Second to the Pole—first in a century of argument
British naval captain Robert Falcon Scott, born in June 1868 and dead by about the end of March 1912, led Discovery (1901–04) and Terra Nova (1910–13) into Antarctica. His five-man party got to the South Pole on 17 January 1912, weeks after Amundsen, then died on the return when dog-team support never met them.
He was the elder son of John Edward Scott, a brewer and magistrate at Stoke Damerel near Devonport, in a family whose grandfather and four uncles had all served in the forces. After a cramming school in Hampshire he entered the training ship Britannia as a thirteen-year-old cadet in 1881. In 1887, as a midshipman in the West Indies, he caught the eye of Clements Markham of the Royal Geographical Society, who watched his cutter win a race and liked to spot promising young officers for polar work.
His father lost everything after selling the brewery and died in 1897, leaving his mother and sisters dependent on the sons’ pay, so promotion mattered badly. A chance meeting with Markham on a London street in June 1899 revealed plans for an Antarctic venture, and Scott volunteered. The Royal Society wanted a scientist in charge of the programme, but Markham won the fight and Scott got full command.
Few of the 50 men had any polar experience. The dogs died of disease in the first season, George Vince slipped to his death over a precipice in a blizzard in March 1902, and scurvy dented Scott’s reputation. With Shackleton and Edward Wilson he still marched to 82°17′S, about 850 kilometres from the Pole, and found the plateau on which it sits. Two relief ships and explosives were needed to free Discovery, yet he came home in 1904 a popular hero and was made captain.
On the second expedition the promised dog teams never met the returning polar party, despite his written orders of October 1911. He and his companions died about 20 kilometres short of the next depot, carrying the first fossils found in Antarctica. Revered after death, then attacked late in the 20th century, he has been judged more kindly since records showed March 1912 temperatures below −40 °C.
Source: Robert Falcon Scott
