Scott
"It seems astonishing," Scott wrote at 86° 2' S, "to be disappointed with a march of 15 (stat.) miles, when I had contemplated doing little more than 10 with full loads." [1]
"Our height yesterday morning by hypsometer was 8000 feet," wrote Bowers. "That is our last hypsometer record, as I had the misfortune to break the thermometer. The hypsometer was one of my chief delights, and nobody could have been more disgusted than myself at its breaking. However, we have the aneroid to check the height. We are going gradually up and up." [2]
Day and Hooper arrived back at Cape Evans with the news that Scott had taken the dogs on further than intended. Scott's orders to Simpson, in charge in Scott's absence, instructed that the dogs "might be late returning, unfit for work or non-existent. So don't forget that the [supplies] must be [got to One Ton] somehow." [3]
Meares and the dogs had been expected back by 15th December. Simpson was of course not to know that they had not turned back until the 11th. In lieu of the dog teams, therefore, he promptly sent Day and Hooper to One Ton to replenish the depot.
Amundsen
"Boiling sun on our backs," wrote Amundsen. "Brilliant going that puts the dogs in top form, [they] really seem to be putting on weight." [2]
Land was sighted. Amundsen thought it was a new discovery, but realised his mistake a few days later, that the sun and mirage had distorted perspective. (Amundsen was in fact rather short-sighted, a fact that he concealed for most of his life.)
Notes:
[1] R.F. Scott, diary, 26 December, 1911, quoted in Scott's Last Expedition : the Journals, v.1.
[2] H.R. Bowers, diary, 26 December, 1911, quoted by Apsley Cherry-Garrard in The Worst Journey in the World, ch.10.
[3] George Simpson, diary, 31 December, 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.426.
[4] Roald Amundsen, diary, 27 December, 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.498.
Showing posts with label Simpson. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Simpson. Show all posts
December 26, 2011
November 24, 2011
Friday, 24 November 1911
Scott
The first of the planned return parties, Day and Hooper, turned back, from Camp 20 at 81° 15'. The original intention had been that they return from 80° 30', but Scott had decided that the unit stay together a few days longer to form a light advance party to make a track.
Day and Hooper took with them a letter from Scott to Simpson, in command back at Cape Evans, changing the orders for Meares and the dogs. "My Dear Simpson. This goes with Day and Hooper now returning. We are making fair progress and the ponies doing fairly well. I hope we shall get through to the glacier without difficulty, but to make sure I am carrying the dog-teams farther than I intended at first -- the teams may be late returning, unfit for further work or non-existent..." [1] With them, they took two of the dogs, including Stareek, who had unaccountably gone on strike. "'Stareek' is a splendid leader and the most intelligent of the dogs," Bowers had written almost three weeks earlier, "and that I think is his undoing. The fact seems to be that he has come to the conclusion that he does not know where he is and that we are still heading away from home, so he has chucked his hand in." [2]
In the evening, the first of the ponies was shot, Atkinson's Jehu, "the crockiest of the crocks" as Cherry put it. This was "a good few miles further South than the lat. where Shackleton shot his first pony," Wilson noted in his diary. [3]
Amundsen
"Bloody horrible lying still," Bjaaland wrote. [4]
Notes:
[1] Quoted by Apsley Cherry-Garrard in a footnote in The Worst Journey in the World, ch.IX.
[2] H.R. Bowers, diary letter to his sister May, 2 November, 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.427.
[3] E.A. Wilson, diary, [date not given], quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.427.
[4] Olav Bjaaland, diary, 25 November, 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in Race for the South Pole : the expedition diaries of Scott and Amundsen (London : Continuum, c2010), p.144.
The first of the planned return parties, Day and Hooper, turned back, from Camp 20 at 81° 15'. The original intention had been that they return from 80° 30', but Scott had decided that the unit stay together a few days longer to form a light advance party to make a track.
Day and Hooper took with them a letter from Scott to Simpson, in command back at Cape Evans, changing the orders for Meares and the dogs. "My Dear Simpson. This goes with Day and Hooper now returning. We are making fair progress and the ponies doing fairly well. I hope we shall get through to the glacier without difficulty, but to make sure I am carrying the dog-teams farther than I intended at first -- the teams may be late returning, unfit for further work or non-existent..." [1] With them, they took two of the dogs, including Stareek, who had unaccountably gone on strike. "'Stareek' is a splendid leader and the most intelligent of the dogs," Bowers had written almost three weeks earlier, "and that I think is his undoing. The fact seems to be that he has come to the conclusion that he does not know where he is and that we are still heading away from home, so he has chucked his hand in." [2]
In the evening, the first of the ponies was shot, Atkinson's Jehu, "the crockiest of the crocks" as Cherry put it. This was "a good few miles further South than the lat. where Shackleton shot his first pony," Wilson noted in his diary. [3]
Amundsen
"Bloody horrible lying still," Bjaaland wrote. [4]
Notes:
[1] Quoted by Apsley Cherry-Garrard in a footnote in The Worst Journey in the World, ch.IX.
[2] H.R. Bowers, diary letter to his sister May, 2 November, 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.427.
[3] E.A. Wilson, diary, [date not given], quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.427.
[4] Olav Bjaaland, diary, 25 November, 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in Race for the South Pole : the expedition diaries of Scott and Amundsen (London : Continuum, c2010), p.144.
September 28, 2011
Thursday, 28 September 1911
Scott
"Captain Scott, Bowers, Simpson and [P.O.] Evans leaving for the Western Mountains. Sept 15th 1911," photographed by Ponting. [1]
Scott's party returned to Cape Evans.
"The objects of our little journey were satisfactorily accomplished," he wrote, "but the greatest source of pleasure to me is to realise that I have such men as Bowers and P.O. Evans for the Southern journey. I do not think that harder men or better sledge travellers ever took the trail. Bowers is a little wonder." [2]
Notes:
[1] Scott Polar Research Institute.
[2] R.F. Scott, diary, 1 October, 1911, quoted in Scott's Last Expedition, v.1.
"Captain Scott, Bowers, Simpson and [P.O.] Evans leaving for the Western Mountains. Sept 15th 1911," photographed by Ponting. [1]Scott's party returned to Cape Evans.
"The objects of our little journey were satisfactorily accomplished," he wrote, "but the greatest source of pleasure to me is to realise that I have such men as Bowers and P.O. Evans for the Southern journey. I do not think that harder men or better sledge travellers ever took the trail. Bowers is a little wonder." [2]
Notes:
[1] Scott Polar Research Institute.
[2] R.F. Scott, diary, 1 October, 1911, quoted in Scott's Last Expedition, v.1.
September 15, 2011
Friday, 15 September 1911
Scott
Scott, P.O. Evans, Simpson, and Bowers leaving on "a remarkably pleasant and instructive little spring journey" to the Western Mountains on 15th September 1911. [1]
"Bowers, Simpson, Petty Officer Evans, and I are off to the west," wrote Scott. "I want to have another look at the Ferrar Glacier, to measure the stakes put out by Wright last year, to bring my sledging impressions up to date (one loses details of technique very easily), and finally to see what we can do with our cameras. I haven't decided how long we shall stay away or precisely where we shall go; such vague arrangements have an attractive side," he added. [2]
"It is not quite clear," Debenham wrote in his diary, "why they are going or what they are going to do." [3]
Amundsen
Framheim, unknown date. [4]
The temperature rose to -44° C. With only forty miles to Framheim, and the going suddenly good, Amundsen ordered the distance to be done at a single stretch, and they set off at seven in the morning.
Amundsen was forerunner for the journey, and thus had no sledge; he flung himself on Wisting's sledge, and with Helmer Hanssen, they set off so quickly that soon they were to Bjaaland "just a white dot far away." [5] They reached Framheim at four in the afternoon.
"Our reception was so-so," Helmer Hanssen recorded. "The first Lindstrøm said to us was: 'I told you so!' and we each had a wigging [for starting on a Friday]." [6]
The others were still out on the Barrier. Those dogs that weakened were loosed from their harness and left to make their own way home.
With no forerunner, Stubberud's dogs slowed down. His feet were frostbitten and he had to sit on his sledge. "[I was] quite alone," he recalled later. "And if there had been a blizzard ... the situation would have been precarious. I had no fuel, Primus or tent and little food, only a few biscuits. There was nothing to be done but wait for those behind me, and that took a fairly long time." [7]
As Bjaaland took the lead, Stubberud's team picked up; they reached Framheim at about six o'clock in the evening. Amundsen, hearing that they had seen nothing of the other three, "[hoped that] since the weather was turning thick Johansen, as an old experienced Polar traveller, would make camp and wait until the next day." [8] Hassel, though, arriving a little later, said that the other two had no fuel or food.
Prestrud's dogs, still out on the Barrier, could barely pull the empty sledge; Johansen's were also failing, but he managed to race on ahead and early in the afternoon had overtaken Hassel. Johansen, Hassel noted, was "very bitter over the inconsideration shown by Amundsen, thus racing away from them.... He wanted me to wait, but I preferred to continue, as we were still 16 miles from Framheim and had neither Primus, petroleum nor pans, and the need would be just as great whether we were two to share it [or three]." [9] Hassel gave Johansen his tent and went on.
Johansen waited for Prestrud, who arrived after another two hours, his feet badly frostbitten. Johansen, experienced as he was with cold and ice, realised that Prestrud had to be got warm as soon as possible and pressed on, reaching Framheim at half past midnight, guided in the dark and fog only by the barking of the dogs. The temperature was -51° C.
It was, Johansen wrote the next day, "a woeful aftermath. A profound gloom and misfortune has arisen among us, and no more are we happy and content." [10]
Notes:
[1] Guardian.co.uk.
[2] R.F. Scott, diary, 14 September, 1911, quoted in Scott's Last Expedition, v.1.
[3] Frank Debenham, 13 September, 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.402.
[4] Roald Amundsen Bildearkiv, Nasjonalbiblioteket.
[5] Olav Bjaaland, diary, 16 September, 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.409.
[6] Helmer Hanssen, Gjennem Isbaksen, p.88, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.409.
[7] Jørgen Stubberud, Reminiscences, "Den Siste ave Sydpolens Erobrere", Vi Menn, 1 February, 1972, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.409.
[8] Roald Amundsen, [diary? date not given], quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.409.
[9] Sverre Hassel, diary, 16 September, 1911, quoted in Dagboksnotater fra Sydpolen (Skien : Vågemots miniforlag, 1997), p.6.
[10] Hjalmar Johansen, diary, 17 September, 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.410.
Scott, P.O. Evans, Simpson, and Bowers leaving on "a remarkably pleasant and instructive little spring journey" to the Western Mountains on 15th September 1911. [1]"Bowers, Simpson, Petty Officer Evans, and I are off to the west," wrote Scott. "I want to have another look at the Ferrar Glacier, to measure the stakes put out by Wright last year, to bring my sledging impressions up to date (one loses details of technique very easily), and finally to see what we can do with our cameras. I haven't decided how long we shall stay away or precisely where we shall go; such vague arrangements have an attractive side," he added. [2]
"It is not quite clear," Debenham wrote in his diary, "why they are going or what they are going to do." [3]
Amundsen
Framheim, unknown date. [4]The temperature rose to -44° C. With only forty miles to Framheim, and the going suddenly good, Amundsen ordered the distance to be done at a single stretch, and they set off at seven in the morning.
Amundsen was forerunner for the journey, and thus had no sledge; he flung himself on Wisting's sledge, and with Helmer Hanssen, they set off so quickly that soon they were to Bjaaland "just a white dot far away." [5] They reached Framheim at four in the afternoon.
"Our reception was so-so," Helmer Hanssen recorded. "The first Lindstrøm said to us was: 'I told you so!' and we each had a wigging [for starting on a Friday]." [6]
The others were still out on the Barrier. Those dogs that weakened were loosed from their harness and left to make their own way home.
With no forerunner, Stubberud's dogs slowed down. His feet were frostbitten and he had to sit on his sledge. "[I was] quite alone," he recalled later. "And if there had been a blizzard ... the situation would have been precarious. I had no fuel, Primus or tent and little food, only a few biscuits. There was nothing to be done but wait for those behind me, and that took a fairly long time." [7]
As Bjaaland took the lead, Stubberud's team picked up; they reached Framheim at about six o'clock in the evening. Amundsen, hearing that they had seen nothing of the other three, "[hoped that] since the weather was turning thick Johansen, as an old experienced Polar traveller, would make camp and wait until the next day." [8] Hassel, though, arriving a little later, said that the other two had no fuel or food.
Prestrud's dogs, still out on the Barrier, could barely pull the empty sledge; Johansen's were also failing, but he managed to race on ahead and early in the afternoon had overtaken Hassel. Johansen, Hassel noted, was "very bitter over the inconsideration shown by Amundsen, thus racing away from them.... He wanted me to wait, but I preferred to continue, as we were still 16 miles from Framheim and had neither Primus, petroleum nor pans, and the need would be just as great whether we were two to share it [or three]." [9] Hassel gave Johansen his tent and went on.
Johansen waited for Prestrud, who arrived after another two hours, his feet badly frostbitten. Johansen, experienced as he was with cold and ice, realised that Prestrud had to be got warm as soon as possible and pressed on, reaching Framheim at half past midnight, guided in the dark and fog only by the barking of the dogs. The temperature was -51° C.
It was, Johansen wrote the next day, "a woeful aftermath. A profound gloom and misfortune has arisen among us, and no more are we happy and content." [10]
Notes:
[1] Guardian.co.uk.
[2] R.F. Scott, diary, 14 September, 1911, quoted in Scott's Last Expedition, v.1.
[3] Frank Debenham, 13 September, 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.402.
[4] Roald Amundsen Bildearkiv, Nasjonalbiblioteket.
[5] Olav Bjaaland, diary, 16 September, 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.409.
[6] Helmer Hanssen, Gjennem Isbaksen, p.88, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.409.
[7] Jørgen Stubberud, Reminiscences, "Den Siste ave Sydpolens Erobrere", Vi Menn, 1 February, 1972, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.409.
[8] Roald Amundsen, [diary? date not given], quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.409.
[9] Sverre Hassel, diary, 16 September, 1911, quoted in Dagboksnotater fra Sydpolen (Skien : Vågemots miniforlag, 1997), p.6.
[10] Hjalmar Johansen, diary, 17 September, 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.410.
June 22, 2011
Thursday, 22 June 1911
Scott
Midwinter's Day at Cape Evans, photographed by Ponting, 22 June, 1911. Seated from left, Debenham, Oates, Meares, Bowers, Cherry-Garrard, Scott at the head, Wilson, Simpson, Nelson?, Lt. Evans, Day?, and Taylor. Standing at left, Wright and Atkinson; at left, Gran. [1]
To mark Midwinter's Day, Scott wrote, "I screwed myself up to a little speech which drew attention to the nature of the celebration as a half-way mark not only in our winter but in the plans of the Expedition as originally published. (I fear there are some who don't realise how rapidly time passes and who have barely begun work which by this time ought to be in full swing.)
"We had come through a summer season and half a winter, and had before us half a winter and a second summer. We ought to know how we stood in every respect; we did know how we stood in regard to stores and transport, and I especially thanked the officer in charge of stores and the custodians of the animals. I said that as regards the future, chance must play a part, but that experience showed me that it would have been impossible to have chosen people more fitted to support me in the enterprise to the South than those who were to start in that direction in the spring. I thanked them all for having put their shoulders to the wheel and given me this confidence.
"We drank to the Success of the Expedition."
Everyone gave a short speech in turn, and then the table was upended and chairs set out for a show of Ponting's slides of the expedition.
"After this show the table was restored for snapdragon, and a brew of milk punch was prepared in which we drank the health of Campbell's party and of our good friends in the Terra Nova. Then the table was again removed and a set of lancers formed.
"By this time the effect of stimulating liquid refreshment on men so long accustomed to a simple life became apparent. Our biologist had retired to bed, the silent Soldier bubbled with humour and insisted on dancing with Anton. Evans, P.O., was imparting confidences in heavy whispers. Pat Keohane had grown intensely Irish and desirous of political argument, whilst Clissold sat with a constant expansive smile and punctuated the babble of conversation with an occasional 'Whoop' of delight or disjointed witticism. Other bright-eyed individuals merely reached the capacity to enjoy that which under ordinary circumstances might have passed without evoking a smile." [2]
Bowers' midwinter tree. [3]
"After dinner we had to make speeches," Cherry remembered, "but instead of making a speech Bowers brought in a wonderful Christmas tree, made of split bamboos and a ski stick, with feathers tied to the end of each branch; candles, sweets, preserved fruits, and the most absurd toys of which Bill was the owner. Titus [Oates] got three things which pleased him immensely, a sponge, a whistle, and a pop-gun which went off when he pressed in the butt. For the rest of the evening he went round asking whether you were sweating. 'No.' 'Yes, you are,' he said, and wiped your face with the sponge. 'If you want to please me very much you will fall down when I shoot you,' he said to me, and then he went round shooting everybody. At intervals he blew the whistle." [4]
Midwinter's Day at Cape Adare, photographed by Levick. [5]
At Cape Adare, Campbell's usually-strict rationing of alcohol was waived for the occasion, and champagne, brandy, and crême de menthe accompanied the celebratory dinner, with cigars and crystallized fruit, followed by songs, paper hats, and parcels from home.
Notes:
[1] Scott Polar Research Institute.
[2] R.F. Scott, diary, 22 June, 1911, quoted in Scott's Last Expedition, v.1.
[3] Scott Polar Research Institute.
[4] Apsley Cherry-Garrard, The Worst Journey in the World, ch.7.
[5] Scott Polar Research Institute.
Midwinter's Day at Cape Evans, photographed by Ponting, 22 June, 1911. Seated from left, Debenham, Oates, Meares, Bowers, Cherry-Garrard, Scott at the head, Wilson, Simpson, Nelson?, Lt. Evans, Day?, and Taylor. Standing at left, Wright and Atkinson; at left, Gran. [1]To mark Midwinter's Day, Scott wrote, "I screwed myself up to a little speech which drew attention to the nature of the celebration as a half-way mark not only in our winter but in the plans of the Expedition as originally published. (I fear there are some who don't realise how rapidly time passes and who have barely begun work which by this time ought to be in full swing.)
"We had come through a summer season and half a winter, and had before us half a winter and a second summer. We ought to know how we stood in every respect; we did know how we stood in regard to stores and transport, and I especially thanked the officer in charge of stores and the custodians of the animals. I said that as regards the future, chance must play a part, but that experience showed me that it would have been impossible to have chosen people more fitted to support me in the enterprise to the South than those who were to start in that direction in the spring. I thanked them all for having put their shoulders to the wheel and given me this confidence.
"We drank to the Success of the Expedition."
Everyone gave a short speech in turn, and then the table was upended and chairs set out for a show of Ponting's slides of the expedition.
"After this show the table was restored for snapdragon, and a brew of milk punch was prepared in which we drank the health of Campbell's party and of our good friends in the Terra Nova. Then the table was again removed and a set of lancers formed.
"By this time the effect of stimulating liquid refreshment on men so long accustomed to a simple life became apparent. Our biologist had retired to bed, the silent Soldier bubbled with humour and insisted on dancing with Anton. Evans, P.O., was imparting confidences in heavy whispers. Pat Keohane had grown intensely Irish and desirous of political argument, whilst Clissold sat with a constant expansive smile and punctuated the babble of conversation with an occasional 'Whoop' of delight or disjointed witticism. Other bright-eyed individuals merely reached the capacity to enjoy that which under ordinary circumstances might have passed without evoking a smile." [2]
Bowers' midwinter tree. [3]"After dinner we had to make speeches," Cherry remembered, "but instead of making a speech Bowers brought in a wonderful Christmas tree, made of split bamboos and a ski stick, with feathers tied to the end of each branch; candles, sweets, preserved fruits, and the most absurd toys of which Bill was the owner. Titus [Oates] got three things which pleased him immensely, a sponge, a whistle, and a pop-gun which went off when he pressed in the butt. For the rest of the evening he went round asking whether you were sweating. 'No.' 'Yes, you are,' he said, and wiped your face with the sponge. 'If you want to please me very much you will fall down when I shoot you,' he said to me, and then he went round shooting everybody. At intervals he blew the whistle." [4]
Midwinter's Day at Cape Adare, photographed by Levick. [5]At Cape Adare, Campbell's usually-strict rationing of alcohol was waived for the occasion, and champagne, brandy, and crême de menthe accompanied the celebratory dinner, with cigars and crystallized fruit, followed by songs, paper hats, and parcels from home.
Notes:
[1] Scott Polar Research Institute.
[2] R.F. Scott, diary, 22 June, 1911, quoted in Scott's Last Expedition, v.1.
[3] Scott Polar Research Institute.
[4] Apsley Cherry-Garrard, The Worst Journey in the World, ch.7.
[5] Scott Polar Research Institute.
June 11, 2011
Sunday, 11 June 1911
Scott
Simpson, photographed by Ponting in January 1911. [1]
Scott took a keen interest in the work of the scientists. Simpson, for one, was impressed by Scott's "versatile mind. There is no specialist here who is not pleased to discuss his problems with him." [2]
Notes:
[1] Wikipedia.
[2] George Simpson, diary, 11 June, 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.398.
Simpson, photographed by Ponting in January 1911. [1]Scott took a keen interest in the work of the scientists. Simpson, for one, was impressed by Scott's "versatile mind. There is no specialist here who is not pleased to discuss his problems with him." [2]
Notes:
[1] Wikipedia.
[2] George Simpson, diary, 11 June, 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.398.
June 6, 2011
Tuesday, 6 June 1911
Scott
Scott's birthday lunch, 6th June. From left, Bowers, Atkinson, Wright, Nelson, Lt. Evans, Scott, Wilson, Simpson, Taylor, Gran, unknown (possibly Oates?).
"It is my birthday, a fact I might easily have forgotten, but my kind people did not," wrote Scott in his diary. "At lunch an immense birthday cake made its appearance and we were photographed assembled about it. Clissold had decorated its sugared top with various devices in chocolate and crystallised fruit, flags and photographs of myself."
"Captain Robert Falcon Scott's last birthday dinner, 6th June, 1911, photographed by Herbert George Ponting during the British Antarctic ('Terra Nova') Expedition (1910-1913). From left to right: Atkinson, Meares, Cherry-Garrard, Taylor, Nelson, Evans, Scott (centre), Wilson, Simpson, Bowers, Wright, Debenham, and Day. Standing are Oates (left) and Gran." [1]
"After my walk I discovered that great preparations were in progress for a special dinner, and when the hour for that meal arrived we sat down to a sumptuous spread with our sledge banners hung about us. Clissold's especially excellent seal soup, roast mutton and red currant jelly, fruit salad, asparagus and chocolate -- such was our menu. For drink we had cider cup, a mystery not yet fathomed, some sherry and a liqueur.
"After this luxurious meal everyone was very festive and amiably argumentative. As I write there is a group in the dark room discussing political progress with discussions -- another at one corner of the dinner table airing its views on the origin of matter and the probability of its ultimate discovery, and yet another debating military problems. The scraps that reach me from the various groups sometimes piece together in ludicrous fashion. Perhaps these arguments are practically unprofitable, but they give a great deal of pleasure to the participants. It's delightful to hear the ring of triumph in some voice when the owner imagines he has delivered himself of a well-rounded period or a clinching statement concerning the point under discussion. They are boys, all of them, but such excellent good-natured ones; there has been no sign of sharpness or anger, no jarring note, in all these wordy contests! all end with a laugh." [2]
Amundsen
Bjaaland, Hassel, Wisting, Helmer Hanssen, Amundsen, Johansen, Prestrud, and Stubberud around the table at Framheim, in an undated but obviously celebratory photo. [3]
Johansen, on this Norwegian Independence Day, "proposed the Chief's skål, and said that working together was easy on the present expedition, because we had such a straightforward, understanding and pleasant chief." [4]
Notes:
[1] Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand.
[2] R.F. Scott, diary, 6 June, 1911, quoted in Scott's Last Expedition, v.1.
[3] Roald Amundsen Bildearkiv, Nasjonalbiblioteket.
[4] Hjalmar Johansen, diary, 7 June, 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.384.
Scott's birthday lunch, 6th June. From left, Bowers, Atkinson, Wright, Nelson, Lt. Evans, Scott, Wilson, Simpson, Taylor, Gran, unknown (possibly Oates?)."It is my birthday, a fact I might easily have forgotten, but my kind people did not," wrote Scott in his diary. "At lunch an immense birthday cake made its appearance and we were photographed assembled about it. Clissold had decorated its sugared top with various devices in chocolate and crystallised fruit, flags and photographs of myself."
"Captain Robert Falcon Scott's last birthday dinner, 6th June, 1911, photographed by Herbert George Ponting during the British Antarctic ('Terra Nova') Expedition (1910-1913). From left to right: Atkinson, Meares, Cherry-Garrard, Taylor, Nelson, Evans, Scott (centre), Wilson, Simpson, Bowers, Wright, Debenham, and Day. Standing are Oates (left) and Gran." [1]"After my walk I discovered that great preparations were in progress for a special dinner, and when the hour for that meal arrived we sat down to a sumptuous spread with our sledge banners hung about us. Clissold's especially excellent seal soup, roast mutton and red currant jelly, fruit salad, asparagus and chocolate -- such was our menu. For drink we had cider cup, a mystery not yet fathomed, some sherry and a liqueur.
"After this luxurious meal everyone was very festive and amiably argumentative. As I write there is a group in the dark room discussing political progress with discussions -- another at one corner of the dinner table airing its views on the origin of matter and the probability of its ultimate discovery, and yet another debating military problems. The scraps that reach me from the various groups sometimes piece together in ludicrous fashion. Perhaps these arguments are practically unprofitable, but they give a great deal of pleasure to the participants. It's delightful to hear the ring of triumph in some voice when the owner imagines he has delivered himself of a well-rounded period or a clinching statement concerning the point under discussion. They are boys, all of them, but such excellent good-natured ones; there has been no sign of sharpness or anger, no jarring note, in all these wordy contests! all end with a laugh." [2]
Amundsen
Bjaaland, Hassel, Wisting, Helmer Hanssen, Amundsen, Johansen, Prestrud, and Stubberud around the table at Framheim, in an undated but obviously celebratory photo. [3]Johansen, on this Norwegian Independence Day, "proposed the Chief's skål, and said that working together was easy on the present expedition, because we had such a straightforward, understanding and pleasant chief." [4]
Notes:
[1] Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand.
[2] R.F. Scott, diary, 6 June, 1911, quoted in Scott's Last Expedition, v.1.
[3] Roald Amundsen Bildearkiv, Nasjonalbiblioteket.
[4] Hjalmar Johansen, diary, 7 June, 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.384.
May 8, 2011
Monday, 8 May 1911
Scott
Scott's "Southern Journey" lecture notes, 8 May 1911. [1]
Keen to take advantage of the wide array of knowledge amongst his staff, Scott instituted a series of thrice-weekly lectures -- quickly dubbed "Universitas Antarctica" -- Wilson opening with a paper on "Antarctic Flying Birds", then Simpson the next evening on coronas.
One of the more eagerly-attended was no doubt Scott's own. "As one of the series of lectures," he wrote in his diary, "I gave an outline of my plans for next season on Monday evening. Everyone was interested naturally. I could not but hint that in my opinion the problem of reaching the Pole can best be solved by relying on the ponies and man haulage. With this sentiment the whole company appeared to be in sympathy. Everyone seems to distrust the dogs when it comes to glacier and summit. I have asked everyone to give thought to the problem, to freely discuss it, and bring suggestions to my notice. It's going to be a tough job; that is better realised the more one dives into it." [2]
Scott proposed leaving on 3 November, estimating a return to Hut Point on 27th March. "Therefore," he added, "the Pole party will almost certainly be too late for the ship." [3]
The ponies could be taken only as far as the foot of the Beardmore Glacier; after that it would be man-hauling.
"I for one am delighted at the decision," Bowers wrote cheerfully. "After all, it will be a fine thing to do that plateau with man-haulage in these days of the supposed decadence of the British race." [4]
Simpson noted privately, "It appears that with all our resources, there is little margin, and a few accidents or a spell of bad weather would not only bring failure but very likely disaster." [5]
The Polar party would have to spend seventy-five days at high altitude on the Plateau. Scott finished, Debenham recorded, by saying, "I don't know whether it is possible for men to last out that time. I almost doubt it." [6]
Wilson remained philosophical, if somewhat fatalistic. "Things generally turn out for the best," he wrote in his diary, "and generally in a different way to what one expects." [7]
Notes:
[1] "Lecture notes 'Southern Journey 1911 - 12', 8 May 1911", under Recent Acquisitions, Canterbury Museum, Christchurch, New Zealand. "These handwritten notes by Capt. Robert Falcon Scott set out his plans for journey to the South Pole during the British Antarctic Expedition 1910-13. Various lectures were given to the men of the expedition during the long winter months spent in the hut at Cape Evans. Recently discovered by a London bookseller and acquired by Canterbury Museum, this manuscript gives details of Scott's plans for the journey in which he and four of his companions lost their lives."
[2] R.F. Scott, diary, 8-9 May, 1911, quoted in Scott's Last Expedition, v.1.
[3] Frank Debenham, diary, 8 May, 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.395.
[4] H.R. Bowers, letter to Kathleen Scott, 27 October, 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.395-396.
[5] George Simpson, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.396.
[6] Frank Debenham, diary, 8 May, 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.395.
[7] E.A. Wilson, [date not given], quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.395.
Scott's "Southern Journey" lecture notes, 8 May 1911. [1]Keen to take advantage of the wide array of knowledge amongst his staff, Scott instituted a series of thrice-weekly lectures -- quickly dubbed "Universitas Antarctica" -- Wilson opening with a paper on "Antarctic Flying Birds", then Simpson the next evening on coronas.
One of the more eagerly-attended was no doubt Scott's own. "As one of the series of lectures," he wrote in his diary, "I gave an outline of my plans for next season on Monday evening. Everyone was interested naturally. I could not but hint that in my opinion the problem of reaching the Pole can best be solved by relying on the ponies and man haulage. With this sentiment the whole company appeared to be in sympathy. Everyone seems to distrust the dogs when it comes to glacier and summit. I have asked everyone to give thought to the problem, to freely discuss it, and bring suggestions to my notice. It's going to be a tough job; that is better realised the more one dives into it." [2]
Scott proposed leaving on 3 November, estimating a return to Hut Point on 27th March. "Therefore," he added, "the Pole party will almost certainly be too late for the ship." [3]
The ponies could be taken only as far as the foot of the Beardmore Glacier; after that it would be man-hauling.
"I for one am delighted at the decision," Bowers wrote cheerfully. "After all, it will be a fine thing to do that plateau with man-haulage in these days of the supposed decadence of the British race." [4]
Simpson noted privately, "It appears that with all our resources, there is little margin, and a few accidents or a spell of bad weather would not only bring failure but very likely disaster." [5]
The Polar party would have to spend seventy-five days at high altitude on the Plateau. Scott finished, Debenham recorded, by saying, "I don't know whether it is possible for men to last out that time. I almost doubt it." [6]
Wilson remained philosophical, if somewhat fatalistic. "Things generally turn out for the best," he wrote in his diary, "and generally in a different way to what one expects." [7]
Notes:
[1] "Lecture notes 'Southern Journey 1911 - 12', 8 May 1911", under Recent Acquisitions, Canterbury Museum, Christchurch, New Zealand. "These handwritten notes by Capt. Robert Falcon Scott set out his plans for journey to the South Pole during the British Antarctic Expedition 1910-13. Various lectures were given to the men of the expedition during the long winter months spent in the hut at Cape Evans. Recently discovered by a London bookseller and acquired by Canterbury Museum, this manuscript gives details of Scott's plans for the journey in which he and four of his companions lost their lives."
[2] R.F. Scott, diary, 8-9 May, 1911, quoted in Scott's Last Expedition, v.1.
[3] Frank Debenham, diary, 8 May, 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.395.
[4] H.R. Bowers, letter to Kathleen Scott, 27 October, 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.395-396.
[5] George Simpson, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.396.
[6] Frank Debenham, diary, 8 May, 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.395.
[7] E.A. Wilson, [date not given], quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.395.
May 5, 2011
Friday, 5 May 1911
Scott
In the long, quiet winter days at Cape Evans, Scott reflected upon the men around him.
"Bill" Wilson working up a sketch, 18 May, 1911, photographed by Ponting. [1]
"One sees Wilson busy with pencil and colour box, rapidly and steadily adding to his portfolio of charming sketches and at intervals filling the gaps in his zoological work of Discovery times; withal ready and willing to give advice and assistance to others at all times; his sound judgment appreciated and therefore a constant referee." [2]
Simpson in his lab, photographed by Ponting, 21 December, 1911. [3]
"Simpson, master of his craft, untiringly attentive to the working of his numerous self-recording instruments, observing all changes with scientific acumen, doing the work of two observers at least and yet ever seeking to correlate an expanded scope. So the current meteorological and magnetic observations are taken as never before by Polar expeditions.
"Wright, good-hearted, strong, keen, striving to saturate his mind with the ice problems of this wonderful region. He has taken the electrical work in hand with all its modern interest of association with radio-activity.
"Evans, with a clear-minded zeal in his own work, does it with all the success of result which comes from the taking of pains. Therefrom we derive a singularly exact preservation of time -- an important consideration to all, but especially necessary for the physical work. Therefrom also, and including more labour, we have an accurate survey of our immediate surroundings and can trust to possess the correctly mapped results of all surveying data obtained. He has Gran for assistant. [4]
"Taylor's intellect is omnivorous and versatile -- his mind is unceasingly active, his grasp wide. Whatever he writes will be of interest -- his pen flows well."
Debenham, Gran, and Taylor in their cubicle, photographed by Ponting, 18 May, 1911. [5]
"Debenham's is clearer. Here we have a well-trained, sturdy worker, with a quiet meaning that carries conviction; he realises the conceptions of thoroughness and conscientiousness."
Bowers reading the thermometer at the top of the Ramp, with Wilson taking notes, photographed by flash-light by Ponting, 7 June, 1911. [6]
"To Bowers' practical genius is owed much of the smooth working of our station. He has a natural method in line with which all arrangements fall, so that expenditure is easily and exactly adjusted to supply, and I have the inestimable advantage of knowing the length of time which each of our possessions will last us and the assurance that there can be no waste. Active mind and active body were never more happily blended. It is a restless activity, admitting no idle moments and ever budding into new forms.
"So we see the balloons ascending under his guidance and anon he is away over the floe tracking the silk thread which held it. Such a task completed, he is away to exercise his pony, and later out again with the dogs, the last typically self-suggested, because for the moment there is no one else to care for these animals. Now in a similar manner he is spreading thermometer screens to get comparative readings with the home station. He is for the open air, seemingly incapable of realising any discomfort from it, and yet his hours within doors spent with equal profit. For he is intent on tracking the problems of sledging food and clothing to their innermost bearings and is becoming an authority on past records. This will be no small help to me and one which others never could have given."
Atkinson in his lab, photographed by Ponting. [7]
"Adjacent to the physicist's corner of the hut Atkinson is quietly pursuing the subject of parasites. Already he is in a new world. The laying out of the fish trap was his action and the catches are his field of labour. Constantly he comes to ask if I would like to see some new form and I am taken to see some protozoa or ascidian isolated on the slide plate of his microscope. The fishes themselves are comparatively new to science; it is strange that their parasites should have been under investigation so soon.
"Atkinson's bench with its array of microscopes, test-tubes, spirit lamps, &c., is next the dark room in which Ponting spends the greater part of his life. I would describe him as sustained by artistic enthusiasm. This world of ours is a different one to him than it is to the rest of us -- he gauges it by its picturesqueness -- his joy is to reproduce its pictures artistically, his grief to fail to do so. No attitude could be happier for the work which he has undertaken, and one cannot doubt its productiveness. I would not imply that he is out of sympathy with the works of others, which is far from being the case, but that his energies centre devotedly on the minutiae of his business."
Cherry typing up the "South Polar Times", photographed by Ponting. [8]
"Cherry-Garrard is another of the open-air, self-effacing, quiet workers; his whole heart is in the life, with profound eagerness to help everyone. 'One has caught glimpses of him in tight places; sound all through and pretty hard also.' Indoors he is editing our Polar journal, out of doors he is busy making trial stone huts and blubber stoves, primarily with a view to the winter journey to Cape Crozier, but incidentally these are instructive experiments for any party which may get into difficulty by being cut off from the home station. It is very well to know how best to use the scant resources that nature provides in these regions. In this connection I have been studying our Arctic library to get details concerning snow hut building and the implements used for it."
Meares and Oates at the blubber stove in the stables, cooking mash for the ponies, photographed by Ponting, possibly May 1911. [9]
"Oates' whole heart is in the ponies. He is really devoted to their care, and I believe will produce them in the best possible form for the sledging season. Opening out the stores, installing a blubber stove, &c., has kept him busy, whilst his satellite, Anton, is ever at work in the stables -- an excellent little man."
"Thomas Crean (on left) and Petty Officer Evans (on right) mending sleeping bags. Taken by Herbert George Ponting on 16 May 1911 during British Antarctic ('Terra Nova') Expedition (1910-1913)". [10]
"Evans and Crean are repairing sleeping-bags, covering felt boots, and generally working on sledging kit. In fact there is no one idle, and no one who has the least prospect of idleness."
Notes:
[1] Scott Polar Research Institute.
[2] R.F. Scott, diary, 5 May, 1911, quoted in Scott's Last Expedition, v.1.
[3] Scott Polar Research Institute.
[4] "Evans himself is a queer study," Scott wrote in a passage cut from the published diary, "his boyish enthusiasm carries all along till one sees clearly the childish limitations of its foundations and appreciates that it is not a rock to be built on -- He is altogether a good fellow and wholly well-meaning but terribly slow to learn and hence fails altogether to grasp the value of any work but his own -- very desirous to help everyone he is mentally incapable of doing it. There are problems ahead here for I cannot consider him fitted for a superior position -- though he is physically strong & fit for a subordinate one. It was curious to note how his value (in this respect) suddenly diminished as he stepped ashore -- The ship's deck was his trained position -- on the land he seems incapable of expanding beyond the limits of an astonishingly narrow experience." Quoted by David Crane in Scott of the Antarctic (New York : Knopf, c2005), p.443-444.
[5] Scott Polar Research Institute.
[6] Scott Polar Research Institute.
[7] Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand.
[8] Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand.
[9] Scott Polar Research Institute.
[10] Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand.
In the long, quiet winter days at Cape Evans, Scott reflected upon the men around him.
"Bill" Wilson working up a sketch, 18 May, 1911, photographed by Ponting. [1]"One sees Wilson busy with pencil and colour box, rapidly and steadily adding to his portfolio of charming sketches and at intervals filling the gaps in his zoological work of Discovery times; withal ready and willing to give advice and assistance to others at all times; his sound judgment appreciated and therefore a constant referee." [2]
Simpson in his lab, photographed by Ponting, 21 December, 1911. [3]"Simpson, master of his craft, untiringly attentive to the working of his numerous self-recording instruments, observing all changes with scientific acumen, doing the work of two observers at least and yet ever seeking to correlate an expanded scope. So the current meteorological and magnetic observations are taken as never before by Polar expeditions.
"Wright, good-hearted, strong, keen, striving to saturate his mind with the ice problems of this wonderful region. He has taken the electrical work in hand with all its modern interest of association with radio-activity.
"Evans, with a clear-minded zeal in his own work, does it with all the success of result which comes from the taking of pains. Therefrom we derive a singularly exact preservation of time -- an important consideration to all, but especially necessary for the physical work. Therefrom also, and including more labour, we have an accurate survey of our immediate surroundings and can trust to possess the correctly mapped results of all surveying data obtained. He has Gran for assistant. [4]
"Taylor's intellect is omnivorous and versatile -- his mind is unceasingly active, his grasp wide. Whatever he writes will be of interest -- his pen flows well."
Debenham, Gran, and Taylor in their cubicle, photographed by Ponting, 18 May, 1911. [5]"Debenham's is clearer. Here we have a well-trained, sturdy worker, with a quiet meaning that carries conviction; he realises the conceptions of thoroughness and conscientiousness."
Bowers reading the thermometer at the top of the Ramp, with Wilson taking notes, photographed by flash-light by Ponting, 7 June, 1911. [6]"To Bowers' practical genius is owed much of the smooth working of our station. He has a natural method in line with which all arrangements fall, so that expenditure is easily and exactly adjusted to supply, and I have the inestimable advantage of knowing the length of time which each of our possessions will last us and the assurance that there can be no waste. Active mind and active body were never more happily blended. It is a restless activity, admitting no idle moments and ever budding into new forms.
"So we see the balloons ascending under his guidance and anon he is away over the floe tracking the silk thread which held it. Such a task completed, he is away to exercise his pony, and later out again with the dogs, the last typically self-suggested, because for the moment there is no one else to care for these animals. Now in a similar manner he is spreading thermometer screens to get comparative readings with the home station. He is for the open air, seemingly incapable of realising any discomfort from it, and yet his hours within doors spent with equal profit. For he is intent on tracking the problems of sledging food and clothing to their innermost bearings and is becoming an authority on past records. This will be no small help to me and one which others never could have given."
Atkinson in his lab, photographed by Ponting. [7]"Adjacent to the physicist's corner of the hut Atkinson is quietly pursuing the subject of parasites. Already he is in a new world. The laying out of the fish trap was his action and the catches are his field of labour. Constantly he comes to ask if I would like to see some new form and I am taken to see some protozoa or ascidian isolated on the slide plate of his microscope. The fishes themselves are comparatively new to science; it is strange that their parasites should have been under investigation so soon.
"Atkinson's bench with its array of microscopes, test-tubes, spirit lamps, &c., is next the dark room in which Ponting spends the greater part of his life. I would describe him as sustained by artistic enthusiasm. This world of ours is a different one to him than it is to the rest of us -- he gauges it by its picturesqueness -- his joy is to reproduce its pictures artistically, his grief to fail to do so. No attitude could be happier for the work which he has undertaken, and one cannot doubt its productiveness. I would not imply that he is out of sympathy with the works of others, which is far from being the case, but that his energies centre devotedly on the minutiae of his business."
Cherry typing up the "South Polar Times", photographed by Ponting. [8]"Cherry-Garrard is another of the open-air, self-effacing, quiet workers; his whole heart is in the life, with profound eagerness to help everyone. 'One has caught glimpses of him in tight places; sound all through and pretty hard also.' Indoors he is editing our Polar journal, out of doors he is busy making trial stone huts and blubber stoves, primarily with a view to the winter journey to Cape Crozier, but incidentally these are instructive experiments for any party which may get into difficulty by being cut off from the home station. It is very well to know how best to use the scant resources that nature provides in these regions. In this connection I have been studying our Arctic library to get details concerning snow hut building and the implements used for it."
Meares and Oates at the blubber stove in the stables, cooking mash for the ponies, photographed by Ponting, possibly May 1911. [9]"Oates' whole heart is in the ponies. He is really devoted to their care, and I believe will produce them in the best possible form for the sledging season. Opening out the stores, installing a blubber stove, &c., has kept him busy, whilst his satellite, Anton, is ever at work in the stables -- an excellent little man."
"Thomas Crean (on left) and Petty Officer Evans (on right) mending sleeping bags. Taken by Herbert George Ponting on 16 May 1911 during British Antarctic ('Terra Nova') Expedition (1910-1913)". [10]"Evans and Crean are repairing sleeping-bags, covering felt boots, and generally working on sledging kit. In fact there is no one idle, and no one who has the least prospect of idleness."
Notes:
[1] Scott Polar Research Institute.
[2] R.F. Scott, diary, 5 May, 1911, quoted in Scott's Last Expedition, v.1.
[3] Scott Polar Research Institute.
[4] "Evans himself is a queer study," Scott wrote in a passage cut from the published diary, "his boyish enthusiasm carries all along till one sees clearly the childish limitations of its foundations and appreciates that it is not a rock to be built on -- He is altogether a good fellow and wholly well-meaning but terribly slow to learn and hence fails altogether to grasp the value of any work but his own -- very desirous to help everyone he is mentally incapable of doing it. There are problems ahead here for I cannot consider him fitted for a superior position -- though he is physically strong & fit for a subordinate one. It was curious to note how his value (in this respect) suddenly diminished as he stepped ashore -- The ship's deck was his trained position -- on the land he seems incapable of expanding beyond the limits of an astonishingly narrow experience." Quoted by David Crane in Scott of the Antarctic (New York : Knopf, c2005), p.443-444.
[5] Scott Polar Research Institute.
[6] Scott Polar Research Institute.
[7] Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand.
[8] Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand.
[9] Scott Polar Research Institute.
[10] Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand.
October 19, 2010
Wednesday, 19 October 1910
Scott
Scott and Kathleen travelled to Sydney with Simpson.
"Dined with Lord Mayor," Scott noted in his diary. "Excellent dinner. David proposed my health in a fine speech full of his fine enthusiastic personality.... My reply was poor enough -- then to everyone's surprise Mr Sam Hordern got up and after stating that David had convinced him as to the usefulness of the enterprise said that if the Government could not see its way to make up the extra £2500 required he would do so -- a splendid round up to the evening." [1]
Amundsen
Amongst all the work on equipment, Amundsen spent time "sorting Christmas presents ... -- 300-400 -- and divided them over 5-6 years. We take one year's supply [ashore]". [2]
Notes:
[1] R.F. Scott, diary, 19 October, 1910, quoted by David Crane in Scott of the Antarctic (New York : Knopf, c2005), p.384.
[2] Roald Amundsen, diary, 19 October, 1910, quoted by Roland Huntford in The Amundsen Photographs (London : Hodder & Stoughton, c1987), p.74.
Scott and Kathleen travelled to Sydney with Simpson.
"Dined with Lord Mayor," Scott noted in his diary. "Excellent dinner. David proposed my health in a fine speech full of his fine enthusiastic personality.... My reply was poor enough -- then to everyone's surprise Mr Sam Hordern got up and after stating that David had convinced him as to the usefulness of the enterprise said that if the Government could not see its way to make up the extra £2500 required he would do so -- a splendid round up to the evening." [1]
Amundsen
Amongst all the work on equipment, Amundsen spent time "sorting Christmas presents ... -- 300-400 -- and divided them over 5-6 years. We take one year's supply [ashore]". [2]
Notes:
[1] R.F. Scott, diary, 19 October, 1910, quoted by David Crane in Scott of the Antarctic (New York : Knopf, c2005), p.384.
[2] Roald Amundsen, diary, 19 October, 1910, quoted by Roland Huntford in The Amundsen Photographs (London : Hodder & Stoughton, c1987), p.74.
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