The Terra Nova Expedition: An Antarctic Adventure

The expedition, named after its supply ship, was a private venture, financed by public contributions augmented by a government grant. It had further backing from the Admiralty, which released experienced seamen to the expedition, and from the Royal Geographical Society. The expedition's team of scientists carried out a comprehensive scientific programme, while other parties explored Victoria Land and the Western Mountains. An attempted landing and exploration of King Edward VII Land was unsuccessful. A journey to Cape Crozier in June and July 1911 was the first extended sledging journey in the depths of the Antarctic winter. The Terra Nova Expedition, officially the British Antarctic Expedition, was an expedition to Antarctica which took place

between 1910 and 1913. It was led by Robert Falcon Scott and had various scientific and geographical objectives. Scott wished to continue the scientific work that he had begun when leading the Discovery Expedition to the Antarctic in 1901–04. He also wanted to be the first to reach the geographic South Pole. He and four companions attained the pole on 17 January 1912, where they found that a Norwegian team led by Roald Amundsen had preceded them by 34 days.

Scott's entire party died on the return journey from the pole; some of their bodies, journals, and photographs were found by a search party eight months later. Since then there is a discussion going around whether Scott was a real hero or not.

A Real Hero or Not: The Terra Nova Expedition: Robert Falcon Scott
he reached his goal but when he arrived he found a Norwegian team had beaten him to it. Disaster struck on the return journey and its entire party perished in the brutal cold. Scott’s final haunting diary entry shock the outside world. For years after his death, Scott was regarded as a hero; a British icon who had shown courage and nobility in the face of insurmountable odds but as time went by critics began to question his aptitude calling him an ill-prepared adventurer whose bad judgment had cost his team their lives. He was portrayed as irrational consistently, inept, a heroic bunglers. In November of 1910, Robert Scott arrived in the Antarctic aboard the ship Terranova he established his base camp in a hut at Cape Evans and on November 1st 1911 after a year of preparation he set off for the poll. Two weeks later Scott and his party of 16 men 10 ponies and 22 dogs

arrived at a location one hundred and fifty miles inland. They called the site one ton depot because earlier in the year members of the expedition had journey there to leave over a ton of supplies 1 ton was to be the springboard for their assault on the pole and a safety valve for their return. Despite all their planning and stockpiling of provisions the odds were against them making it to the poll. Scott himself had failed in an attempt eight years earlier and as Shackleton in 1909. The continent of Antarctica is larger than India and China combined and from Scott’s hut at Cape Evans the trek to the poll was more than 900 miles. The first part of the journey would take them four hundred miles across the featureless Ross Ice Shelf, then they would have to climb the one hundred and twenty-five miles long Beardmore glacier. Finally, at an altitude of 10,000 feet the team would face the final three hundred and seventy miles logged to the poll itself if they made it would then have to retrace their steps back to the safety of the hut. Scott’s expedition was financed by the Royal Geographical Society, which expected him not only to reach the pole but also to oversee rigorous scientific research while he was there. Scott was the leader of a well-financed and highly publicized Antarctic expedition. He was equipped with the very best technology available and had surrounded himself with the most accomplished scientist he could find. Herbert Ponting, the team’s official photographer made a film documenting the expedition in the scientific work being done. Among others, the presence of meteorologist George Simpson was featured on the film. Simpson, nick name sonny jim became indispensable to Scott; he was responsible for recording and analyzing the Antarctic weather and Scott respected him immensely, the feeling was mutual. But critics of Scott claimed he had made irrational decisions. Scott devised a careful plan, knowing that it would be impossible for the men to carry all their supplies with them, he had ordered a series of earlier journeys into the interior to stockpile provisions along the route. For transport across the ice shelf Scott chose ponies because Shackleton had success with them two years earlier. Dogs and motorized tractors would provide minimal backup support; the ponies would be slaughtered on route provide food. Once at the Beardmore glacier the men would hold their own supplies this would be grueling on the outbound traffic but Scott was counting on light loads and a strong tailwind to drive them back to the depots on the return. Each leg of the journey had its own carefully thought-out team, a party of 16 would set out from base camp to help carry provisions. At the glacier half the men and the two dog teams would turn back, all the other eight men continued on. When they reached the plateau Scott will select three men to accompany him on the final leg timing would be crucial. In order to beat the onset of winter the team had to be back at Cape Evans by the end of March. Scott had thought through every detail, how many units of food the men would need per day, how many miles they would have to average on the polar plateau and on the ice shelf. As they approached the top of the Beardmore glacier, the excitement began to grow. They were nearing the end of the second leg and it was almost time for Scott to pick his final team for the actual soft on the pole. It had been forty days since they left one ton Depot, and the going had been difficult, a blizzard had delayed them near the base of the glacier. The ponies had struggled through the heavy snow but Scott had pressed them to make up time and they were now back on track. The team had finished with the ponies and was now relying on man holding. Each 800 pound sledge was pulled by a team of four men. In addition to his race against winter, Scott had another reason to push the pace; On the way to Antarctica he found out that Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen who lost his bid to become the first to the north pole, was now trying to beat Scott to the south pole. About the Beardmore Scott was feeling confident at the last minute he decided on polar party of five instead of before he had originally intended. Perhaps he wanted to reward as many as possible the hard work they had done to reach that point. Scott’s critics regard this change as a crucial mistake. Finally on the Antarctic Plateau, the men continue to trek southward, their spirits were high but they were beginning to grow tired after nearly sixty days of marching and dragging their pledges behind them. On January 9 they passed the southernmost point reached by Shackleton in 1909, they were now walking on virgin ground. Scott had good reason to anticipate success, his team was making excellent progress and he was impressed with the man he had chosen for the final push. Edmond Wilson, the expeditions chief scientist was a doctor and a talented artist and Scott’s best friend. Henry Bowers nickname “Birdie” for his prominent nose was known for his exceptional stamina. Lawrence Oates aristocratic but unassuming army captain had been in charge of the ponies on the expedition and Semen Edgar Evans, he was the strong man of the group. By the middle of January, a man had covered nearly 900 miles, they had climbed ten thousand feet of a glacier and had survived on rations of dried meat and lard. Now they were approaching their final destination. On January 17, 1912 the team reached the pole but the glory that Scott had dreamed of was denied him where he was met by the side of a tent flying the Norwegian flag. Scott’s great rival had beaten him to the poll. Edmondson strategy had been very different from Scott’s relying on his experience from the Arctic, he foregone careful planning and made a dash for the pole; taken a gamble and won, beating Scott by a full five weeks. They had not been first at Scott’s man planted the British flag then began the long journey home. Scott’s preparations had served them well and they believe that they would quickly make it back to the safety of the coast. Even though Edgar Evans was beginning to have problems with prospect Scott confidence came from his careful planning and from his understanding of the weather data that meteorologists Simpson had provided him, Scott was counting on the way to bring them home. It was surprised to discover just how attentive Scott had been to the weather and just how determined Simpson had been to understand it. Long before the advent of modern forecasting equipment, they attempted something that had never been done in Antarctic. Scott had found a man who matched his own passion for science. Simpson predicted that the temperature at the cape Evans base camp would be warmer than the Antarctic interior, not simply because of the natural warming effect of the ocean but also because the nearby mountains locked the cold winds coming off the ice shelf. He build the weather station just above the hut were readings of temperature, wind speed and wind direction were taken on an hourly basis.

To get data from the interior he trained the men to take temperature readings three times a day on every one of their Depot supply journeys. By comparing the records from the depot trips with the corresponding measurements from Cape Evans, Simpson came to the conclusion that throughout the year the ice shelf was consistently 20 degrees colder than Cape Evans. From his findings he was able to forecast the temperature on the ice shelf for every month of the polar journey. When Scott left the pole, he was relying on Simpson’s forecast for the return journey. He had planned his schedule around the temperatures he knew he could expect and so far everything had gone according to plan. The team made its way back across the high plateau and Simpson had predicted temperatures hovered near frigid negative 25 degrees Fahrenheit. The party was averaging more than 15 miles a day but Edgar Evans was suffering from worsening frostbite and his situation was getting serious. When they arrived their way down Evans sustained a severe head injury when he and Scott fell into a crevasse .Scott had hope the warmer temperatures on the ice shelf would help them recover but after the accident his situation began to

look hopeless. His comrades encouraged him to push on but two weeks later Evans collapsed. Frostbite had taken its toll but Wilson the team doctor documented the cause of death as brain damage. Evans had been done in by a freak accident something no amount of planning could have prevented. There was nothing the team could do but bury him and move on. With Evans gone the men quicken their pace, the day after they buried their friend they approach there resupply depot at the base of the glacier. They were finally back on the ice shelf. Here stockpiles of food and fuel awaited them, at last the frigid temperatures in the Plateau was supposed to be behind them. Simpson’s forecast called for strong tailwinds and much more moderate temperatures, they were still four hundred miles away from Cape Evans but what they expected the worst was behind them. For the next six days everything went according to plan but on February 27th the temperature suddenly dropped to a brutal 37 degrees below zero, this was far worse than anything they had experienced on the plateau, the first time a hint of certainty entered Scott’s writing. The men were stunned by the unexpected weather, Wilson and Bowers had survived worse temperatures on an earlier research expedition but never for this long and never after four months of exhausting man holding. Scott’s carefully laid plans were in tatters and the lives of his men on the balance. The staggering cold had thrown his schedule into disarray and everyone was nearing exhaustion. The sledges became harder and harder to pull. But even as the conditions got worse Scott made no effort to lighten the load, it is a decision his critics have often cited as a clear indication of his incompetence. The unyielding surface had a devastating effect on their progress, instead of averaging 15 miles a day, they could barely manage three and a half. At this rate they would never make it back to Cape Evans in time to beat the onset of winter. When temperatures were dropped to unsurvivable 50 below. Harsh temperatures and no wind had left the team with little hope. They were now relying on sheer force of will to get them home, the situation was still getting worse as they weaken they became more vulnerable to frostbite. Frostbite on their feet was the greatest danger, if they couldn’t march they would die, where they fell the simple ability to keep their socks dry became a matter of life and death. Oat’s condition was deteriorating rapidly this was his second bout with frostbite and skin that has been damaged ones is far more vulnerable to injury is odds of survival were plummeting. The team’s options were running out. The party had endured 13 days of temperatures below negative 30. 11 miles a day would mean only two more weeks on the ice but the day after his death Scott found himself in trouble during about a violent indigestion he failed to notice when his right foot began to freeze, within minutes his toes were severely prospect there is no chance to nurse one’s feet. They never marched again in his last diary entry dated March 29 Scott wrote that the blizzard had raged for 10 days keeping them trapped in the tent.