Scott
"Things are looking up," Scott wrote. "We stepped off this afternoon at the rate of 2 miles or more an hour, with the very satisfactory result of 17 (stat.) miles to the good for the day. It has not been a strain, except perhaps for me with my wounds received [from falling into a crevasse] early in the day. The wind has kept us cool on the march, which has in consequence been very much pleasanter; we are not wet in our clothes to-night, and have not suffered from the same overpowering thirst as on previous days. (T. -11°.) (Min. -5°.) [sic, see note 1] [Lt.] Evans and Bowers are busy taking angles; as they have been all day, we shall have material for an excellent chart. Days like this put heart in one." [1]
Wright, perhaps seeing his chance at the pole slipping away, complained in his diary, "Our sledge is slow and can't keep up with the Owner's. Teddy, the damn hypocrite, as soon as he sees the Owner's sledge stopped and they watch us come up puts his head down and digs in for all he is worth." [2]
Amundsen
"Same magnificently beautiful weather," wrote Amundsen. "Almost calm and partly clear. We have done our regulation 15 nautical miles. Put 'Lasse' down this evening. He was one of our best dogs, but wore himself out. He was divided into 15 parts. The others are now like mad creatures after dog meat." [3]
Their tracks from the outward journey were still clearly visible, and they could easily see their next cairns.
Notes:
[1] R.F. Scott, diary, 19 December, 1911, quoted in Scott's Last Expedition : the Journals, v.1. The Gutenberg Project edition of Scott's diary gives the temperatures as quoted above, but the Methuen edition, for one, reads " (T. +11°.) (Min. +5°.)".
[2] Charles Wright, diary, 19 December, 1911, quoted by David Crane in Scott of the Antarctic (New York : Knopf, c2005), p.473. "There can be no doubt of Evans's courage when it came to a crisis," Crane adds here, "but if his performance in the Terra Nova or subsequent war record are any guide, his was a temperament that was better suited to the drama and dangers of battle on the high seas than the grim, unglamorous slog of hauling."
[3] Roald Amundsen, diary, 20 December, 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in Race for the South Pole : the expedition diaries of Scott and Amundsen (London : Continuum, c2010), p.196.
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Again, the temperatures which Scott records in this entry are some of the temperatures that were falsified after his death in the published version of his diary by changing the positive signs with negative signs. How else do you explain a regular temperature of -11 with a minimum of -5? Scott's recorded temperatures in his original diary for December 19 are +11 with a +5 minimum, as per Huntford, Race to the South Pole: The Expedition Diaries of Scott and Amundsen, page 196.
ReplyDeleteThanks,
Kristoffer
Kris, the Methuen edition of Scott's diary (published 1983 from the 1913 Smith, Elder edition) gives the +11° and +5° temperatures. I don't why the Gutenberg edition gives the temps in the minuses, but I don't think that you can blame this on Scott, which seems to be your main argument.
ReplyDeleteI have added a note in the post remarking on the difference. I will keep an eye on this in future posts. Thanks for pointing it out!
I did not say that Scott falsified his temperatures himself at this time, I said that it was done after his death.
ReplyDeleteThanks,
Kristoffer
If you want to see a list (although not a complete list) of changed temperatures, look at Appendix III of the Oxford World's Classics version of Scott's journals edited by Max Jones. According to him, 11 of the temperature changes were corrected in the 1923 edition.
ReplyDeleteThanks,
Kristoffer