"The Terra Nova heading down the Bristol Channel after leaving Cardiff, 15 June 1910". [1]The Terra Nova departed from Cardiff.
"Neither before or since in time of peace have I hear such an uproar as that which made the air tremble as Terra Nova glided out through the docks," wrote Gran of the scene. "People in their thousands yelled as if they had taken leave of their senses. Railway wagons were rolled over a line covered with dynamite detonators, and vessels in their hundreds completed the noise with whistles and sirens. At the last lock gates we were met by a little squadron of beflagged boats, and with this as escort we steamed out into the open sea." [2]
Scott came off with the pilot boat, busy with last-minute publicity and fund-raising efforts, and decided to travel out by mailboat and join the expedition in New Zealand.
"I am glad you are not going to see me off," Oates wrote to his mother, "I hate those awful goodbyes." [3]
Notes:
[1] Cardiff Central Library (item reference: Astudiaethau Lleol/Local Studies 2247); found at Casglu'r Tlysau/Gathering the Jewels.
[2] Tryggve Gran, Slik var Det, p.80, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.284.
[3] L.E.G. Oates, letter to Caroline Oates, [date not given], quoted by Sue Limb and Patrick Cordingley in Captain Oates : Soldier and Explorer (London : Batsford, c1982), p.97.
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