March 1910

Scott

Fefor Høifjellshotell [1]

The motor-sledge trials at Fefor, March 1910. [2]

Scott travelled to Fefor, in the mountains of Gudbrandsdalen north of Oslo, to consult with Nansen and to test the motor sledges.


Notes:

[1] Visitnorway.com.
[2] "Norway: Tracing the tracks of Captain Scott and the South Pole Race", Telegraph.co.uk.

Saturday, 19 February 1910

Scott

A lack of funds plagued the expedition, with so much of its budget dependent on public donations. Many people couldn't see the point of going to the Antarctic at such expense. "I call it scientific cheek to come along when there are so many thousands of unemployed and ask £50,000 for such a purpose," ran one letter in the Sussex News. [1]

Teddy Evans, admirably suited to what he called "beating up funds", found himself travelling up and down Britain wheedling audiences. "It's no good talking to business men about magnetism, geology, meteorology or any of that scientific stuff," he decided. [2] "Scott, himself, when he could be spared from the Admiralty, worked Newcastle, Liverpool, and the North, whilst both of us did what we could in London.... It was an anxious time for Scott." [3]

By the spring of 1910, Scott and Evans had collected the first £10,000, and the then-Liberal government granted another £20,000.


Notes:

[1] Sussex News, 19 February, 1910, quoted by Diana Preston in A First Rate Tragedy (Boston : Houghton Mifflin, 1998, c1997), p.116.
[2] E.R.G.R. Evans, in Reginald Pound's Scott of the Antarctic (1968), quoted by Ranulph Fiennes in Race to the Pole (New York : Hyperion, c2004), p.147.
[3] E.R.G.R. Evans, South with Scott, quoted by Diana Preston in A First Rate Tragedy (Boston : Houghton Mifflin, 1998, c1997), p.116.

Thursday, 3 February 1910

Scott

The US National Geographical Society announced an American expedition to the South Pole from the Weddell Sea, to begin in December of 1911.

Peary, who had corresponded with Scott about co-operating in scientific work, was quoted in the Daily Mail as promising "the most exciting and nerve-wracking race the world has seen". [1]


Notes:

[1] Daily Mail, 12 February, 1910, quoted by Diana Preston in A First Rate Tragedy (Boston : Houghton Mifflin, 1998, c1997), p.119.

Thursday, 27 January 1910

Scott

L.E.G. Oates [1]

Captain Lawrence Oates of the 6th Inniskilling Dragoons, stationed in India, wrote (with characteristically indifferent spelling) towards the end of a chatty letter to his mother, "I have now a great confession to make. I offered my services to the Antarctic Expedition that starts this summer from home under Scott, they wrote and told me to produced [sic] my referrances [sic] which I did and they appear to have been so flattering that I have been practically accepted.... [Scott] appears to be a man who can make up his mind and having decided he told me at once.... Points in favour of going. It will help me professionally as in the army if they want a man to wash labels off bottles they would sooner employ a man who had been to the North Pole than one who has only got as far as the Mile End Road. The job is most suitable to my tastes Scott is almost certain to get to the Pole and it is something to say you were with the first party. The climate is very healthy although inclined to be cold." [2]

Oates was thirty years old, a member of the landed gentry and a cavalry officer who had seen action in the Boer War, suffering a gunshot wound that shattered his thigh and left that leg an inch shorter than his right.

He had in fact offered to be a "paying volunteer", giving £1,000 to the expedition and his services for free.


Notes:

[1] Detail from a portrait reproduced on the dustjacket of Captain Oates : Soldier and Explorer by Sue Limb and Patrick Cordingley (London : Batsford, 1982).
[2] L.E.G. Oates, letter to Caroline Oates, 27 January, 1910, quoted by David Crane in Scott of the Antarctic (New York : Knopf, c2005), p.374.

Saturday, 22 January 1910

Scott

An Oxo advertisement from around 1912. [1]

"[The] advertisement to be derived from the supply of stores to an Expedition such as this is thought of very highly in this country," Scott wrote to Joseph Kinsey, his agent in New Zealand, "and thanks to this and a patriotic wish for our success, we are getting goods on extraordinarily favourable terms." [2]

Other products ranged from Imperial Tobacco and Lyle's Golden Syrup to Tate's sugar and Oxford marmalade, Jaeger clothing and boots, and Bass "King's Ale".


Notes:

[1] Wikipedia.
[2] R.F. Scott, letter to Joseph Kinsey, 22 January, 1910, quoted by Diana Preston in A First Rate Tragedy (Boston : Houghton Mifflin, 1998, c1997), p.117.

January 1910

Scott

Early in the new year, the expedition was given a government grant of £20,000, far short of the £40,000 he needed. Scott's application had emphasised the scientific aspect of the expedition, especially its geological ambitions. "It is anticipated that the accomplishment of very important scientific work will be fulfilled.... The steps which are being taken will ensure the Expedition being better equipped to deal with scientific problems that any other Polar expedition that has ever left these shores." [1]

"Captain Scott," wrote the Daily Mail with approval, "has a personal force which is plain for all men to see. Thick-set, deep-chested, with a thoughtful geniality in his clean-shaven 'naval-officer' face, he is much of the bull-dog type, with blue eyes that look out sparklingly from a face hard-bitten with adventure. 'Suppose you don't succeed at first?' he was asked.... Captain Scott took his cigarette from his lips and brought his finger down on to the table with slow emphasis. '... We shall jolly well stop there till the thing is done.'" [2]


Notes:

[1] R.F. Scott, [source not given], quoted by David Crane in Scott of the Antarctic (New York : Knopf, c2005), p.359-360.
[2] Daily Mail, January 1910, quoted by Diana Preston in A First Rate Tragedy (Boston : Houghton Mifflin, 1998, c1997), p.118-119.

November 1909

Scott

Peary announced in November that an American expedition to the South Pole would be mounted within the next five years.


Amundsen

"View from the North Pole. A base map from 1910 looking down on the earth from the North Pole, to show how the meridians come to a point at the North Pole. Notice that if the 0 meridian were continued, it would unite with the meridian 180. The longitude circles of the Arctic Circle and Tropic of Cancer are shown, with the equator forming the circular outside edge of the map." [1]

At some point after attending a lecture at the Royal Geographical Society in London given in November 1909 by A.R. Hinks, lecturer on Surveying and Cartography at Cambridge, Amundsen decided that he would adopt Hinks' theory on the subject of determining position near the Poles.

Hinks reasoned that since, as one approaches the geographical pole the meridians of longitude converge and its degrees become ever smaller, this measure eventually becomes meaningless, and that the extra effort in obtaining a measurement of longitude can be saved, focusing instead on latitude alone. [2]


Notes:

[1] Maps etc.
[2] Wapedia: Polheim. For introductions on latitude and longitude, see for example nationalatlas.gov and the Creative Science Centre's "Finding Our Position on the Earth", as well as the Wikipedia article on navigation.

November 1909

Scott

"The South Polar Expedition: Capt. Scott and his exploration ship 'Terra Nova'" [1]

Scott had spent the past few months trying to stump up money, with tedious result. "£40 to-day," he wrote, "nothing from Wales -- made an agreement with Bowring to pay only £5,000 on the eighth, don't know how I shall manage even that." [2]

This £5,000 was the first of a £12,500 payment for a ship. As the Discovery, which had been sold upon return from the Antarctic, was not available, nor either Morning or Nimrod, this was to be the Terra Nova.


Notes:

[1] George Grantham Bain Collection, Library of Congress.
[2] R.F. Scott, [source not given], quoted by David Crane in Scott of the Antarctic (New York : Knopf, c2005), p.359.