The rivals meet at the end of the Earth
The Pole attempts had to be made in the Antarctic summer as conditions were too severe during the rest of the year. This period of relatively better weather and constant light only lasted from November to March. The plan was to arrive during one summer, set up camp and see out the winter, then push for the Pole when the next summer’s weather window opened.
The Terra Nova finally reached Ross Island on 4 January 1911. Scott’s team set up their base camp at a cape near where he had camped on his Discovery Expedition nine years before. They had at least nine months before they would make their Pole attempt. In the meantime, Scott was determined to keep busy, and to pursue their scientific goals. He sent a party east to explore King Edward VII Land and Victoria Land. This team was returning westward when it was astonished to see Amundsen’s expedition camped in the Bay of Whales, an inlet on the eastern edge of the Ross Ice Shelf. The Norwegians had arrived on 14 January. Amundsen was friendly to the Englishmen, offering them a welcome to camp nearby and care for their dogs. These offers were declined and the party returned to base camp. Scott wrote about the meeting in his journal: ‘One thing only fixes itself in my mind. The proper, as well as the wiser, course is for us to proceed exactly as though this had not happened. To go forward and do our best for the honour of our country without fear or panic.’
Roald Amundsen in furs, c.1912.
Different men, different strategies
There were three main stages to be tackled on the 1,450 km (900 mile) trek to the Pole: crossing the Ross Ice Shelf (an area the size of France); ascending a glacier to reach the polar plateau; and then crossing that plateau to the Pole itself. Once at the pole the journey then had to be done in reverse.
The two expeditions planned different strategies for their attempts. Amundsen would use his beloved dogs to pull his team and supplies all the way to the Pole. Scott would use a combination of ponies (which Shackleton had used on his record push), dogs and motor sleds to haul the big loads across the ice shelf. This would allow the men to save their strength for the ascent onto the plateau and the push for the Pole, which they would do pulling their own sleds.
They could not haul all the supplies they would need, so both parties had to lay out caches of food on their routes. This had to be done before winter arrived to allow the expeditions to start in earnest in the following spring.
On 27 January, Scott hurriedly began laying supplies but their ponies were not up to the task and several died. The men were also slowed by a vicious blizzard. These delays made Scott decide to lay their main supply point, One Ton Depot, 56 km (35 miles) north of its planned location. This decision would cost the returning party dearly.
The Norwegian party used skis and dog sleds to lay supply caches at 80°, 81° and 82° south on a route aimed directly at the Pole, without major incident.
Winter descended and both expeditions settled down in their base camps to ride it out.
Captain Scott writing in his journal in the expedition hut in October 1911, before setting out for the pole.
Across the ice shelf
On 8 September 1911, Amundsen’s team set out for the Pole but within days they were beaten back by savage weather. They immediately began preparing for another attempt and, on 19 October, a group using four sledges and fifty-two dogs set off from base camps on a direct line south. They spent nearly four weeks crossing the ice shelf before reaching the base of the Antarctic plateau. Here they discovered a new glacier, which was shorter and steeper than the colossal Beardmore Glacier that Scott was ascending. They shot several of their dogs for food. After a four-day climb up this icy staircase, they reached the plateau on 21 November.
Scott’s motor sleds, laden with supplies, departed on 24 October, but only ran for 80 km (50 miles) before breaking down. The drivers had to haul the gear themselves in an exhausting 240 km (150 mile) trek to the rendezvous. Scott’s main party left base camp on 1 November 1911 — Amundsen had already been going for twelve days. Scott’s teams reached the start of the Beardmore Glacier on 4 December. By now they were more than two weeks behind Amundsen.
They were tent-bound by a blizzard for five days and then took nine days to ascend the gargantuan 200 km (125 miles) long Beardmore Glacier. Scott’s team stepped onto the lifeless Antarctic plateau on 20 December. They caught up a little time here and the final team of five men — Scott, Wilson, Oates, Bowers and Evans – set out on foot for the Pole.
‘The worst has happened’
Scott’s team slogged on across the vast white emptiness, passing Christmas on the ice. On 30 December, their hearts lifted a little as they had caught up with Shackleton’s 1908–09 timetable. However, in reality they were all suffering from exhaustion, frostbite and hunger. They passed Shackleton’s record mark of (88° 23’ S) on 9 January. Despite their pain, they could feel that their prize was within reach. They trudged on.
Amundsen’s expedition with piles of equipment, boxes of stores, and dogs.
Scott’s disappointed party at the South Pole, 18 January 1912. Clockwise from top left: Oates, Scott, Evans, Wilson, Bowers. Frostbite is plainly visible on their faces.
On 17 January 1912, Scott looked up from the endless snow at his feet to see a black flag fluttering above a small tent. Amundsen had led his five men, sixteen-dog team on a straight run to the Pole. They encountered little difficulty on the plateau and on 14 December 1911 they made the first human footprints at the bottom of the world. They had erected a tent and left a letter detailing their achievement.
Scott had been beaten to this long-sought goal by thirty-four days. ‘All the daydreams must go,’ wrote the anguished explorer in his diary. ‘Great God! This is an awful place.’ There was nothing for the distraught men to do but start the 1,300-km (800-mile) return journey. This was a savage undertaking and the exhausted team were pained with frostbite and snow blindness. The first man to die was Edgar Evans. He succumbed on 17 February after falling down a glacier.
The remaining four trekked on but Lawrence Oates’ toes had become severely frostbitten and he knew that he was holding back his colleagues. On 16 March, Scott wrote in his diary that Oates stood up, said ‘I am just going outside and may be some time,’ then walked out of the tent and was never seen again.
‘We knew that Oates was walking to his death... it was the act of a brave man and an English gentleman.’
The three surviving men camped for the last time on 19 March. A ferocious blizzard kept them in their tent in temperatures of -44°C (-47°F) and sealed their fate. They died of starvation and exposure 10 days later. They were 18 km (11 miles) short of One Ton Depot. Had it been in its planned location, they would have made it. Scott was the last to die.
‘Every day we have been ready to start for our depot 11 miles away, but outside the door of the tent it remains a scene of whirling drift. I do not think we can hope for any better things now. 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. R. Scott. Last entry. For God’s sake look after our people.’
Both quotes from Captain Scott’s diary
To the victor, the spoils
Amundsen’s team arrived back in base camp six weeks after reaching the Pole, on 25 January 1912. They were in Australia at the start of March. News of their success was telegraphed to the world.
Scott was hailed as a tragic hero,