, whom he appointed chief of a civilian staff of nine. While achieving the south pole, following Shackleton's uncompleted route, was a prerequisite of fund-raising, for Scott (who loathed begging for money) an ambitious programme of science was to be ‘the rock foundation of all effort’ (Scott, Last Expedition, 1.167). Desperately short of funds, the expedition left England on board the Terra Nova and reached Ross Island on 22 January 1911; winter quarters were established at Cape Evans. With the scientific programme under way and the Terra Nova sent east to land a party on King Edward VII Land, Scott set about the laying of One Ton Depot, a cache of fuel and food to be located on the barrier at lat. 80° S in preparation for the attempt on the pole. However, deteriorating weather and the failure of the pony transport compelled Scott to deposit supplies at lat. 79°29' S. On the return route he received a message from Victor Campbell, then leading a geological party to Cape Adare, reporting the presence of Amundsen in the Bay of Whales preparing a raid on the south pole using dogs. Already aware of the Norwegian's intentions via a telegram received in Melbourne—‘Beg leave inform you proceeding Antarctic, Amundsen’ (Huxley, Scott, 600) and possibly interpreting the message as an intention to land on the opposite, Weddel Sea coast, Scott's immediate reaction was ‘to go forward and do our best for the country without fear or panic’ (Scott, Scott's Last Expedition, 1.186). Nevertheless, this news, following the loss of a number of his ponies, was a severe blow to morale.
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The winter of 1911 was spent at Cape Evans, preparing equipment and laying plans for the forthcoming pole journey. A ‘University of Antarctica’ with specialist lectures was instituted, and Scott encouraged and contributed to the South Polar Times, an expedition magazine initiated on the Discovery expedition.
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Scott was appointed to the staff of [[H.M.S. Defiance (Torpedo Training School)|''Defiance'']], torpedo training ship at Devonport, on 22 March, 1895.
  
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On 1 October 1911 Scott set out from Cape Evans at the head of the main pole party, preceded by two experimental motor sledges, both of which broke down in a matter of days. The first stage of the journey across the barrier was accomplished by a combination of dog and pony transport and man-hauling, depots being laid en route for the returning parties. All went well until the end of November, when snowstorms followed by blizzards at the approaches to the Beardmore glacier held up progress for several days, inducing in Scott one of his periodic bouts of depression. But, once on the Beardmore glacier with the last of the ponies shot for food and the dogs returned to base, Scott's favoured method of transport—man-hauling—could be indulged. Aged forty-three, and the oldest member of the party, Scott contrived ever to be in the lead. With the aid of skis the treacherous ascent to the polar plateau was accomplished without accident. On 22 December the first returning party was dispatched and the final stage of the pole journey commenced. By 30 December, cheered by the fact of having ‘caught up Shackleton's dates’ (Scott, Last Expedition, 1.525), Scott was mercifully unaware that only 100 miles away Amundsen's party was on the homeward trail. On 3 January Scott made the fateful decision that five rather than four men should go forward to the pole, namely Scott himself, Captain L. E. G. Oates, Lieutenant H. R. Bowers, Wilson, and Petty Officer Edgar Evans. On 4 January the last supporting party was dismissed, and five days later Shackleton's farthest point south was passed, at lat. 88°25' S. On 16 January Bowers observed one of Amundsen's black marker flags, silent witness to the victory of the Norwegians. Finally, on 17 or 18 January, the vicinity of the pole itself was observed. ‘This is an awful place’, wrote Scott in his journal, ‘and terrible enough for us to have laboured to it without the reward of priority’ (ibid., 1.544). Following the discovery of Amundsen's tent, with its note for Scott stating that he had achieved his objective on 14 December 1911, the dejected Britons began their return journey—‘800 miles of solid dragging—and good-bye to most of the day-dreams’ (ibid., 1.546).
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He was appointed to the new battleship {{UK-Jupiter}} for Torpedo duties on 8 June, 1897. Not long after, on 21 July, Scott was appointed to {{UK-Majestic}} as torpedo officer. Captain MacLeod noted on Scott leaving ''Jupiter'': "Recommended for advancement. Very attentive and painstaking."  He remained in ''Majestic'' until 30 June, 1900, when he was promoted to the rank of {{CommRN}}.{{Gaz|27211|4433|17 July, 1900}}
  
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Robbed of their victory, short of rations, and suffering progressively from the effects of exposure, for Scott and his companions the return proved indeed a via dolorosa. The Beardmore glacier was reached on 7 February and time found to collect 35 lb weight of fossil rocks, vital clues to the geological history of Antarctica. Then at the foot of the glacier Evans collapsed and died. Once back on the barrier, Scott, Wilson, Oates, and Bowers struggled on, physically deteriorating in the face of low temperatures, adverse winds, and shortages of food and fuel. On 16 March Captain Oates sacrificed his life for his companions. On 19 March the three survivors pitched their tent for the last time. With Scott incapacitated by a gangrenous foot Bowers and Wilson planned a forced march to One Ton Depot, only 11 miles distant, but never left their tent. With no fuel and only two days' food in hand the end was inevitable. On or about 29 March Scott, probably the last to die, ended his journal with these words:
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==''Discovery'' Expedition==
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The ''Discovery'' left England in August 1901 and reached the Ross Sea via Lyttelton, New Zealand, in January, 1902. A course was made southward along the coast of South Victoria Land and then eastward along the edge of the ice barrier. Ross's "appearance of land" was confirmed by the discovery of King Edward VII Land. The ship returned westward and entered McMurdo Sound, where an anchorage off Hut Point, Ross Island, in lat. 77° 50' 50" S., was selected as a suitable place for wintering. This remained the base of the expedition for about two years, since in the following summer the ice failed to break up and liberate the ship. The expedition was excellently staffed and equipped for the varied scientific work which was actively pursued throughout the two years. Of many sledge journeys the two principal were led by Scott. Accompanied by (Sir) Ernest Henry Shackleton and Dr. Edward Adrian Wilson he went south over the barrier along the edge of the plateau to lat. 82° 16' 33" S. (30 December 1902), discovering the southward continuation of the South Victoria Land mountain-range and making the southern record. Dog teams were used on the outward journey, but they were little help on the return, which was also made difficult by the serious breakdown of Shackleton and by an outbreak of scurvy which attacked the three men. A year later Scott made a long journey westward over the high plateau of Antarctica to lat. 77° 59' S., long. 146° 33' E. This was the first long journey towards the interior of the continent, and it amplified the work done by Lieutenant A. B. Armitage on his pioneer journey to the plateau in the previous season. Other important results of the expedition were the survey of the coast of South Victoria Land, the sounding of the Ross Sea, and investigations into the nature of the barrier and into the structure of the Antarctic continent. The researches in zoology, magnetism, and meteorology were also of great value. The ''Discovery'' with its two relief ships, ''Morning'' and ''Terra Nova'', returned to New Zealand in April, 1904.
  
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:We shall stick it out to the end, but we are getting weaker, of course, and the end cannot be far. It seems a pity, but I do not think I can write more … For God's sake look after our people … (Scott, Last Expedition, 1.595)
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==Captain==
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On 10 September, 1904, the day he returned to Britain,<ref>Fiennes.  p. 133.</ref> Scott was promoted to the rank of {{CaptRN}}.{{Gaz|27713|5913|13 September, 1904}}  From 1 October he was appointed to ''President'' for nine months on leave and in connection with the work of the Antarctic Expedition. On 29 November, 1905, he was appointed to the [[Royal Naval War College|War Course]] at Devonport, but on 6 December he was appointed to ''President'' for temporary service at the Admiralty.<ref>ADM 196/42.  f. 501.</ref>  On 15 January, 1906, he was appointed Head of Trade Division in the [[Naval Intelligence Department (Royal Navy)|Naval Intelligence Department]].<ref>''Naval Intelligence Department.  Distribution of Work.&mdash;February 1906''.  {{TNA|ADM 231/47.}}  p. 4.</ref>  His office was located just off the main entrance of the Admiralty Building on Whitehall.<ref>"Admiralty.  Old Building Whitehall.  Sheet No. 2."  National Museum of the Royal Navy.</ref>
  
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It is a measure of Scott's vitality and strength of will that even in extremis he could maintain his journal, write twelve perfectly composed letters to family, friends, and next of kin, and leave a ‘Message to the public’ outlining the causes of the disaster. Here he blames inability to achieve the safety of One Ton Depot on the appalling weather without reference to his inability to locate it at lat. 80°S as previously planned. Nor is there mention of his last minute addition of a fifth man to the pole party. Both these factors must have contributed to the absence of any margin of safety in matters of food and fuel. It is of course easy to be judgemental; what captured and still captures the imagination of the public are the oft quoted words of the ‘Last Message’:
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On 25 August, 1906, Scott was appointed in command of the battleship {{UK-Victorious}}, as Flag Captain to Rear-Admiral [[George Le Clerc Egerton|George Le C. Egerton]], Second-in-Command of the [[Atlantic Fleet (Royal Navy)|Atlantic Fleet]], who had participated in the Arctic expedition of 1875-1876. He transferred with Egerton to {{UK-Albemarle|f=p}} on 2 January, 1907, and was superseded on 25 August.<ref>ADM 196/42. f. 501.</ref>  Egerton's opinion of his service was recorded as:
  
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: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 … (ibid., 1.607)
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<blockquote>His general ability energy & capability for command are so well known that it is needless for me to remark on them.  He has much to learn in purely service matters but as each question arises he goes into it thoroughly.  Is rather restless of ordinary routine duties & thirsting for more active employment.  An officer of excellent physique & likely to have a brilliant career if opportunities offer.<ref>ADM 196/88. f. 62.</ref></blockquote>
  
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==Aftermath and reputation==
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The Commander-in-Chief of the Atlantic Fleet, Vice-Admiral [[Assheton Gore Curzon-Howe|Curzon-Howe]] added, "As a Captain of a ship under my command Capt. S. has merited my highest approbation."<ref>ADM 196/88. f. 62.</ref>
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Apsley Cherry-Garrard, sent to relieve Scott, was held up by a blizzard at One Ton Depot and forced back to Cape Evans. Eight months later, on 12 November 1912, a search party led by Dr E. L. Atkinson, by some miracle, discovered the tent entombing the frozen corpses along with Scott's journals and papers and the precious rocks. The bodies were buried where they lay under a snow cairn at lat. 79°50' S; a commemorative cross was later erected on Observation Hill, Ross Island.
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News of the tragedy reached London in February 1913, and a memorial service was held in St Paul's Cathedral. Scott's widow was granted the rank, style, and precedence of the wife of a knight commander in the Order of the Bath. A memorial fund launched by the lord mayor of London raised £75,000, using which the Scott Polar Research Institute in Cambridge was founded and the scientific results of Scott's journey published.
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On 25 January, 1908, he was appointed Captain of the {{UK-Essex|f=t}}.  On 30 May he was appointed in command of the battleship {{UK-Bulwark}} in the [[Home Fleet (Royal Navy)|Home Fleet]].<ref>ADM 196/42.  f. 501.</ref>  In December his outgoing Flag Officer, Rear-Admiral [[Arthur Murray Farquhar|Arthur M. Farquhar]], wrote of Scott, "Handles his ship v. well: a most excellent offr. & desirable in every way."  The Commander-in-Chief of the Home Fleet, Vice-Admiral [[Francis Charles Bridgeman Bridgeman|Sir Francis C. B. Bridgeman]], expressed his concurrence in Farquhar's remarks.<ref>ADM 196/88.  62.</ref>  On 24 March, 1909, he was appointed [[Naval Assistant to the Second Sea Lord|Naval Assistant]] to Bridgeman, now [[Second Sea Lord]] at the Admiralty.<ref>ADM 196/42.  f. 501.</ref>  He was also appointed a member of a Departmental Committee "to inquire into the question of numbers of the Military, Engineer, and Marine Branches which will be required in future."<ref>Copy of letter of 5 May, 1909.  "Interim Report of the Departmental Committee on the Future Requirements of Officers of the Military, Engineer, and Marine Branches."  p. 2.{{TNA|ADM 116/881.}}</ref>  The same year he announced his plans for a new Antarctic expedition which was to continue the work of the ''Discovery'' and to attempt to reach the Pole, following as far as possible the route by which Shackleton had reached lat. 88° 23' S. in January 1909.
  
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Not perhaps a born leader, Scott nevertheless came to earn the friendship and loyalty of those closest to him. Loyalty characterizes the narrative accounts published in the aftermath of the Terra Nova expedition, such as E. R. G. R. Evans's ''South with Scott'' (1921), H. G. Ponting's ''The Great White South'' (1921), and Griffith Taylor's ''With Scott: the Silver Lining'' (1916). A. Cherry-Garrard's classic narrative ''The Worst Journey in the World'' (1922), while staunchly upholding Scott's qualities as a leader, was openly critical of his organization. The first professional biography, Stephen Gwynn's ''Captain Scott'' (1929), is incomplete and essentially an act of hero-worship, perhaps intended to counterbalance J. Gordon Hayes's ''Antarctica'' (1928), which, while giving due praise to Scott's science, laid the blame for the pole disaster at the door of Scott's misplaced loyalty to outmoded naval tradition. A decade later George Seaver took up in detail the theme of Scott's personality in his ''Scott of the Antarctic'' (1940), using family papers and Scott's journals to demonstrate how the explorer came to recognize the flaws in his own nature and sought to remedy them in the testing environment of Antarctica.
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==Back to the South==
  
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With the death of Lady Scott (then Lady Kennet) in 1947 Scott's biographers had free rein. Reginald Pound's ''Scott of the Antarctic'' (1966), a full-length biography based on family and official papers, was distinguished by its completeness, accuracy, and balance. Two years later Scott's private journals were published in facsimile manuscript as ''The Diaries of Captain Scott'' (1968), exposing for all to read the full nature of his inner struggles. Elspeth Huxley's ''Scott of the Antarctic'' (1977) explored in more detail Scott's relationship with his wife, and portrayed him as a hero, albeit a reluctant one. Less charitable was Roland Huntford's controversial double biography ''Scott and Amundsen'' (1979), which sought to topple the Briton from his heroic plinth, charging him with incompetence and the perversion of his literary talent for the purpose of exculpating himself from blame for the disaster. This interpretation was hotly contested by Wayland Young in his article "On the debunking of Captain Scott" (''Encounter'', May, 1980, 8–19). A decade later Beryl Bainbridge's incisive novel ''The Birthday Boys'' (1991) suggested that, to the bitter end, Scott could command not merely the loyalty but also the love of his companions, and successfully restored the heroes to the status of human beings. In 2001 Susan Solomon used detailed, modern meteorological data to suggest that the polar party did indeed suffer abnormally severe weather on the return journey, as Scott himself had claimed, though this did not wholly account for their difficulties. She further suggested that Wilson and Bowers chose to remain and die with the badly frostbitten Scott rather than take advantage of the abating blizzard to reach One Ton Depot.
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With the financial support of the British and Dominion governments the ''Terra Nova'' was able to sail in June 1910, with Scott having been appointed to {{UK-President}}, additional for command of the British Antarctic Expedition on the first of the month.<ref>Scott Service Record. {{TNA|ADM 196/42.}}  f. 501.</ref>
  
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Cinema, stage, and the television screen have all reflected the ebb and flow of criticism. The Ealing Studios' film ''Scott of the Antarctic'' (1948), with magnificent music by Ralph Vaughan Williams, and with John Mills portraying Scott, was conventionally patriotic and stiff upper-lipped, in stark contrast to Trevor Griffith's screenplay for Central Television, ''The Last Place on Earth'' (1985), which, iconoclastic to a degree, was intent on demolishing heroic myth in the larger context of British imperial decay and national decadence. More convincing was the American playwright Ted Tally's ''Terra Nova'', first staged in Britain in 1980, which portrayed Scott undergoing mental catharsis by means of imagined dialogues with his wife, Kathleen, and his alter ego Amundsen.
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Winter quarters were established at Cape Evans in lat. 77° 38' 24" S., 15 statute miles north of the ''Discovery's'' old anchorage. Before the ''Terra Nova'' returned to New Zealand she made a course eastward to King Edward Land, and discovered Roald Amundsen's ''Fram'', which was landing a wintering party at the Bay of Whales on the ice barrier preparatory to making an attempt on the Pole. This news confirmed the announcement of his plans which Amundsen had made to Scott some months earlier. Scott set out on his southern sledge journey 1 November 1911. Several food and oil-fuel depôts had been laid in the previous autumn, the most southerly being One Ton depôt in lat. 79° 28' 53" S., 130 geographical miles from the base. Scott had hoped to put this depôt in lat. 80° S., but the condition of the ponies had compelled him to forgo the last 31 miles. After a few days march the motor sledges broke down beyond repair. This was inconvenient, but reliance was placed chiefly on ponies and dogs, which helped the transport to the foot of the Beardmore glacier. Here the last of the ponies was shot for food and the dogs were sent back with a supporting party (11 December).
  
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Of the many memorials erected to commemorate Scott, the statue by Kathleen Scott in Waterloo Place, London, is the best-known. Behind the heroic image which it portrays lay a complex and contradictory individual. Of medium height, not physically strong yet possessed of impressive stamina, Scott was by nature insecure and self-doubting, the victim of depressive moods and bouts of indolence. Yet he was ever alert to these disabilities and strove to triumph over them, supported by a deep-rooted sense of justice and a trust in the dispensations of providence.
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Depôts for the return journey were established on the outward route. Heavy haulage and fierce blizzards delayed the explorers and extremely low temperatures taxed their endurance. On 4 January 1912, in lat. 86° 32' S., the last supporting party, consisting of Lieutenant E. R. G. R. Evans, R.N., and two seamen, left Scott to continue his journey to the Pole with Dr. E. A. Wilson, Captain Lawrence Edward Grace Oates, Lieutenant H. R. Bowers, R.I.M., and Petty Officer Edgar Evans. In spite of the use of ski, pulling was heavy and progress slow. Temperature frequently fell to -23° F. and never rose as high as zero. On 16 January a flag was sighted, and Scott's anticipation of being forestalled by Amundsen proved true. On 18 January the Pole was reached. In the vicinity was a tent left by Amundsen with a note for Scott. The Norwegians had reached the Pole on 14 December 1911, and left three days later. Subsequent recalculation of Bowers's observations show that the possible error in the determination of the polar position was not more than 30".
  
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Scott represented in his personality and in his prose an extreme form of the late-Victorian concept of the English gentleman: "manly", straightforward, stubborn, unimaginative, and gentle. He sensed his iconic role, and his death in 1912 was soon felt strangely to have foreshadowed the fate of many of his class in the First World War.
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In spite of bad travelling conditions fair progress was made on the return journey till the head of the Beardmore glacier was reached (7 February). Petty Officer Evans, however, was breaking down under the strain, and he died on 17 February. His weakness had entailed dangerous delay. On the barrier temperatures of -30° to -47° F. sorely tried the four men, weak from want of warm food. A shortage of oil in the depôts by evaporation through the stoppers of the tins was a serious and unforeseen calamity. Frost-bite made marching slow and painful. By the beginning of March it was a race against time to reach one depôt after another before the party's strength gave out. Progress was frequently interrupted by strong winds. On 17 March Oates, who was too badly frost-bitten to go any further, walked out into a blizzard, hoping by this sacrifice to allow the others to push on to safety. Four days later they camped in lat. 79° 40' S. eleven miles from One Ton depôt. There seemed to be a faint hope; but a long-continued blizzard put an end to all possibility of advancing. On 29 March Scott made the last entry in his diary: ‘We shall stick it out to the end, but we are getting weaker, of course, and the end cannot be far. It seems a pity, but I do not think I can write any more.’
  
−
==Footnotes==
+
In accordance with instructions a relief party with dog teams had set out from the base to meet Scott, but was held up by a blizzard at One Ton depôt from 3 to 10 March, when a shortage of dog food compelled a return. Eight months later a search party under Dr. E. L. Atkinson found the tent and the bodies. Scott's diaries, letters, photographs, and message to the public were recovered, as well as the valuable geological specimens from the Beardmore glacier, which, in spite of their weight, had been retained to the end. A snow cairn surmounted by a cross was built over the tent. Some months later a cross to the memory of the five men was erected at Observation Hill on Hut Point, Ross Island.
−
{{reflist}}
+
 
 +
In addition to the polar journey, much valuable exploration was carried out, together with notable scientific researches. A party, under Lieutenant V. Campbell, unable to land in King Edward Land, was put ashore by the ''Terra Nova'' at Cape Adare and was moved in the second year to Terra Nova Bay. In face of great difficulties this party explored the coastal region of South Victoria Land and reached the expedition's main base in safety.
 +
 
 +
The news of the disaster to Scott and his companions did not reach Europe until February 1913 when the expedition finally returned to New Zealand. The achievement and the heroic end aroused world-wide admiration. A memorial service was held in St. Paul's Cathedral on 14 February, government pensions were awarded to the dependents of those who had perished, and Scott's widow received the rank and precedence of the wife of a K.C.B. A Mansion House fund was opened to commemorate the explorers, and devoted chiefly to the publication of their scientific results and to the foundation of a polar research institute at Cambridge.
 +
 
 +
Scott received the C.V.O. in 1904, the Polar medal (in that year also), and the gold medals of many British and foreign geographical societies. He also received the honorary degree of D.Sc. from the universities of Cambridge and Manchester. Statues of Scott, the work of Lady Scott, stand in Waterloo Place, London, Portsmouth dockyard, and in Christchurch, New Zealand, and there are busts, also by Lady Scott, at Devonport and Dunedin, New Zealand. There is a portrait plaque in St. Paul's Cathedral. A portrait by D. A. Wehrschmidt (Veresmith), painted in 1905, was deposited on loan in the National Portrait Gallery in 1924. Another portrait, bust size and posthumous, painted by C. Percival Small, was given to the Gallery by Sir Courtauld Thomson in 1914. A third picture, also posthumous, based upon photographs and painted by Harrington Mann, was presented to the house of the Royal Geographical Society by Scott's family.
 +
 
 +
Scott married in 1908 Kathleen, youngest daughter of Canon Lloyd Bruce, by whom he had one son.
  
 
==Bibliography==
 
==Bibliography==
 
{{refbegin}}
 
{{refbegin}}
−
*"The Polar Disaster" (News).  ''The Times''.  Tuesday, 11 February, 1911.  Issue '''401342''', col C, pg. 10.
+
*"The Polar Disaster" (News).  ''The Times''.  Tuesday, 11 February, 1911.  Issue '''401342''', col C, p. 10.
 +
*Fiennes, [Sir] Ranulph (2003).  ''Captain Scott''.  London: Hodder & Stoughton.  ISBN 0340826975.
 
{{refend}}
 
{{refend}}
  
−
[[Category:1868 births|Scott]]
+
==Papers==
−
[[Category:1912 deaths|Scott]]
+
{{refbegin}}
−
[[Category:Personalities|Scott]]
+
*[http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb15robertfalconscott?page=1#id543580 Papers in the possession of the Scott Polar Research Institute.]
−
[[Category:H.M.S. Britannia (Training Ship) Entrants of July, 1881|Scott]]
+
{{refend}}
−
[[Category:Royal Navy Torpedo Officers|Scott]]
+
 
−
[[Category:Royal Navy Captains|Scott]]
+
==Service Records==
−
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Geographical Society|Scott]]
+
{{refbegin}}
 +
*{{TNA|ADM 196/88.|D8115437}}
 +
*{{TNA|ADM 196/42.|D7602343}}
 +
{{refend}}
 +
 
 +
<div name=fredbot:appts>{{TabApptsBegin}}
 +
{{TabNaval}}
 +
{{TabApptsRow|Preceded by<br>'''[[Clement Greatorex|Clement Greatorex]]'''|'''[[H.M. T.B. 87 (1889)|Captain of H.M. T.B. 87]]'''<br>11 Jul, 1893<ref>"The Naval Manœuvres".  ''The Times''.  Monday, 10 July, 1893.  Issue '''33999''', col D, p. 10.</ref> &ndash; 16 Aug, 1893<ref>Scott Service Record.  {{TNA|ADM 196/42.}}  f. 501.</ref>|Succeeded by<br>'''[[Arthur Hearle Tremayne|Arthur H. Tremayne]]'''}}
 +
{{TabApptsRow|Preceded by<br>'''[[Harry Jones|Harry Jones]]'''|'''[[Naval Intelligence Department (Royal Navy)|Head of Trade Division]]'''<br>15 Jan, 1906<ref>''Naval Intelligence Department.  Distribution of Work.&mdash;February 1906''.  {{TNA|ADM 231/47.}}  p. 4.</ref> &ndash; 25 Aug, 1906<ref>''Naval Intelligence Department.  Distribution of Work.&mdash;February 1906''.  {{TNA|ADM 231/47.}}  p. 4.</ref>|Succeeded by<br>'''[[Henry Hervey Campbell|Henry H. Campbell]]'''}}
 +
{{TabApptsRow|Preceded by<br>'''[[Godfrey Harry Brydges Mundy|Godfrey H. B. Mundy]]'''|'''[[H.M.S. Victorious (1895)|Captain of H.M.S. ''Victorious'']]'''<br>25 Aug, 1906<ref>Scott Service Record.  {{TNA|ADM 196/42.}}  f. 501.</ref> &ndash; 2 Jan, 1907<ref>Scott Service Record.  {{TNA|ADM 196/42.}}  f. 501.</ref>|Succeeded by<br>'''[[Edgar Guy Hudson Gamble|Edgar G. H. Gamble]]'''}}
 +
{{TabApptsRow|Preceded by<br>'''[[Edward Stafford Fitzherbert, Thirteenth Baron Stafford|Edward S. Fitzherbert]]'''|'''[[H.M.S. Albemarle (1901)|Captain of H.M.S. ''Albemarle'']]'''<br>2 Jan, 1907<ref>Scott Service Record.  {{TNA|ADM 196/42.}}  f. 501.</ref> &ndash; 25 Aug, 1907<ref>Scott Service Record.  {{TNA|ADM 196/42.}}  f. 501.</ref>|Succeeded by<br>'''[[William Edmund Goodenough|William E. Goodenough]]'''}}
 +
{{TabApptsRow|Preceded by<br>'''[[Robert John Prendergast|Robert J. Prendergast]]'''|'''[[H.M.S. Essex (1901)|Captain of H.M.S. ''Essex'']]'''<br>25 Jan, 1908<ref>Scott Service Record.  {{TNA|ADM 196/42.}}  f. 501.</ref> &ndash; 30 May, 1908<ref>Scott Service Record.  {{TNA|ADM 196/42.}}  f. 501.</ref>|Succeeded by<br>'''[[Herbert James Ogilvy Millar|Herbert J. O. Millar]]'''}}
 +
{{TabApptsRow|Preceded by<br>'''[[Arthur Cavenagh Leveson|Arthur C. Leveson]]'''|'''[[H.M.S. Bulwark (1899)|Captain of H.M.S. ''Bulwark'']]'''<br>30 May, 1908<ref>Scott Service Record.  {{TNA|ADM 196/42.}}  f. 501.</ref> &ndash; 24 Mar, 1909<ref>Scott Service Record.  {{TNA|ADM 196/42.}}  f. 501.</ref>|Succeeded by<br>'''[[Bentinck John Davies Yelverton|Bentinck J. D. Yelverton]]'''}}
 +
{{TabApptsRow|Preceded by<br>'''?'''|'''[[Second Sea Lord|Naval Assistant to the Second Sea Lord]]'''<br>24 Mar, 1909<ref>Scott Service Record.  {{TNA|ADM 196/42.}}  f. 501.</ref> &ndash; 3 Dec, 1909<ref>Scott Service Record.  {{TNA|ADM 196/42.}}  f. 501.</ref>|Succeeded by<br>'''[[William Osbert Boothby|William O. Boothby]]'''}}
 +
{{TabEnd}}
 +
</div name=fredbot:appts>
 +
 
 +
==Footnotes==
 +
{{reflist}}
 +
 
 +
{{DEFAULTSORT:Scott, Robert Falcon}}
 +
 
 +
{{CatPerson|UK|1868|1912}}
 +
{{CatBritannia|July, 1881}}
 +
{{CatTorpedoOfficer|UK}}
 +
{{CatCapt|UK}}
 +
 
 +
[[Category:Royal Navy Officers Educated at Stubbington House School]]
 +
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Geographical Society]]
 +
{{CatRN}}

Latest revision as of 12:18, 7 April 2022

Captain Robert Falcon Scott (known as Scott of the Antarctic), C.V.O., F.R.G.S., Royal Navy (6 June, 1868 – 29 March, 1912) was a noted Royal Navy officer and Polar navigator who earned eternal glory when he and members of his expedition became the second group of men to reach the South Pole. His martyrdom, subsequent elevation to heroic status and vicious debunking through the Twentieth Century obscured the scientific achievements made by his polar work.

Introduction

Not surprisingly, a lot has been written about Captain Scott. This editor believes that the biography by renowned British explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes is by far the best. However, a freelance reviewer for The New York Times accused Fiennes of writing as if "his own experience as a polar explorer made him almost the only person who could write authoritatively on the subject."[1] It is surely incontrovertible that someone who has actually spent years in the Polar extremities as well as thoroughly researching Scott's life is better qualified than many, if not most, to write a biography of Scott. Certainly better than a hide-bound desk jockey. Fiennes' work stands on its own merits. — SIMON HARLEY, Co-editor.

Early Life & Career

This article may temporarily contain text from an edition of the Dictionary of National Biography which is in the Public Domain.

Scott was appointed to the training ship Britannia on 15 July, 1881. Diana Preston refers to "the harsh discipline" of Britannia, without further explanation. She asserts that "The penalties for those who were lax or failed to concentrate or conform were severe." Unsurprisingly, she does not elaborate on what these penalties were or their severity.[2] He left the training ship in July, 1883, passing out seventh in his class.[3] On 24 July he was appointed to the corvette Boadicea on the Cape of Good Hope Station. He was rated Midshipman on 14 August without examination, having gained eleven months' time on passing out from Britannia, meaning he only had to wait a month before being rated Midshipman.

On 15 August, 1885, he was appointed to Ganges for the training brig Liberty, and on 19 September he was appointed to the Monarch, Channel Squadron. He remained in her until 1 November, 1886, when he was appointed to the Rover, Training Squadron.

Having obtained a First Class certificate in Seamanship with 980 marks (out of a thousand) he was promoted to the rank of Acting Sub-Lieutenant on 14 August, 1887. He was appointed to H.M.S. Excellent for study at the Royal Naval College, Greenwich.

On 4 July, 1888, he was appointed to the torpedo gunboat Spider for the annual manœuvres, and paid off on 28 August. He was appointed to the protected cruiser Amphion on the Pacific Station on 21 December.[4]

He was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant on 14 August, 1889,[5] at a relatively early date, having attained four first class certificates in passing for the rank.[6]

Upon his return to Britain Scott was appointed to Sharpshooter for the annual manœuvres on 8 July, 1891. On 30 September he was appointed to Vernon to qualify in torpedo duties. Apart from a spell in Curlew for the annual manœuvres of 1892 and in T.B. 87 in those of 1893,[7] he would remain in Vernon until 24 August, 1893. He attained a first class torpedo certificate at the Royal Naval College in July, 1892, and obtained a first class on the practical course in July, 1893.

Scott was appointed to the staff of Defiance, torpedo training ship at Devonport, on 22 March, 1895.

He was appointed to the new battleship Jupiter for Torpedo duties on 8 June, 1897. Not long after, on 21 July, Scott was appointed to Majestic as torpedo officer. Captain MacLeod noted on Scott leaving Jupiter: "Recommended for advancement. Very attentive and painstaking." He remained in Majestic until 30 June, 1900, when he was promoted to the rank of Commander.[8]

Discovery Expedition

The Discovery left England in August 1901 and reached the Ross Sea via Lyttelton, New Zealand, in January, 1902. A course was made southward along the coast of South Victoria Land and then eastward along the edge of the ice barrier. Ross's "appearance of land" was confirmed by the discovery of King Edward VII Land. The ship returned westward and entered McMurdo Sound, where an anchorage off Hut Point, Ross Island, in lat. 77° 50' 50" S., was selected as a suitable place for wintering. This remained the base of the expedition for about two years, since in the following summer the ice failed to break up and liberate the ship. The expedition was excellently staffed and equipped for the varied scientific work which was actively pursued throughout the two years. Of many sledge journeys the two principal were led by Scott. Accompanied by (Sir) Ernest Henry Shackleton and Dr. Edward Adrian Wilson he went south over the barrier along the edge of the plateau to lat. 82° 16' 33" S. (30 December 1902), discovering the southward continuation of the South Victoria Land mountain-range and making the southern record. Dog teams were used on the outward journey, but they were little help on the return, which was also made difficult by the serious breakdown of Shackleton and by an outbreak of scurvy which attacked the three men. A year later Scott made a long journey westward over the high plateau of Antarctica to lat. 77° 59' S., long. 146° 33' E. This was the first long journey towards the interior of the continent, and it amplified the work done by Lieutenant A. B. Armitage on his pioneer journey to the plateau in the previous season. Other important results of the expedition were the survey of the coast of South Victoria Land, the sounding of the Ross Sea, and investigations into the nature of the barrier and into the structure of the Antarctic continent. The researches in zoology, magnetism, and meteorology were also of great value. The Discovery with its two relief ships, Morning and Terra Nova, returned to New Zealand in April, 1904.

Captain

On 10 September, 1904, the day he returned to Britain,[9] Scott was promoted to the rank of Captain.[10] From 1 October he was appointed to President for nine months on leave and in connection with the work of the Antarctic Expedition. On 29 November, 1905, he was appointed to the War Course at Devonport, but on 6 December he was appointed to President for temporary service at the Admiralty.[11] On 15 January, 1906, he was appointed Head of Trade Division in the Naval Intelligence Department.[12] His office was located just off the main entrance of the Admiralty Building on Whitehall.[13]

On 25 August, 1906, Scott was appointed in command of the battleship Victorious, as Flag Captain to Rear-Admiral George Le C. Egerton, Second-in-Command of the Atlantic Fleet, who had participated in the Arctic expedition of 1875-1876. He transferred with Egerton to H.M.S. Albemarle on 2 January, 1907, and was superseded on 25 August.[14] Egerton's opinion of his service was recorded as:

His general ability energy & capability for command are so well known that it is needless for me to remark on them. He has much to learn in purely service matters but as each question arises he goes into it thoroughly. Is rather restless of ordinary routine duties & thirsting for more active employment. An officer of excellent physique & likely to have a brilliant career if opportunities offer.[15]

The Commander-in-Chief of the Atlantic Fleet, Vice-Admiral Curzon-Howe added, "As a Captain of a ship under my command Capt. S. has merited my highest approbation."[16]

On 25 January, 1908, he was appointed Captain of the armoured cruiser Essex. On 30 May he was appointed in command of the battleship Bulwark in the Home Fleet.[17] In December his outgoing Flag Officer, Rear-Admiral Arthur M. Farquhar, wrote of Scott, "Handles his ship v. well: a most excellent offr. & desirable in every way." The Commander-in-Chief of the Home Fleet, Vice-Admiral Sir Francis C. B. Bridgeman, expressed his concurrence in Farquhar's remarks.[18] On 24 March, 1909, he was appointed Naval Assistant to Bridgeman, now Second Sea Lord at the Admiralty.[19] He was also appointed a member of a Departmental Committee "to inquire into the question of numbers of the Military, Engineer, and Marine Branches which will be required in future."[20] The same year he announced his plans for a new Antarctic expedition which was to continue the work of the Discovery and to attempt to reach the Pole, following as far as possible the route by which Shackleton had reached lat. 88° 23' S. in January 1909.

Back to the South

With the financial support of the British and Dominion governments the Terra Nova was able to sail in June 1910, with Scott having been appointed to President, additional for command of the British Antarctic Expedition on the first of the month.[21]

Winter quarters were established at Cape Evans in lat. 77° 38' 24" S., 15 statute miles north of the Discovery's old anchorage. Before the Terra Nova returned to New Zealand she made a course eastward to King Edward Land, and discovered Roald Amundsen's Fram, which was landing a wintering party at the Bay of Whales on the ice barrier preparatory to making an attempt on the Pole. This news confirmed the announcement of his plans which Amundsen had made to Scott some months earlier. Scott set out on his southern sledge journey 1 November 1911. Several food and oil-fuel depôts had been laid in the previous autumn, the most southerly being One Ton depôt in lat. 79° 28' 53" S., 130 geographical miles from the base. Scott had hoped to put this depôt in lat. 80° S., but the condition of the ponies had compelled him to forgo the last 31 miles. After a few days march the motor sledges broke down beyond repair. This was inconvenient, but reliance was placed chiefly on ponies and dogs, which helped the transport to the foot of the Beardmore glacier. Here the last of the ponies was shot for food and the dogs were sent back with a supporting party (11 December).

Depôts for the return journey were established on the outward route. Heavy haulage and fierce blizzards delayed the explorers and extremely low temperatures taxed their endurance. On 4 January 1912, in lat. 86° 32' S., the last supporting party, consisting of Lieutenant E. R. G. R. Evans, R.N., and two seamen, left Scott to continue his journey to the Pole with Dr. E. A. Wilson, Captain Lawrence Edward Grace Oates, Lieutenant H. R. Bowers, R.I.M., and Petty Officer Edgar Evans. In spite of the use of ski, pulling was heavy and progress slow. Temperature frequently fell to -23° F. and never rose as high as zero. On 16 January a flag was sighted, and Scott's anticipation of being forestalled by Amundsen proved true. On 18 January the Pole was reached. In the vicinity was a tent left by Amundsen with a note for Scott. The Norwegians had reached the Pole on 14 December 1911, and left three days later. Subsequent recalculation of Bowers's observations show that the possible error in the determination of the polar position was not more than 30".

In spite of bad travelling conditions fair progress was made on the return journey till the head of the Beardmore glacier was reached (7 February). Petty Officer Evans, however, was breaking down under the strain, and he died on 17 February. His weakness had entailed dangerous delay. On the barrier temperatures of -30° to -47° F. sorely tried the four men, weak from want of warm food. A shortage of oil in the depôts by evaporation through the stoppers of the tins was a serious and unforeseen calamity. Frost-bite made marching slow and painful. By the beginning of March it was a race against time to reach one depôt after another before the party's strength gave out. Progress was frequently interrupted by strong winds. On 17 March Oates, who was too badly frost-bitten to go any further, walked out into a blizzard, hoping by this sacrifice to allow the others to push on to safety. Four days later they camped in lat. 79° 40' S. eleven miles from One Ton depôt. There seemed to be a faint hope; but a long-continued blizzard put an end to all possibility of advancing. On 29 March Scott made the last entry in his diary: ‘We shall stick it out to the end, but we are getting weaker, of course, and the end cannot be far. It seems a pity, but I do not think I can write any more.’

In accordance with instructions a relief party with dog teams had set out from the base to meet Scott, but was held up by a blizzard at One Ton depôt from 3 to 10 March, when a shortage of dog food compelled a return. Eight months later a search party under Dr. E. L. Atkinson found the tent and the bodies. Scott's diaries, letters, photographs, and message to the public were recovered, as well as the valuable geological specimens from the Beardmore glacier, which, in spite of their weight, had been retained to the end. A snow cairn surmounted by a cross was built over the tent. Some months later a cross to the memory of the five men was erected at Observation Hill on Hut Point, Ross Island.

In addition to the polar journey, much valuable exploration was carried out, together with notable scientific researches. A party, under Lieutenant V. Campbell, unable to land in King Edward Land, was put ashore by the Terra Nova at Cape Adare and was moved in the second year to Terra Nova Bay. In face of great difficulties this party explored the coastal region of South Victoria Land and reached the expedition's main base in safety.

The news of the disaster to Scott and his companions did not reach Europe until February 1913 when the expedition finally returned to New Zealand. The achievement and the heroic end aroused world-wide admiration. A memorial service was held in St. Paul's Cathedral on 14 February, government pensions were awarded to the dependents of those who had perished, and Scott's widow received the rank and precedence of the wife of a K.C.B. A Mansion House fund was opened to commemorate the explorers, and devoted chiefly to the publication of their scientific results and to the foundation of a polar research institute at Cambridge.

Scott received the C.V.O. in 1904, the Polar medal (in that year also), and the gold medals of many British and foreign geographical societies. He also received the honorary degree of D.Sc. from the universities of Cambridge and Manchester. Statues of Scott, the work of Lady Scott, stand in Waterloo Place, London, Portsmouth dockyard, and in Christchurch, New Zealand, and there are busts, also by Lady Scott, at Devonport and Dunedin, New Zealand. There is a portrait plaque in St. Paul's Cathedral. A portrait by D. A. Wehrschmidt (Veresmith), painted in 1905, was deposited on loan in the National Portrait Gallery in 1924. Another portrait, bust size and posthumous, painted by C. Percival Small, was given to the Gallery by Sir Courtauld Thomson in 1914. A third picture, also posthumous, based upon photographs and painted by Harrington Mann, was presented to the house of the Royal Geographical Society by Scott's family.

Scott married in 1908 Kathleen, youngest daughter of Canon Lloyd Bruce, by whom he had one son.

Bibliography

  • "The Polar Disaster" (News). The Times. Tuesday, 11 February, 1911. Issue 401342, col C, p. 10.
  • Fiennes, [Sir] Ranulph (2003). Captain Scott. London: Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN 0340826975.

Papers

Service Records

Naval Appointments
Preceded by
Clement Greatorex 		Captain of H.M. T.B. 87
11 Jul, 1893[22] – 16 Aug, 1893[23] 		Succeeded by
Arthur H. Tremayne
Preceded by
Harry Jones 		Head of Trade Division
15 Jan, 1906[24] – 25 Aug, 1906[25] 		Succeeded by
Henry H. Campbell
Preceded by
Godfrey H. B. Mundy 		Captain of H.M.S. Victorious
25 Aug, 1906[26] – 2 Jan, 1907[27] 		Succeeded by
Edgar G. H. Gamble
Preceded by
Edward S. Fitzherbert 		Captain of H.M.S. Albemarle
2 Jan, 1907[28] – 25 Aug, 1907[29] 		Succeeded by
William E. Goodenough
Preceded by
Robert J. Prendergast 		Captain of H.M.S. Essex
25 Jan, 1908[30] – 30 May, 1908[31] 		Succeeded by
Herbert J. O. Millar
Preceded by
Arthur C. Leveson 		Captain of H.M.S. Bulwark
30 May, 1908[32] – 24 Mar, 1909[33] 		Succeeded by
Bentinck J. D. Yelverton
Preceded by
? 		Naval Assistant to the Second Sea Lord
24 Mar, 1909[34] – 3 Dec, 1909[35] 		Succeeded by
William O. Boothby

 

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Dore, Jonathan (3 December, 2006). "Sunday Book Review." The New York Times.
  2. ↑ Preston. p. 22.
  3. ↑ The National Archives. ADM 6/469.
  4. ↑ ADM 196/42. f. 501.
  5. ↑ The London Gazette: no. 25969. p. 4737. 30 August, 1889.
  6. ↑ ADM 196/88. f. 62.
  7. ↑ "The Naval Manœuvres". The Times. Monday, 10 July, 1893. Issue 33999, col D, p. 10.
  8. ↑ The London Gazette: no. 27211. p. 4433. 17 July, 1900.
  9. ↑ Fiennes. p. 133.
  10. ↑ The London Gazette: no. 27713. p. 5913. 13 September, 1904.
  11. ↑ ADM 196/42. f. 501.
  12. ↑ Naval Intelligence Department. Distribution of Work.—February 1906. The National Archives. ADM 231/47. p. 4.
  13. ↑ "Admiralty. Old Building Whitehall. Sheet No. 2." National Museum of the Royal Navy.
  14. ↑ ADM 196/42. f. 501.
  15. ↑ ADM 196/88. f. 62.
  16. ↑ ADM 196/88. f. 62.
  17. ↑ ADM 196/42. f. 501.
  18. ↑ ADM 196/88. 62.
  19. ↑ ADM 196/42. f. 501.
  20. ↑ Copy of letter of 5 May, 1909. "Interim Report of the Departmental Committee on the Future Requirements of Officers of the Military, Engineer, and Marine Branches." p. 2.The National Archives. ADM 116/881.
  21. ↑ Scott Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/42. f. 501.
  22. ↑ "The Naval Manœuvres". The Times. Monday, 10 July, 1893. Issue 33999, col D, p. 10.
  23. ↑ Scott Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/42. f. 501.
  24. ↑ Naval Intelligence Department. Distribution of Work.—February 1906. The National Archives. ADM 231/47. p. 4.
  25. ↑ Naval Intelligence Department. Distribution of Work.—February 1906. The National Archives. ADM 231/47. p. 4.
  26. ↑ Scott Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/42. f. 501.
  27. ↑ Scott Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/42. f. 501.
  28. ↑ Scott Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/42. f. 501.
  29. ↑ Scott Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/42. f. 501.
  30. ↑ Scott Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/42. f. 501.
  31. ↑ Scott Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/42. f. 501.
  32. ↑ Scott Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/42. f. 501.
  33. ↑ Scott Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/42. f. 501.
  34. ↑ Scott Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/42. f. 501.
  35. ↑ Scott Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/42. f. 501.

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