Next Stop Antarctica

Roald Amundsen. The South Pole: An Account of the Norwegian Antarctic Expedition in the 'Fram', 1910–1912. London: John Murray, 1912. Two volumes, volume two displayed.

Scott’s desire to be the first man to reach the South Pole went unfulfilled. After enduring severe weather for four weeks, Scott and his four-man party, which consisted of Petty Officer Edgar Evans, Captain Lawrence Oates, Lieut. Henry Robertson Bowers and Dr Edward Wilson, reached a tent marking the South Pole on 18 January 1912. Inside was a note dated 16 December 1911 signed by Roald Amundsen and the other members of his Norwegian expedition.

In April 1912, Amundsen visited Dunedin and delivered a lecture to an audience at His Majesty’s Theatre. According to Ian Church, ‘Amundsen spoke in a direct, straightforward and self-effacing manner, and loud applause broke out when he showed a slide of his party at the South Pole’ (Church 33). Amundsen, who learned of Scott’s death the following year, said ‘I would forego honour, everything, to bring him back to life’.

Ian Church. Last Port to Antarctica: Dunedin and Port Chalmers: 100 years of Polar Service. Dunedin: Otago Heritage Books, 1997.

Roald Amundsen. The South Pole: An Account of the Norwegian Antarctic Expedition in the 'Fram', 1910–1912. London: John Murray, 1912. Two volumes, volume two displayed.
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Edward Wilson. Diary of the 'Terra Nova' Expedition to the Antarctic 1910–1912. New York: Humanities Press, 1972.

Having been beaten to the South Pole by Amundsen’s team, Scott and his men set out on the arduous return trek to camp. One by one they succumbed to the harsh elements and the effects of malnutrition. Petty Officer Evans, delirious from illness, fell comatose and died on 17 February 1912. On 16 March, Captain Oates, who was very ill and badly frostbitten, informed his comrades, ‘I am just going outside and may be some time’, before wandering out of the tent to his death in the hope of giving the remaining men a better chance at survival.

The last survivors were Scott, Lieut. Bowers and Dr Wilson, who was suffering from snow blindness. All three men died around 29 March. Their bodies, along with letters to loved ones, were recovered eight months later approximately 17.5km from fresh supplies.

Edward Wilson. Diary of the 'Terra Nova' Expedition to the Antarctic 1910–1912. New York: Humanities Press, 1972.
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