Thursday, 27 October 1910

Scott

In Wellington, Scott was interviewed by a local newspaper and asked for a comment on Amundsen's announcement. "Scott fell silent," Gran wrote later. "But the interviewer did not give up. Then Scott became angry and brushed the man off by saying, 'If, as rumour says, Amundsen wants to try for the South Pole from some part of the coast of the West Antarctic, I can only wish him good luck.'" [1]

Scott still had not cabled Nansen.

"Though we did not appreciate it at the time," Cherry wrote later, "we were up against a very big man." [2]


Notes:

[1] Tryggve Gran, Fra Tjuagutt til Sydpolfarer, p.220, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.322.
[2] Apsley Cherry-Garrard, The Worst Journey in the World, ch.2.