Robert Falcon Scott's Expeditions Analysis

700 Words2 Pages

Antarctica, the land of snow and ice, is just that. The Continent is covered with a thick ice sheet that reaches up to an average of 2,450m. The average altitude of the Continent is 2,300m, which is remarkably high compared to other continents. The average temperature is -10 degrees centigrade along the coast, but it decreases to -60 degrees centigrade inland and the lowest inland temperature is lower than -80 degrees centigrade. The extreme cold, strong winds and dryness in Antarctica have created one of the most severe natural environments on Earth. The areas south of 66.5° South Latitude have days without the sun in winter and days with sun light for 24 hours in summer. The higher the latitude is, the longer the duration of midnight sun and polar nights become. Originally, the land was going to be called Terra Australis, The Land of The South. This Terra Australis was the hypothesized landmass south of Asia and Africa. The first sightings took place in January 30th 1820, by Edward Bransfield, who had sighted Trinity Peninsula, the northernmost point of Antarctic mainland. After sightings were made exploration began to take place¬. The first claims to have landed on Antartica came from sealers looking for seals. The first claim was by a sealer named John Davis, who had said to have stepped foot on the mainland on 7th February 1821, looking for seals. On December of 1821, Nathaniel Palmer, looking for seal breeding grounds sighted the Antarctic Peninsula. These sealers, after hearing of Antarctica went out looking to find more seals to become richer. This leads to Scott’s first journey, Dicovery, and then his next one. However, during his second journey Scott made many mistakes that proved fatal to him and his party, because of t...

... middle of paper ...

...al examinations. In 1894, while serving as a torpedo officer aboard the HMS Vulcan, Scott learned of the financial crisis which has come upon his family. His father, who was 63 at the time, had to take up the position as a brewery manager. Three years later John Scott died, plunging the family into another crisis. Now, Hannah Scott had no way to sustain her family and relied solely on the service pay of Robert and Archibald Scott. In 1898, Archibald died from typhoid fever, leaving Robert Scott the only financial provider for the family . This led Robert to pursue a promotion, which would be very important for his family. In the June of 1899, while he was home, he met Clements Markham on a street in London. This was where he learned of the impending Antarctic expedition. A few days later Robert Scott paid a visit to Markham to volunteer himself for the expedition.

Open Document