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There were still some places on earth where man had never been. No one had reached the North Pole or the South Pole. It is still disputed who was first to reach the North Pole or even fly over it. As no-one is with the explorers when they arrive, who can prove anything. We do know that an airship, piloted by an Italian called Umberto Nobile and containing a Norwegian Roald Amundsen and Lincoln Ellsworth from the USA, did genuinely fly over the North Pole on 12 May 1926 but the South Pole had been reached overland some 14 years earlier.
It was mainly the British and the Norwegians who battled to get to the South Pole first. There were several unsuccessful expeditions and the two British explorers, Robert Falcon Scott and Ernest Shackleton were bitter rivals but had actually been part of the first expedition in 1901-04. They didn't make it but a few years later, in December 1909, Shackleton led his own expedition and got within 112 miles of the Pole. You have to realise that there was only a short time each year, depending on weather but usually between November and February, when anyone could travel on the South Pole ice. At other times it was too cold or completely dark in the South Pole winter.
Scott then decided to try again and on 15 June 1910 he and his party set sail from Cardiff. When he got to Melbourne in Australia he received a telegram from another explorer telling Scott that he was also heading to the South Pole. Scott had ponies and motorised sledges for the journey but the last part would have to be done with men pulling the sledges containing their supplies. They arrived at the edge of the polar ice a bit late, having got stuck for 20 days, but began their preparations laying out depots on the route they intended to take so that they had supplies on the way back. During the winter of 1911, our summer, the men were stuck in their base camp.
The teams began their march south on 1 November 1911 (oh that's why it's in this year). Gradually men were sent back until only five remained for the final trek. These were Captain Scott himself, Edward Wilson, Henry Bowers, Lawrence Oates and Edgar Evans. The picture shows them as they began their march back.
They reached the South Pole on 17 January 1912 but discovered that the other explorer had got their first and planted the Norwegian flag. His name Roald Amundsen, the same man who would later fly over the North Pole. Scott kept a diary and his entry for that day was "The worst has happened"; "All the day dreams must go"; "Great God! This is an awful place". Amunsden had arrived 5 weeks earlier.
Then Scott and his men had to get back to their camp, an 800 mile journey. By 7 February they had done 300 miles. They had now reached the end of the plateau on which the South Pole is situated. The next stage was to climb down a glacier, 100 miles long; all this in worsening weather. After a fall Edgar Evans died near the bottom of the glacier on February 17.
Scott had arranged for a team of dogs, handlers and sledges to meet him on the way back but he couldn't find them. The reason was that they never actually set out, ignoring his instructions. By 10 March temperatures had dropped to -40 Fahrenheit or Centigrade because this is the point the two scales meet. On 16 March Lawrence Oates left the tent with the words "I am just going outside and may be some time". He never returned believing, it is thought, that his frostbite would hinder any progress and it took less food to feed three people than four.
Those three men walked another 20 miles and then made their final camp on 19 March just 11 miles short of a supply depot. For the next 10 days fierce storms meant they could go no further and with supplies running out, on 29 March 1912 Scott made his last diary entry when he wrote “Last entry, For God's sake look after our people”. The three men had already written letters to family and friends.
Their camp, the bodies, the letters and diaries, were found by a search party on 12 November 1912. In England, initially, Scott and his men were hailed as heroes. Later, as so often happens, people who weren't there, had never tried anything so amazing, criticised him for being a bad leader and disorganised among other things. To me, all that matters is that he believed in something, he set out to do it and he didn't make it. It is not a failure to try, the failure is sitting on your backside doing nothing. It is always important to have a dream, an ambition and, if you achieve it or even if someone else does, then find another one.
The New Zealand racing driver, Bruce McLaren, who was killed in 1970, who formed the McLaren team still racing today, who patted me on the head at a race meeting in the fifties and whose sister I had the pleasure of meeting when I was in New Zealand in 2006, once said that “ It would be a waste of life to do nothing with one's ability, for I feel that life is measured in achievement, not in years alone.” I totally agree Brucie baby but I'm trying to do both.
As a footnote and an example of the above, Ernest Shackleton, once he knew that the Pole had been reached, decided he now wanted to cross the ice from sea to sea via the Pole. He set out in 1914 to do this but his ship got stuck in ice and crushed and the crew had to get out and camp on the ice until that too disintegrated. Then they took to the lifeboats on an amazing journey and I suggest you try to find out something about it because I haven't got space here. That was a real adventure and an achievement even though his original ambition failed.
UPDATE
100 years to the day since Sir Ernest Shackleton was buried on the island of South Georgia in the South Atlantic ocean, an expedition, mounted by the Falklands Maritime
Heritage Trust has located the wreck of his ship, the Endurance. It was found in 10,000 foot of water where it had lain for over a century, on 5th March 2022.
The crew that found the ship used remotely operated submersible containing cameras. The pictures showed that the ship's hull had remained intact and was quite remarkably preserved. They could clearly see the name "Endurance" visible on the the stern. The wheel was also clearly visible.
The wreck is a designated monument under the International Antarctic Treaty and must not be disturbed at all, nor can anything be removed from the ship. I hope some of you
will try to find out more about Shackleton's incredible journey and how he managed to save the lives of his crew.
Forward to 1912AD
