And what has Robert Scott been doing all these years? Like many of Her Majesty's naval officers, he follows a normal naval career.
In 1889 Scott was promoted to lieutenant; two years later he enters the mine-torpedo school. After graduating in 1893, he served for some time in the Mediterranean, and then, for family reasons, returned to his native shores.
By that time, Scott knows not only navigation, piloting and minecraft. He also mastered surveying instruments, learned to survey the terrain, and is well versed in the basics of electricity and magnetism. In 1896, he was appointed an officer in a squadron located in the English Channel.
It was at this time that Scott's second meeting with K. Markham took place, who, having already become president of the Royal Geographical Society, stubbornly urged the government to send an expedition to Antarctica. During conversations with Markham, the officer gradually gets carried away with this idea ... so as not to part with it ever again.
However, it took about three more years before Scott made a fateful decision for himself. With the support of Markham, he submits a report about his desire to lead an expedition to the extreme south of the Earth. After many months of overcoming various kinds of obstacles, in June 1900, Captain Second Rank Robert Scott finally takes command of the National Antarctic Expedition.
So, by an amazing coincidence, at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, the two main participants in the future grandiose competition were almost simultaneously ready for their first independent polar expeditions.
But if Amundsen was going to go to the North, then Scott intended to conquer the extreme South. And while Amundsen in 1901 is making a trial voyage on his ship in the North Atlantic, Scott is already heading for Antarctica.
Scott's expedition on the ship Discovery arrived at the shores of the icy continent in early 1902. The ship was wintered in the Ross Sea (South Pacific Ocean).
It went well, and in the Antarctic spring, in November 1902, Scott set off for the first time south with two companions, the naval sailor Ernst Shackleton and the natural scientist Edward Wilson, secretly hoping to reach the South Pole.
True, it looks somewhat strange that, intending to do this with the help of dogs, they did not consider it necessary to acquire in advance the necessary experience in handling dog teams. The reason for this was the idea of the British (which later turned out to be fatal) about dogs as a not very important vehicle in the conditions of Antarctica.
This is evidenced, in particular, by such a fact. In front of Scott's main group, for some time, an auxiliary party walked with an additional supply of food, pulling with their own hands several sleds with cargo, and with a flag on which was proudly inscribed: "We do not need the services of dogs." Meanwhile, when on November 2, 1902, Scott and his comrades set out on a campaign, they were surprised at the speed with which the dogs dragged their laden sledges.
However, pretty soon the animals lost their original agility. And it was not only an unusually difficult road, numerous bumps covered with deep loose snow. The main reason for the rapid decline in strength in dogs was poor-quality food.
With inadequate assistance from dogs, the expedition progressed slowly. In addition, snowstorms often raged, forcing travelers to stop and wait out the bad weather in a tent. In clear weather, the snow-white surface, easily reflecting the sun's rays, caused snow blindness in people.
But, despite all this, Scott's group was able to reach 82 degrees 17 "south latitude, where no human foot had ever set foot. Here, after weighing all the pros and cons, the pioneers decided to turn back. It turned out to be timely , because soon the dogs, one after another, began to die from exhaustion.
The most weakened animals were killed and fed to the rest. It ended with the people, again, harnessing themselves to the sled. Huge physical loads in extremely unfavorable natural conditions quickly exhausted the forces.
Shackleton began to show more and more symptoms of scurvy. He was coughing and spitting up blood. To a lesser extent, bleeding was manifested in Scott and Wilson, who began to pull the sled together. Shackleton, weakened by his illness, somehow trudged along behind them. In the end, three months later, in early February 1903, all three returned to the Discovery.
History and present
The station is located at an altitude of 2835 above sea level, on a glacier, which nearby reaches a maximum thickness of 2850 m (). The average annual temperature is about -49 ° С; varies from −28 °C in December to −60 °C in July. Average wind speed - 5.5 m / s; gusts up to 27 m/s were recorded.
Station foundation (1957-1975)
The original station is now called the "Old Pole" (Eng. old field) - was founded in 1956-1957. an 18-man US Navy expedition that landed here in October 1956 and wintered there for the first time in 1957. Since climatic conditions were not previously known, the base was built underground to overcome any worst weather conditions. The lowest temperature in 1957 was recorded at −74 °C (−102 °F). Survival in such a low temperature, combined with low humidity and low air pressure, is only possible with proper protection.
The station, abandoned in 1975, is covered with snow (like any structure at the South Pole) at a rate of 60-80 mm per year. Now it is buried deep enough and is completely closed to the public, as snow has crushed all the wooden floors.
On January 4, 1958, the British Commonwealth Transantarctic Expedition arrived at the station with renowned mountaineer Edmund Hillary. It was the first expedition to use road transport and the first to reach the Pole by land since Amundsen in 1911 and Scott in 1912. The expedition moved from the New Zealand station Scott Base.
Dome (1975-2003)
An aerial photograph of Amundsen - Scott Station taken circa 1983. The central dome is visible, as well as various containers and ancillary buildings.
The main entrance to the dome is located below the snow level. Initially, the dome was built on the surface, but then gradually sank into the snow.
The aluminum unheated "tent" is the pole's landmark. It even had a post office, a shop and a pub.
Any building at the pole is quickly surrounded by snow and the design of the dome was not the best. A gigantic amount of fuel was used to remove the snow, and shipping a liter of fuel costs $7.
The 1975 equipment is completely outdated.
New scientific complex (since 2003)
The unique design on piles allows snow not to accumulate near the building, but to pass under it. The sloping shape of the lower part of the building allows the wind to be directed under the building, which contributes to the blowing of snow. But sooner or later the snow will cover the piles and then it will be possible to raise the station twice with jacks (this increases the service life of the station from 30 to 45 years).
Building materials were delivered by Hercules aircraft from McMurdo station on the coast and only during daylight hours. More than 1000 flights have been made.
The complex has:
- 11 km low-frequency antenna for observing and predicting celestial and space storms,
- the highest pole at the pole 10-meter telescope, climbed 7 floors up and weighing 275 thousand kg
- drilling rig (depth - up to 2.5 km) for the study of neutrinos.
On January 15, 2008, in the presence of the leadership of the US National Science Foundation and other organizations, the American flag was lowered from the dome station and raised in front of a new modern complex. The station can accommodate up to 150 people in summer and about 50 in winter.
Activity
In summer, the population of the station is usually more than 200 people. Most of the staff leave by mid-February, leaving only a few dozen people (43 in 2009) wintering, mostly support staff plus a few scientists who run the station during the months of Antarctic night. Winterers are isolated from the rest of the world from mid-February to late October, at which time they face many dangers and stresses. The station is completely self-sufficient in winter, powered by three generators running on JP-8 aviation fuel.
Research at the station includes sciences such as glaciology, geophysics, meteorology, upper atmospheric physics, astronomy, astrophysics, and biomedical research. Most scientists work in low frequency astronomy; the low temperature and low humidity of the polar air, combined with the altitude of over 2,743 m (9,000 ft), causes the air to be much more transparent at some frequencies than is normal elsewhere, and months of darkness allow sensitive equipment to operate continuously.
Developments
In 1991, Michael Palin visited the base during the 8th and final episode of his BBC television documentary Pole to Pole.
In 1999, while wintering, doctor Jerry Nielsen discovered that she had breast cancer. She had to give herself chemotherapy with medication dropped in July, and then she was taken out after the first plane landed in mid-October.
In January 2007, a group of Russian high officials visited the station, including FSB chiefs Nikolai Patrushev and Vladimir Pronichev. The expedition, led by polar explorer Artur Chilingarov, started in Chile on two Mi-8 helicopters and landed at the South Pole.
September 6, 2007 TV show aired man made for the National Geographic Channel with an episode about the construction of a new building here.
November 9, 2007 program Today NBC, with co-writer Ann Carrie, made a report via satellite phone that was broadcast live from the South Pole.
On Christmas Day 2007, two members of the base got into a drunken brawl and were evacuated.
In popular culture
The station features prominently in a number of science fiction television series, including The X-Files: Fight for the Future.
Station at the South Pole called Snowcap Base was the site of the first Cybermen invasion of Earth in the 1966 TV series Doctor Who The Tenth Planet.
In film White mist(2009) takes place at Amundsen-Scott station, although the buildings in the film are completely different from the real ones.
Time zone
At the South Pole, sunset and sunrise are theoretically only visible once a year, on the autumn and spring equinoxes respectively, but due to atmospheric refraction, the sun is above the horizon for more than four days each time. There is no solar time here; there is no daily maximum or minimum in the height of the sun above the horizon. The station uses New Zealand time (GMT +12 hours or +13 hours summer time) as all flights to McMurdo station originate from Christchurch and therefore all official travel from the poles passes through New Zealand.
In 1909, the South Pole remained the last of the major geographic trophies not taken. It was expected that the United States would enter into a fierce battle for him with the British Empire. However, the leading American polar explorers Cook and Peary at that time concentrated on the Arctic, and the British expedition of Captain Robert Scott on the Terra Nova received a temporary head start. Scott was in no hurry: the three-year program included extensive scientific research and methodical preparation for a trip to the pole.
These plans were confused by the Norwegians. Having received a message about the conquest of the North Pole, Ruald Amundsen did not want to be second there and secretly sent his ship "Fram" to the South. In February 1911, he was already hosting British officers at a camp on the Ross Glacier. “There is no doubt that the Amundsen plan is a serious threat to ours,” Scott wrote in his diary. The race has begun.
("img": "/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/polar_01.jpg", "alt": "Captain Scott", "text": "Captain Scott")
("img": "/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/polar_02.jpg", "alt": "Roald Amundsen", "text": "Roald Amundsen")
In the preface to the memoirs, one of the members of the Terra Nova expedition later wrote: “For scientific research, give me Scott; for a breakthrough to the pole - Amundsen; pray for Shackleton's salvation."
Perhaps a penchant for the arts and sciences is one of the few reliably known positive qualities of Robert Scott. His literary talent was most clearly manifested in his own diary, which became the basis for the myth of a hero who fell victim to circumstances.
Rusk, unsociable, human function - Roald Amundsen was created to achieve results. This planning maniac called adventure the unfortunate consequence of poor preparation.
Team
The composition of Scott's expedition shocked the polar explorers of that time, numbering 65 people, including the Terra Nova team, twelve scientists and cameraman Herbert Ponting. Five went on a trip to the pole: the captain took with him a cavalryman and groom Ots, the head of the scientific program Wilson, his assistant supply manager Evans, and at the last moment the sailor Bowers. Many experts consider this spontaneous decision to be fatal: the amount of food and equipment, even skis, was designed for only four.
("img": "/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/polar_03.jpg", "alt": "Captain Scott", "text": "Captain Scott's team. Photo by the Norwegian National Library.")
Amundsen's team could have won any of the modern winter ultramarathons. Nine people landed with him in Antarctica. No knowledge workers - they were primarily physically strong men who had a set of skills necessary for survival. They skied well, many knew how to manage dogs, had the qualifications of navigators, and only two had no polar experience. Five of the best of them went to the pole: the path for Amundsen's teams was paved by the Norwegian champion in cross-country skiing.
("img": "/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/polar_04.jpg", "alt": "Roald Amundsen", "text": "Roald Amundsen's team. Photo by the Norwegian National Library.")
Equipment
Like all Norwegian explorers of that time, Amundsen was a supporter of the study of Eskimo ways of adapting to extreme cold. His expedition dressed in anoraks and kamikki boots, improved during the winter. “I would call any polar expedition without fur clothing inadequately equipped,” wrote the Norwegian. On the contrary, the cult of science and progress, weighed down by the imperial "burden of the white man", did not allow Scott to use the experience of the natives. The British were dressed in suits made of wool and rubberized linen.
Modern research - in particular, blowing in a wind tunnel - has not revealed a significant advantage of one of the options.
("img": "/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/polar_05.jpg", "alt": "Roald Amundsen", "text": "Roald Amundsen's outfit on the left, Scott's outfit on the right. ")
Transport
Amundsen's tactics were both effective and brutal. Four of his 400-kilogram sleighs with food and equipment were pulled by 52 Greenland huskies. As they moved towards the goal, the Norwegians killed them, fed them to other dogs and ate them themselves. That is, as the load decreased, transport, in which there was no longer a need, itself turned into food. 11 huskies returned to the base camp.
("img": "/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/polar_10.jpg", "alt": "Roald Amundsen", "text": "Dog team on Roald Amundsen's expedition. Photo by Norwegian National Library.")
Scott's complex transport plan included the use of motorized sleds, Mongolian ponies, safety nets with Siberian huskies, and the final push on his own feet. An easily predictable failure: the sleigh quickly broke down, the ponies were dying from the cold, there were too few huskies. For many hundreds of kilometers, the British themselves harnessed themselves to the sled, and the load on each reached almost a centner. Scott considered this, rather, an advantage - in the British tradition, the researcher had to reach the goal without "outside help". Suffering turned achievement into a feat.
("img": "/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/polar_09.jpg", "alt": "Roald Amundsen", "text": "Scot's motorized sled.")
("img": "/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/polar_13.jpg", "alt": "Roald Amundsen", "text": "Top: Mongol ponies on Scott's expedition. Bottom: Brits pulling cargo.")
Food
Scott's failed transportation strategy led his people to starvation. Dragging sleds on their feet, they significantly increased the duration of the journey and the number of calories needed for such physical exertion. At the same time, the British were unable to carry the required amount of provisions.
“Terrible disappointment! It hurts for my faithful comrades. The end of all our dreams. It will be a sad return,” Scott wrote in his diary.
The quality of the food also mattered. Unlike Norwegian biscuits, which contained wholemeal flour, oatmeal and yeast, British biscuits were made from pure wheat. Before reaching the Pole, Scott's team suffered from scurvy and nervous disorders associated with vitamin B deficiency. They did not have enough food for the return trip and did not have enough strength to walk to the nearest warehouse.
It will suffice to say about the nutrition of the Norwegians that on the way back they began to throw away excess food to lighten the sleigh.
("img": "/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/polar_20.jpg", "alt": "Roald Amundsen", "text": "Stop. Roald Amundsen Expedition. Photo by Norwegian National Library.")
To the pole and back
The distance from the Norwegian base to the pole was 1,380 kilometers. It took Amundsen's team 56 days to complete it. Dog sleds made it possible to take away more than one and a half tons of payload and create stock depots along the way for the return trip. On January 17, 1912, the Norwegians reach the South Pole and leave a pulheim tent there with a message to the King of Norway about the conquest of the pole and a request to Scott to deliver it to its destination: “The way home is very long, anything can happen, including something that will deprive us of the opportunity personally announce our journey. On the way back, Amundsen's sleigh became faster, and the team gets to the base in 43 days.
("img": "/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/polar_16.jpg", "alt": "Roald Amundsen", "text": "Roald Amundsen's team at the South Pole. Photo by the Norwegian National Library.")
A month later, Amundsen's pulheim at the pole is found by the British, who traveled 1,500 kilometers in 79 days. “Terrible disappointment! It hurts for my faithful comrades. The end of all our dreams. It will be a sad return,” Scott wrote in his diary. Frustrated, hungry and sick, they wander back to the coast for another 71 days. Scott and his last two surviving companions die of exhaustion in the tent, before reaching the next warehouse 40 kilometers.
Defeat
In the autumn of the same 1912, the tent with the bodies of Scott, Wilson and Bowers is found by their associates from the Terra Nova expedition. On the body of the captain are the last letters and notes, in the boot is a letter from Amundsen to the Norwegian king. After the publication of Scott's diaries, an anti-Norwegian campaign unfolded in his homeland, and only imperial pride prevented the British from directly calling Amundsen a murderer.
However, Scott's literary talent turned defeat into victory, and put the painful death of his companions above the perfectly planned breakthrough of the Norwegians. "How can you compare Amundsen's business operation and Scott's first-rate tragedy?" - wrote contemporaries. The superiority of the "stupid Norwegian sailor" was explained by his unexpected appearance in Antarctica, which disrupted the plans for the preparation of the British expedition, and the ignoble use of dogs. The death of the gentlemen of Scott's team, by default stronger in body and spirit, was due to an unfortunate set of circumstances.
Only in the second half of the 20th century did the tactics of both expeditions come under scrutiny, and in 2006 their equipment and rations were tested in the most realistic BBC experiment in Greenland. The British polar explorers did not succeed this time either - their physical condition became so dangerous that the doctors insisted on evacuation.
("img": "/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/polar_18.jpg", "alt": "Roald Amundsen", "text": "Last photo of Scott's team.")
Station "Amundsen - Scott": seasonality of travel, life at the station, reviews of tours to the station "Amundsen - Scott".
- Hot tours around the world
"Place of residence - South Pole" - so the inhabitants of the American polar base "Amundsen - Scott" could rightfully write in their personal questionnaire. Founded in 1956 and since then, permanently and year-round inhabited, the Amundsen-Scott station is a model of how a person can adapt to the most adverse living conditions. And not only to adapt - to build a comfortable home that can withstand the harsh climate of Antarctica for many years. In the era of commercial expeditions to the South Pole, the Amundsen-Scott became a foster home for tourists who came to personally trample under their feet the extreme southern point of the Earth. Travelers spend only a few hours here, but during this time they manage to get acquainted with the amazing life of the station and even send a postcard home with the postmark “South Pole”.
A bit of history
Amundsen-Scott is the first Antarctic station deep in the continent. It was founded in 1956, 45 years after the conquest of the South Pole, and bears the name of the glorious pioneers of the icy continent - the Norwegian Roald Amundsen and the Englishman Robert Scott. At the time of its foundation, the station was located exactly at 90 ° south latitude, but by now, due to the movement of ice, it has slightly deviated from the South Pole point, which is now located about 100 meters from the station.
The original station was built under the ice, and scientific activity continued there until 1975. Then a domed base was erected, which served as a home for polar explorers until 2003. And then a large-scale structure appeared here on jack piles, allowing the building to be raised as it was covered with snow. According to forecasts, it will last another 30-45 years.
The interiors here are no different from the usual American "public places" - only massive doors that close like a safe give out that this is happening in Antarctica.
The climate of Amundsen-Scott station
The Amundsen-Scott station is located at an altitude of 2800 meters above sea level, which, given the high rarefaction of air in the South Pole region, turns into actual 3500 meters, corresponding to the high mountainous regions of the Earth.
The polar day here lasts from September 23 to March 21, and the peak of the "tourist season" falls on December - January, when the temperature is most suitable for expeditions. At this time of the year, the thermometer does not show below -30 ° C. Well, in winter it is about -60 ° C and complete darkness, illuminated only by the northern lights.
Life at Amundsen-Scott Station
From 40 to 200 people - scientists, researchers and professional polar explorers - permanently live on the Amundsen-Scott. In the summer, life is in full swing here - after all, it is comfortable -22 ... -30 ° С outside the window, and the sun shines around the clock. But for the winter, a little more than fifty people remain at the station - to maintain its performance and continue scientific research. At the same time, from mid-February to the end of October, access here from the outside world is closed.
The station is crammed with high-tech equipment, including an 11-kilometer antenna for monitoring space storms, a super-powerful telescope, and a drilling rig that has sunk more than two kilometers into the ice, used for experiments on neutrino particles.
What to watch
Tourists are only allowed to enter the Amundsen-Scott station for a few hours. The interiors are no different from the usual American "public places" - only massive doors that close like a safe give out that it's happening in Antarctica. A canteen, a gym, a hospital, a music studio, a laundry and a store, a greenhouse and a post office - that's the whole simple life.
By the end of the 18th century, the era of the Great Geographical Discoveries was already in the past. Unknown lands came under the rule of European monarchies, and their inhabitants fell under the yoke of the colonial administration and enterprising merchants from the metropolis. It was then that adventurers began to increasingly turn their eyes to the south, to where the hitherto unknown Antarctica should be. The most striking page in the annals of this era was the struggle between the Norwegian Roald Amundsen and the Englishman Robert Scott for the right to be called the first person to visit the South Pole. Moreover, the losers in it had to pay with their lives.
Not so long ago it became known that the Norwegian directors Joachim Rönning and Espen Sandberg, the authors of the film "Kon-Tiki" about another legendary traveler, Thor Heyerdahl, are planning to dedicate their new film to their compatriot Roald Amundsen and the history of that same polar race. FURFUR decided to refresh the memory of the events of one of the most famous expeditions of the 20th century.
unknown land
Even the scientists of Ancient Greece believed that there should be land in the Far South; on the maps of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, a continent lying at the pole was always depicted. Most scientists and navigators adhered to the idea that the Southern continent exists, some made assumptions about the size of its population and the richness of nature, but everyone agreed that it was difficult to reach it.
In 1772, the English Admiralty, concerned about the expansion of France into the southern latitudes, decided to send an expedition, among other tasks, aimed at discovering the Southern Continent. The command of the expedition was entrusted to the illustrious Captain James Cook.
In January 1773, the ships of the expedition were able to cross the Antarctic Circle, which no one had done before, but the difficult ice conditions and constant storms forced Cook to turn north and declare that there was no continent and could not be behind these impenetrable ice. The authority of James Cook's claims put an end to any serious search for Antarctica for 45 years.
Only in 1820, the ships of the Russian fleet "Vostok" and "Mirny" managed to reach the coast of the ice continent, and then sail around Antarctica. The leader of the expedition, Bellingshausen, made an unequivocal conclusion that the sailors encountered solid ground, and not a cluster of icebergs, but there was still no question of stepping on it, since there was no way to get through the ice and land the party on the shore .
It is known for certain that the first person to set foot on the land of Antarctica was the Norwegian Carsten Borchgrevink. This event marked the beginning of the Heroic Age of Antarctic exploration.
It is known for certain that the first person to set foot on the land of Antarctica was the Norwegian Carsten Borchgrevink. This event, which took place on January 25, 1895, marked the beginning of the Heroic Age of Antarctic exploration, as it is commonly called in English-language literature. In the next 20 years, a never-before-seen race unfolded, in which the largest European powers took part, who set as their goal to hoist the flag in any possible place that would not have been visited by rivals until that moment. But the main competition was between the pioneers, their own ambitions and vanity, for which they were ready to risk their lives, both their own and those of their companions.
Roald Amundsen
Roald Amundsen was a descendant of Norwegian sailors and merchants. At the time of his birth, the Amundsens owned several ships in 1872 and also had their own shipyard. A poor student at school, he demonstrated outstanding athletic performance and dreamed of traveling. Starting to study medicine at the insistence of his mother, Amundsen left the university immediately after her death, enrolling on a hunting ship. Having passed the exams for the title of navigator, in 1895 he continued sailing on fishing vessels.
A significant event in Amundsen's life was a trip to Antarctica in 1897–1899 as part of a Belgian scientific expedition on board the Belgica. The expedition did not reach the South Magnetic Pole, which was the goal of the entire enterprise, since the ship was trapped in the ice of the Bellingshausen Sea and remained there for a forced winter. However, for Rual this event was a real gift of fate. Together with Dr. Cook, who became one of the few who could be called his friend, they made ski crossings, made scientific observations, hunted seals, supplying the whole team with fresh meat, and developed their own skills for survival in high latitudes.
Being an experienced skier, Roalle also mastered the dog sled to perfection, making 50-60-kilometer transitions on it.
At the beginning of 1901, Amundsen bought an old yacht "Joa", which he converted and prepared for sailings in the polar latitudes. After several expeditions to the northern seas, the crew of seven was ready for a difficult and ambitious task: to pass from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean through the Northwest Passage, visiting the North Magnetic Pole along the way. The journey lasted three years, ending with the arrival at the port of San Francisco on October 19, 1906. During this time, the Gyoa, having lost one of the crew members who died of illness, passed through the islands north of the American continent, and also made three winterings on its way.
The value of the expedition for Amundsen was not only in personal glory and the general scientific significance of his research, but also in the fact that he perfectly mastered the skills used by local residents in their daily life, taking place in the extreme conditions of the Far North. Being an experienced skier, Roalle also mastered the dog sled to perfection, making 50-60-kilometer transitions on it. Even more valuable acquisitions were people who passed through the test of the North in order to challenge the South Pole together with Amundsen in the future.
Robert Scott
Robert Scott was born in 1868 and belonged to the family of hereditary military men who devoted their lives to serving the British crown. Already at the age of 13, he entered a cadet on a training ship, two years later, in 1883, with the rank of midshipman, he began serving in the British Navy. At first glance, it seemed that the young man did not stand out in any way against the background of many of his peers of the same age and was exactly what a young man of his age and position should be. However, Clement Markham, secretary of the Royal Geographical Society, whom they met in the Antilles, had a completely different opinion about Scott. During an exercise in the Caribbean, the young midshipman won the boat race, and was therefore honored with an invitation to dinner with senior officers, at which Sir Markham was also a guest. The secretary of the Geographical Society, himself a former officer in the navy, was pleasantly surprised by the intelligence and charm of midshipman Scott.
Due to the lack of influential patrons, the promotion of a young officer through the ranks proceeded in the most usual way, and therefore was not fast. In 1894, while serving as an officer on the mine transport Vulcan, Scott's family was ruined, and his father died three years later. He needed a promotion like air, since Scott had no other opportunities to provide for an orphaned family. And soon such an opportunity presented itself to him: having accidentally met Markham, who by that time had become president of the Royal Geographical Society, on the street, Robert found out that he was concerned about finding a person who could lead an expedition to Antarctica.
The first months in Antarctica were a test for the entire team. One of the sailors fell off the cliff and crashed to death, and hikes in the vicinity of the winter quarters required the full exertion of strength from the participants.
In a new place, he had to start from scratch: all his experience in the navy was of little value when it came to preparing for wintering in the polar latitudes. Therefore, together with Markham, they turned to Fridtjof Nansen for help, who had the unquestioned authority of the most experienced polar explorer of his time. Nansen generously shared his knowledge of the necessary supplies, technical means, the design of ships adapted for navigation in ice, and wintering. Another thing is that most of his advice was ignored, such as those related to the benefits of skiing and dog sledding.
On August 6, 1901, the research ship Discovery, named after the ship of James Cook, left the British Isles to return to them three years later. Among the official goals of the expedition was not the conquest of the South Pole, but only the vague wording "to move south as far as possible" was present. The first months in Antarctica were a test for the entire team. One of the sailors fell off the cliff and crashed to death, and hikes in the vicinity of the winter quarters required the full exertion of strength from the participants.
Despite the difficulties of the first year, in November 1902 Scott, accompanied by expedition officer Ernest Shackleton and physician Edward Wilson, set out in the direction of the South Pole. There was no way to call their campaign successful: the dogs, already not obeying inexperienced drivers, died by the end of the journey, Wilson suffered from an acute form of snow blindness, and Shackleton fell ill with scurvy. Having approached the pole at a distance of 850 kilometers, the travelers were forced to turn back, having covered a distance of 1,500 kilometers in three months. These events finally strengthened Scott in the dubious conclusion, now based on his own negative experience, that the best means of moving goods in Antarctica is the muscular strength of man.
polar race
By 1910, explorers from many countries were making plans for an expedition to Antarctica. Prior to this, Captain Shackleton, who organized his own expedition, managed to get closer than anyone to the coveted South Pole in 1909. However, the elements and lack of supplies forced his group to turn back, only 180 kilometers from the target. With great difficulty they made their way back, barely covering the distance between the intermediate warehouses with provisions. All his companions unanimously approved the decision of the chief, as they understood that if they reached the pole, they would no longer have the strength to go back. Shackleton himself once said to his wife: "A live donkey is better than a dead lion."
This time, Scott's expedition on the Terra Nova, which began in November 1910, had a very specific mission: reaching the South Pole, and other goals of scientific importance were subordinated to this political gesture. Until 1909, Amundsen was preparing for a trip to the Arctic, and he did it in the most thorough way, to the point that he obtained Nansen's consent to put the legendary Fram at his disposal, planning to drift on it to the North Pole. But the surrounding hysteria associated with Antarctica captures him too, so he decides to go to the opposite side of the globe and become the very person who will win the race and be the first to set foot on the South Pole. To clear his conscience, Amundsen sends a telegram to Scott informing him of the appearance of another competitor who intends to conquer the pole.
Both travelers decided to go inland from the shores of the Ross Sea, and Scott set up a base camp at the old place, the same one where the Discovery expedition wintered nine years ago. The road to the Pole in this direction was, with the exception of the last 180 kilometers, passed by Shackleton. Amundsen chose the Bay of Whales for base camp, located almost one degree to the south, which gave him a gain of 96 kilometers. Another thing is that the territories located on this route were a real white spot and, as it turned out later, the route of the Norwegians, which was distinguished by difficult terrain, was much more difficult than the path of the British.
Scott decided to use, in addition to dogs, such exotic vehicles as snowmobiles and Manchurian horses. Of the two sledges that were available, one was lost during unloading, and the second soon broke down. Horses, accustomed to the conditions of Transbaikalia and Mongolia, were unable to withstand the local cold and fell one after another; as already known, Scott had no desire to use dogs, and therefore his group had to rely on its own strength in the literal sense of the word.
Amundsen, having bought a hundred Greenland sled dogs, was ready to pay with dog lives for almost every ten miles traveled: having gone to the pole with 52 dogs, the expedition returned back with only 11. Any dog that began to lose strength was immediately sent to feed to their relatives. People did not shun their meat either.
On December 14, 1911, Roald Amundsen's group of five reached the South Pole and hoisted the flag of Norway on it.
Waiting out the coldest months of the Antarctic winter, which falls on the calendar summer, both expeditions were preparing for the final throw to the pole. On October 20, 1911, Amundsen's group went to the pole, 11 days later, on November 1, Scott and his companions set off. After parting after some time with the escort groups, who threw supplies into intermediate warehouses, five people from each side rushed to the goal.
Norwegians moving on dogs were delayed by the conditions of the terrain - the Ross Glacier in that area is replete with bumps and faults, which took a long time to overcome. The British, who went to the Pole on foot, were delayed by the need to transport the entire load on themselves.
As a result, on December 14, 1911, Roald Amundsen's group of five reached the South Pole and hoisted the flag of Norway on it. Having made all the necessary navigational measurements, confirming the fact of their stay at the pole point, the Norwegians set off on their way back, almost flying over it.
On the following January 16, 1912, Scott stumbled upon the footprints of the Norwegians who had passed there a month earlier. It makes no sense to describe the state of people exhausted by a long journey through an icy desert, who suddenly found out that they would only be second. The next day, on the 17th, the British reached the South Pole and the remains of Amundsen's camp, who did not fail to leave them a message with "generous" permission to use any of the property abandoned by the Norwegians.
Leaving the flag of Great Britain at the South Pole, Scott and his companions set off on the return journey, for which they no longer had the strength. One morning, the sailor Edward Evans, who served with Robert Scott on the Majestic, did not wake up. On March 16, a cavalry officer, a veteran of the Anglo-Boer War, Lawrence Oates, left the tent barefoot with the words “I will go out into the air and return immediately.” Suffering from severe frostbite, Oates could not keep up with the general pace, which slowed the group on their way to the fuel and food depot. The comrades did not dare to stop him and, despite the search undertaken, they could not find the body of Lawrence Oates.
Antarctica did not want to let them go alive. The strength of the travelers was fading, each next mile of the journey was more difficult for them than the previous one. Very often, the fuel containers in the warehouses turned out to be empty: the frost destroyed the soldering, and kerosene flowed through the cracks, so they could not warm up even at a halt.
On March 19, Scott, his devoted friend Dr. Edward Wilson, and Henry Bowers stopped 19 miles from Camp One Ton, where food and fuel were waiting for them. But the weakened people had no way to continue their journey through the snowstorm. They did not take lethal doses of opium, as Scott had originally suggested. Hunger and frost did their job and deadly tired people died out in their tent. Scott was the last survivor, he most likely died on March 29. When the rescue party stumbled upon their tent, they found Robert lying in an open sleeping bag with his hand on Wilson's body. Scott remained lucid until the last moment and kept a diary of their journey, as well as letters to the relatives of fallen comrades. He began his letter to his wife with an appeal to "my widow."
fight and seek
Above the tent, in which they decided to leave the bodies of the dead, a pyramid was erected from blocks of snow and ice, topped with a cross. Currently, the bodies of Scott and his companions, buried under many meters of snow, along with the Ross Glacier, are moving towards the sea, where they will be in a few hundred years.
The materials of the expedition, the commander's diaries and photographs told the world about the heroic journey and the death of its participants. The posthumous fame of Scott and his comrades overshadowed the achievement of Amundsen, who was undeservedly credited with vile and treacherous behavior towards the dead heroes. Until his death in 1928, while searching for the crew of the Italia airship, led by Umberto Nobile, who crashed in the Arctic ice, Amundsen was under the yoke of guilt attributed to him in the death of English explorers. By the way, Roald Amundsen, together with Nobile and the crew of the airship "Norway", were the first people to reliably reach the North Pole, which happened on May 12, 1926.
When the Terra Nova left the shores of the Ross Sea, a cross was erected on a hill near the camp by the team in memory of the lost pioneers. It was inscribed with lines from the poem "Ulysses", written by Alfred Tennyson, Queen Victoria's favorite poet:
"Fight and seek, find and never give up."
The best solution in disputes about the priority in Antarctic research and the personal qualities of the researchers themselves was the name received by the US polar station, founded in 1956 at the South Pole. In honor of two outstanding travelers of their time, who died while saving their comrades, the station was named "Amundsen - Scott".