Amundsen
Amundsen could not bring himself to write a letter of condolence to the RGS, and got Leon to do it for him. "Scott," Leon wrote, "has shown us how to die." [1]
Helmer Hanssen, though, wrote some years later, "What shall one say of Scott and his companions who were their own sledge dogs?... I don't think anyone will ever copy him." [2]
Notes:
[1] Leon Amundsen, letter to Scott Keltie, [date not given], quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.562.
[2] Helmer Hanssen, Gjennem Isbaksen, p.100, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.563.
February 13, 2013
February 12, 2013
Wednesday, 12 February 1913
Scott
The Terra Nova put in at Lyttelton, to find flags at half-mast.
"Yes, Scott is dead, the adventure is at an end," wrote Gran, "and the future lies ahead." [1]
Amundsen was on a lecture tour in Madison, Wisconsin when he heard the news. "In a spirit of absolute dejection," wrote the New York Times, "travel-stained and woebegone, [the] discoverer of the south pole paced his apartment at the Blackstone Hotel this afternoon, and with an intensity of emotion, which he unsuccessfully endeavored to conceal, paid tribute to Capt. Scott and his brave associates who perished with him in the Antarctic.
"'Horrible, horrible!' exclaimed Capt. Amundsen, as he walked back and forth .... 'I cannot read that last message of Scott's without emotion. I never met him, personally, but I know he was a brave man. That is the way he died, like a brave man.'
"'And to think,' added the Captain in a hushed tone, 'that while those brave men were dying out there in the waste of ice, I was lecturing in warmth and comfort in Australia.'"
Asked about his Arctic ambitions, he replied, guarded as ever, "'I do not seek the pole. I may not even reach it. I do not care whether I do. These stories that I am actually to seek the pole are untrue. I am going up into that vicinity only on a scientific expedition, chiefly to study air and ocean currents. If I am close to the pole and conditions are favorable I will go there, not otherwise.'" [2]
Notes:
[1] Tryggve Gran, diary, 12 February, 1913, quoted in The Norwegian With Scott : Tryggve Gran's Antarctic Diary 1910-1913 ([Greenwich] : National Maritime Museum, 1984), p.237.
[2] New York Times, 11 February, 1913.
The Terra Nova put in at Lyttelton, to find flags at half-mast.
"Yes, Scott is dead, the adventure is at an end," wrote Gran, "and the future lies ahead." [1]
Amundsen was on a lecture tour in Madison, Wisconsin when he heard the news. "In a spirit of absolute dejection," wrote the New York Times, "travel-stained and woebegone, [the] discoverer of the south pole paced his apartment at the Blackstone Hotel this afternoon, and with an intensity of emotion, which he unsuccessfully endeavored to conceal, paid tribute to Capt. Scott and his brave associates who perished with him in the Antarctic.
"'Horrible, horrible!' exclaimed Capt. Amundsen, as he walked back and forth .... 'I cannot read that last message of Scott's without emotion. I never met him, personally, but I know he was a brave man. That is the way he died, like a brave man.'
"'And to think,' added the Captain in a hushed tone, 'that while those brave men were dying out there in the waste of ice, I was lecturing in warmth and comfort in Australia.'"
Asked about his Arctic ambitions, he replied, guarded as ever, "'I do not seek the pole. I may not even reach it. I do not care whether I do. These stories that I am actually to seek the pole are untrue. I am going up into that vicinity only on a scientific expedition, chiefly to study air and ocean currents. If I am close to the pole and conditions are favorable I will go there, not otherwise.'" [2]
Notes:
[1] Tryggve Gran, diary, 12 February, 1913, quoted in The Norwegian With Scott : Tryggve Gran's Antarctic Diary 1910-1913 ([Greenwich] : National Maritime Museum, 1984), p.237.
[2] New York Times, 11 February, 1913.
February 10, 2013
Monday, 10 February 1913
Scott
The Wellington Evening Post, 10 February, 1913. [1]
The Terra Nova arrived at Oamaru, New Zealand. Because of press contracts, she had to remain at sea for 24 hours after a cable had been sent to England.
"And so at 2.30 a.m. on February 10," Cherry wrote later, "we crept like a phantom ship into the little harbour of Oamaru on the east coast of New Zealand. With what mixed feelings we smelt the old familiar woods and grassy slopes, and saw the shadowy outlines of human homes. With untiring persistence the little lighthouse blinked out the message, 'What ship's that?' 'What ship's that?' They were obviously puzzled and disturbed at getting no answer. A boat was lowered and Pennell and Atkinson were rowed ashore and landed. The seamen had strict orders to answer no questions. After a little the boat returned, and Crean announced: "We was chased, sorr, but they got nothing out of us." [2]
Notes:
[1] Papers Past.
[2] Apsley Cherry-Garrard, The Worst Journey in the World, ch.19.
The Wellington Evening Post, 10 February, 1913. [1]The Terra Nova arrived at Oamaru, New Zealand. Because of press contracts, she had to remain at sea for 24 hours after a cable had been sent to England.
"And so at 2.30 a.m. on February 10," Cherry wrote later, "we crept like a phantom ship into the little harbour of Oamaru on the east coast of New Zealand. With what mixed feelings we smelt the old familiar woods and grassy slopes, and saw the shadowy outlines of human homes. With untiring persistence the little lighthouse blinked out the message, 'What ship's that?' 'What ship's that?' They were obviously puzzled and disturbed at getting no answer. A boat was lowered and Pennell and Atkinson were rowed ashore and landed. The seamen had strict orders to answer no questions. After a little the boat returned, and Crean announced: "We was chased, sorr, but they got nothing out of us." [2]
Notes:
[1] Papers Past.
[2] Apsley Cherry-Garrard, The Worst Journey in the World, ch.19.
January 20, 2013
Monday, 20 January 1913
Scott
"After 28 hours' loading," wrote Cherry on board the Terra Nova, "we left the old hut for good and all at 4 p.m. this afternoon. It has been a bit of a rush and little sleep last night. It is quite wonderful now to be travelling a day's journey in an hour: we went to Cape Royds in about that time and took off geological and zoological specimens. I should like to sit up and sketch all these views, which would have meant long travelling without the ship, but I feel very tired. The mail is almost too good for words. Now, with the latest waltz on the gramophone, beer for dinner and apples and fresh vegetables to eat, life is more bearable than it has been for many a long weary week and month. I leave Cape Evans with no regret: I never want to see the place again. The pleasant memories are all swallowed up in the bad ones.
"Before the ship arrived it was decided among us to urge the erection of a cross on Observation Hill to the memory of the Polar Party. On the arrival of the ship the carpenter immediately set to work to make a great cross of jarrah wood. There was some discussion as to the inscription, it being urged that there should be some quotation from the Bible because 'the women think a lot of these things.' But I was glad to see the concluding line of Tennyson's 'Ulysses' adopted: 'To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.'
"The open water stretched about a mile and a half south of Tent Island, and here we left the ship to sledge the cross to Hut Point at 8 a.m. on January 20. The party consisted of Atkinson, Wright, Lashly, Crean, Debenham, Keohane and Davies, the ship's carpenter and myself." [2]
Notes:
[1] Wikimedia Commons.
[2] Apsley Cherry-Garrard, The Worst Journey in the World, ch.19.
The cross on Observation Hill, photographed in December 1990 by Michael Van Woert, NOAA NESDIS, ORA. [1]
"After 28 hours' loading," wrote Cherry on board the Terra Nova, "we left the old hut for good and all at 4 p.m. this afternoon. It has been a bit of a rush and little sleep last night. It is quite wonderful now to be travelling a day's journey in an hour: we went to Cape Royds in about that time and took off geological and zoological specimens. I should like to sit up and sketch all these views, which would have meant long travelling without the ship, but I feel very tired. The mail is almost too good for words. Now, with the latest waltz on the gramophone, beer for dinner and apples and fresh vegetables to eat, life is more bearable than it has been for many a long weary week and month. I leave Cape Evans with no regret: I never want to see the place again. The pleasant memories are all swallowed up in the bad ones.
"Before the ship arrived it was decided among us to urge the erection of a cross on Observation Hill to the memory of the Polar Party. On the arrival of the ship the carpenter immediately set to work to make a great cross of jarrah wood. There was some discussion as to the inscription, it being urged that there should be some quotation from the Bible because 'the women think a lot of these things.' But I was glad to see the concluding line of Tennyson's 'Ulysses' adopted: 'To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.'
"The open water stretched about a mile and a half south of Tent Island, and here we left the ship to sledge the cross to Hut Point at 8 a.m. on January 20. The party consisted of Atkinson, Wright, Lashly, Crean, Debenham, Keohane and Davies, the ship's carpenter and myself." [2]
Notes:
[1] Wikimedia Commons.
[2] Apsley Cherry-Garrard, The Worst Journey in the World, ch.19.
January 19, 2013
Sunday, 19 January 1913
Scott
A panorama of the interior of the hut at Cape Evans, January 2000. It remains much as it was when abandoned in January 1913. Photo by Kuno Lechner. [1]
"January 19," Cherry wrote in his diary. "On board the Terra Nova. After 28 hours' loading we left the old hut for good and all at 4 p.m. this afternoon. It has been a bit of a rush and little sleep last night. It is quite wonderful now to be travelling a day's journey in an hour: we went to Cape Royds in about that time and took off geological and zoological specimens. I should like to sit up and sketch all these views, which would have meant long travelling without the ship, but I feel very tired. The mail is almost too good for words. Now, with the latest waltz on the gramophone, beer for dinner and apples and fresh vegetables to eat, life is more bearable than it has been for many a long weary week and month. I leave Cape Evans with no regret: I never want to see the place again. The pleasant memories are all swallowed up in the bad ones." [2]
Notes:
[1] Wikipedia.
[2] Apsley Cherry-Garrard, diary, 19 January, 1913, quoted in The Worst Journey in the World, ch.19.
A panorama of the interior of the hut at Cape Evans, January 2000. It remains much as it was when abandoned in January 1913. Photo by Kuno Lechner. [1]"January 19," Cherry wrote in his diary. "On board the Terra Nova. After 28 hours' loading we left the old hut for good and all at 4 p.m. this afternoon. It has been a bit of a rush and little sleep last night. It is quite wonderful now to be travelling a day's journey in an hour: we went to Cape Royds in about that time and took off geological and zoological specimens. I should like to sit up and sketch all these views, which would have meant long travelling without the ship, but I feel very tired. The mail is almost too good for words. Now, with the latest waltz on the gramophone, beer for dinner and apples and fresh vegetables to eat, life is more bearable than it has been for many a long weary week and month. I leave Cape Evans with no regret: I never want to see the place again. The pleasant memories are all swallowed up in the bad ones." [2]
Notes:
[1] Wikipedia.
[2] Apsley Cherry-Garrard, diary, 19 January, 1913, quoted in The Worst Journey in the World, ch.19.
January 18, 2013
Saturday, 18 January 1913
Scott
"Terra Nova in sight," Gran wrote in his diary. "Hurrah! Hurrah! Great jubilation. Hurrah!" [1]
The ship, scrubbed and squared in preparation for celebration, and under now-Commander Evans, approached Cape Evans. "'Are you all well,' through a megaphone from the bridge. 'The Polar Party died on their return from the Pole: we have their records.' A pause and then a boat." [2]
Notes:
[1] Tryggve Gran, diary, 18 January, 1913, quoted in The Norwegian With Scott : Tryggve Gran's Antarctic Diary 1910-1913 (National Maritime Museum, 1984), p.232.
[2] Apsley Cherry-Garrard, The Worst Journey in the World, ch.19.
"Terra Nova in sight," Gran wrote in his diary. "Hurrah! Hurrah! Great jubilation. Hurrah!" [1]
The ship, scrubbed and squared in preparation for celebration, and under now-Commander Evans, approached Cape Evans. "'Are you all well,' through a megaphone from the bridge. 'The Polar Party died on their return from the Pole: we have their records.' A pause and then a boat." [2]
Notes:
[1] Tryggve Gran, diary, 18 January, 1913, quoted in The Norwegian With Scott : Tryggve Gran's Antarctic Diary 1910-1913 (National Maritime Museum, 1984), p.232.
[2] Apsley Cherry-Garrard, The Worst Journey in the World, ch.19.
January 4, 2013
Saturday, 4 January 1913
Amundsen
Johansen, his alcoholism exacerbated by the disappointments of the Antarctic journey, committed suicide in a Christiania park. He left a wife, from whom he had been estranged for some years, and four children.
Johansen, his alcoholism exacerbated by the disappointments of the Antarctic journey, committed suicide in a Christiania park. He left a wife, from whom he had been estranged for some years, and four children.
November 27, 2012
Wednesday, 27 November 1912
Scott
The search party arrived at Hut Point to find Campbell already there. "At long last there's something cheerful to record," wrote Gran in his diary. [1]
Notes:
[1] Tryggve Gran, diary, 27 November, 1912, quoted in The Norwegian With Scott : Tryggve Gran's Antarctic Diary 1910-1913 (National Maritime Museum, 1984), p.221.
The search party arrived at Hut Point to find Campbell already there. "At long last there's something cheerful to record," wrote Gran in his diary. [1]
Notes:
[1] Tryggve Gran, diary, 27 November, 1912, quoted in The Norwegian With Scott : Tryggve Gran's Antarctic Diary 1910-1913 (National Maritime Museum, 1984), p.221.
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