Race For The Pole
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Very few people know of the many successes and incredible scientific achievements made by Scott’s expedition – the expedition that he organised and lead. Ask most people what they know about Scott, his team and his expedition to “the south pole” and the replies almost always talk about ‘race’, failure and their deaths.
This site was set up for many reasons; the day-to-day “blogging” is interesting in itself, for one. Another reason was to give people access to the “raw” information so they could read the truth for themselves; of both Scott’s and Amundsen’s expedition.
The first myth to dispel is that it was a ‘race’ at all, it was not a race, at least not in the modern-day common perception of a ‘race’; it was nothing like the 100m final in the Olympic Games, for example.
Sure this site is called “Race For The Pole” – but I purposefully chose to use the word ‘For’ in the name because the site is also about the thirst for exploration at the time and the thirst for knowledge.
So, the 1911 expeditions to Antarctica were not a head-to-head race in the modern sense of a race. That Amundsen was focussing on becoming the first to the South Pole was not known until he was well on his way. (Amundsen lied to his sponsors, from the King of his country downwards, about his intentions to go to Antarctica. Only his brother, as his business manager, and the Captain of the ship Amundsen had borrowed knew of his true ambitions for the South Pole. ) The first Scott and his team knew of Amundsen’s intentions was when Scott berthed in New Zealand and received the telegram notification from Amundsen, sent from Madeira.
Anyway…
This is a long-winded way of introducing a very good article summarising Four things Captain Scott found in Antarctica (and one that found him). These are:
- Emperor Penguin Eggs
- Missing Link Fossil
- Wildlife In Action
- Rare Weather System
- Fungal Legacy
There are more, many more, scientific achievements that were made by Scott’s expedition (Scott made the first balloon flight over Antarctica, for instance) but the article concentrates on those five. The article in full can be found here: Four things Captain Scott found in Antarctica (and one that found him)
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Polar exploration, 100 years ago today entered a new phase; the “end game”, the start of the expeditions in earnest with Amundsen, after his abortive start a month ago, now starting his push for the pole.
Up until now the forays south by both Scott and Amundsen, last month’s folly excepted, was solely for the principal purpose of route finding and depot laying of food and stores.
Today Amundsen started his push for the South Pole in earnest!
The Point of Publishing Scott’s & Amundsen’s Expedition Journals
The outcome of the journey south of both expeditions are now embedded in history but that’s not the point of publishing their journal entries here as blogs, the intention here is for readers to experience the expeditions at first hand and read at first hand the highs and lows that both expeditions experienced.
It’s worth bearing in mind that Scott’s and Wilson’s journals are published unedited and as such offer the more “raw” expression of events and emotions, whereas Amundsen’s was compiled later (in Buenos Aires when Fram docked on their return home).
The Fate Of The Fram
Incidentally, Fram was to spend many years laid up in the city’s port where she was left moored, ostensibly to make it easier for Amundsen to return to her, after refit, to continue what was tabled as his true expedition, the expedition his sponsors had funded to the Arctic/North Pole.
The crew members made their way home by to Norway by various other means. Amundsen travelling via The U.S.A./New York before later entering Norway in disguise and under a pseudonym (Engelbregt Gravning).
Quite why Amundsen travelled back to Norway both in disguise and under a pseudonym was never elucidated but its not a huge leap of imagination to consider he must have been more than a little apprehensive of what sort of reception he could expect given that he had lied to all of his sponsors, including Norway’s King and Fridtjof Nansen Norway’s pre-eminent polar explorer (Fram‘s owner).
This latter act of subterfuge was thwarted when Amundsen was recognised by one of his compatriots. History also shows that Amundsen never returned to the Fram.
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Following on from the theme of my last general blog post ” Justifiable Criticism of Scott? ” this is a good time to introduce an article that, as far as this site is concerned won’t be published in the time-line for nearly two years but is very relevant in a modern-day consideration of irrational criticism of Scott. It’s also relevant because right at this moment in time 100 years ago the “motor sledges” were a hot topic as well.
Its also appropriate to post this now because some people will still try and level criticism by saying things like “well, he shouldn’t have used them if they weren’t going to work”.
First thing I’d like to say is to re-iterate what was said in the last blog post; this expedition was cutting edge for its time and there was no rule book written on how to explore the Antarctic. In fact, as Scott’s experience vividly shows the planned and trained for conditions similar to that which explorers of the day were familiar with (in the Arctic, for instance) but what they found were conditions that, many times, were new to them.
What I’d like to do now is show you a newspaper article that appeared in the New York Times in February 1913, it was titled “How Scott’s Motor Sledges Behaved” and is mainly quotations from Bernard Day, the “motor engineer”. Day gives an insightful overview of the “Wolseley Motor Sledges” and a brief comment on how their experiences and problems differed from their trials of the motors in Norway before they left.
That last point is an important one for doubters to remember, these motors were trialled and were shown to work before the expedition left England.
Anyway, here is the article:
HOW SCOTT’S MOTOR SLEDGES BEHAVED
Bernard C. Day, Who Drove One of them, Describes Their Operation in the Antarctic.
EXCESSIVE DRYNESS DID HARM
Engines Which Did Not Overheat in Norway- Ran Hot Under Polar Conditions.
According to advices from the surviving members of Capt. Robert F. Scott’s south pole expedition, it seems probable that one, at least, of the motor sledges which the party was equipped reached the pole, although there is no evidence of its having got there under its own power. Thus, Commander Evans, the second in command; epitomizing the dead leader’s diary, cabled last week from Lyttelton, New Zealand:
“The party marched the extra half mile, (to the pole,) taking with them their motor sledge, and there planted the Union Jack.”
Of the general performance of these sledges Bernard C. Day, who drove one of them in the antarctic during part of the Scott exploration, has written as follows in The Car of London:
“The efficiency of the motor sledges that were used by Capt. Scott’s party in the journey in antarctic regions has been the subject of many questions addressed to me. Were they to be regarded as a thorough success? This is not easily answered. The answer, in fact, depends entirely upon what results were expected from the experiment. If I describe exactly what they did, I shall be able to show why I considered their general performance satisfactory, when the specific difficulties of their task have been duly taken into account.
“ In :the first place. I may explain that my duties on the expedition were those of motor engineer. I had previously been in charge of a motor van with Capt. Shackleton’s expedition of 1907-9, and, when Capt. Scott decided to take motor sledges to the south I had the advantage of assisting at the tests of the vehicles at Fefor, in Central Norway. The duty of driving one of them in the antarctic fell to me, while the other was intrusted to Lashley, a leading stoker in the navy, who had been with Capt. Scott in the Discovery in 1900.
“Altogether, each sledge, carrying two tons, covered 100 miles, over soft surfaces, upon which rested from two to eight: inches of snow. The top of this surface seemed to have the consistency of sand -rather than of snow at low temperatures, which ranged from 40 degrees to 60 degrees of frost. and which fell sometimes even lower. The drive of the sledges was taken from a 14 horse power Wolseley engine, with the cylinders cast in pairs, to a two-speed gear box, and thence through the worm wheel to the back axle.
“ The engine worked splendidly, no trouble whatever being encountered in connection with; the lubrication, which is a feature to be considered in so far as the oil used is concerned.
“ We found that the engine ran hot, especially in cylinders 3 and 4: the front pair of cylinders were kept comparatively cool by a fan, which was, however, supposed to keep the whole engine cool. This heat from the engine was conducted down through the connecting rods to the big ends. which
The Wolseley Motor Sledge During Pre-Expedition Trials
finally crumbled to pieces. I attribute this trouble to the great range of temperature, as well as to the excessive strains on the engine caused by the nature of the surface over which we traveled.. The heat did not, however, melt out the white metal. On examination, the phosphor-bronze was found to have become crystallized and had apparently fallen to pieces, as aluminum does when subjected to low temperatures and undue strains.
“ Another source of anxiety was the carburetor. To keep the snow out when blizzards were about, I had to make a bonnet for each engine, and this bonnet had to be opened up while the engine was running. This immediately caused the cold air to enter the carburetor if the wind happened to be on that side, and then the petrol would not vaporize. On the engine missing fire, the bonnet would be shut down, thereupon the
engine ran hot. All this happened in spite of the exhaust jacket round the carburetor, but it must be remembered that the jacket did not go round the choke tube. We are thus confronted with the fact that an engine which did not run hot in Norway ran hot in the antarctic, the contrast being obviously due to the intense dryness of the southern atmosphere. In the latter case, the cooling took place by radiation without being helped by any of the evaporation that remedies matters in temperate climates.
“ Certain conditions that have been laid clown with regard to the publication of information relating to the expedition bar me from giving details of the daily work of the sledges but I hope that what I have said will be found of some practical value. There is undoubtedly little difficulty to be confronted by any firm that contemplates building motor sledges for use in Canada and Russia.”
February 16, 1913
The New York Times
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If you read many of the comparisons between the two expeditions it seems de rigeur to criticise Scott; badly organised; lack of leadership, etc..
Having read so much now of the written works from the actual expedition members it is clear to me that the majority of people who choose to criticise Scott are taking their information from books published by others decades after the fact and often, it seems, with their own agenda.
Two examples that contradict the “haters” are shouting out to me from this very period in 1911. Look at what is on Scott’s mind in these weeks back in 1911. He is predominantly concerned about the welfare of his two sick men, and of complimenting Lieut Evans & Gran on the quality of their surveying work. Hardly the actions of someone who has been said by some to “show no regard for his men”.
Similarly, Scott has been criticised for his choices of equipment.
Scott’s expedition was cutting edge, there was no handbook on Antarctic exploration for anyone to follow. Peary had only recently reached the North Pole, using dogs, so this success was known to Scott however Peary’s success post-dates the start of Scott’s planning.
Amundsen used dogs, that was what he was familiar with, his expedition was small, had few scientific objectives (or none at all since he stated and published objective was not the South Pole) and he was driven to get to the South Pole at all costs – this he states in his own journal. Amundsen was a professional explorer. Peary had reached the North Pole and so that destination was of no interest to him, there was no living to be made by being the second person to the North Pole.
Scott wanted to be the first to reach the South Pole, that he had that ambition is unquestioned. He also had the onerous task, as required by a large group of his influential sponsors, to do a lot of scientific research. This he set about with an undisputed professionalism.
One of the research projects that Scott carried out was the use of the “motors”, the motorised sledges for which Scott has been criticised. As I’ve mentioned, there was no handbook for Antarctic exploration, Scott was writing it in some respects (the pattern of tent that he used is still widely used today). In 1909, 1910, 1911, no-one knew whether or not the “motors” would be of any use. Commenters today have the benefit of 20:20 hind-sight and those who make the most noise universally criticise Scott.
In October 1911, next week in fact (17th October 1911) Scott makes this observation in his journal:
I am secretly convinced that we shall not get much help from the motors, yet nothing has ever happened to them that was unavoidable. A little more care and foresight would make them splendid allies. The trouble is that if they fail, no one will ever believe this.
The last sentence illustrates Scott’s perception and foresight.
Interestingly these “motors”, although they failed on this expedition, were the earliest prototypes for today’s “Ski-doo”, something that is now ubiquitous with travel in polar and arctic/antarctic regions.
“Shove that in your pipe and smoke it” is my message to those who find it easy to criticise Scott. He may not have been perfect but, than again, who is? And he certainly did not beat his dogs to the point of death.
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Posted an update from Scott just after my last post about picking up the reins again, ironically Scott’s journal has no entry for 11th October 1911, so the entry I posted was for the day before.
Next on the to-do list was to change the primary domain name from raceforthepole.com to raceforthepole.co.uk and after a lot of backups, and backing up backups, as you do ;-) I set the ball rolling.
And it went remarkably smoothly; a lot of changes to make but nothing went wrong!
That last sentence might turn out to be famous last words, but so far everything looks fine!
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That the site has been inactive for so long it’s been really disappointing for me. Unfortunately real life and real work got in the way and I could not give this project the time it needed or deserved.
Even more disappointing is that I missed the chance to “live blog” the winter expedition of Wilson, Bowers and Cherry-Garrard to the penguin Rookery at Cape Crozier. That they survived at all is incredible, that they survived without any major physical effects, such as frostbite, are tantamount to a miracle. Somehow or other I will make it up to you!
So, what now?
I hope to pick up the reins again as from now, there is a lot to do though.
First of all will be starting again with the blog posts from the expedition members themselves. Its likely that the South Polar Times will be shelved for now because it is very time-consuming. Also the site template needs updating. To top it all off the main site domain name will migrate from raceforthepole.com to raceforthepole.co.uk, which is where it should be :) The .com domain will still work, it will be transferred to the .co.uk domain.
So, sincere apologies for the break in blogging. For now we must make all speed to redress the shortfall, we have a Pole to reach and a goal to attain!
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The South Polar Times is published as a combination of two things; a newsletter sent by e-mail and a web page that has a summary of all of the journals posts made on a particular day.
At the time this blog post was written the latest edition is 4th April 1911 <– and if you click on that link it will take you there.
You can sign up for the newsletter by clicking the “subscribe” link in the column article to your right, or you can register on this page.
At the moment the web page version of the South Polar Times links to each individual journal post in blog format. We are looking in to publishing it all on one single page (watch this space :-)
We publish The South Polar Times for two main reasons:
- To help people keep up-to-date with daily updates; especially if you are not using Twitter or Facebook
- the newsletter email is sent whenever there are journal updates on any given day. Although not all of the journals have updates on every day at the moment there is someone publishing something every day. - Looking at all of the posts on one page is also great way of getting a better feel for what is going on
- see the posts on 4th April 1911 for a great example of this.
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Scott’s journal post yesterday is very informative, giving a summary of the state of play at that time as well as his thoughts for the future of the expedition.
At this point in time in some respects his team is “marking time” at Hut Point as they wait for the sea to freeze over so that they can travel across the sea ice to get to Winter Quarters at Cape Evans.
Two things leap out from Scott’s journal for Friday 17th March:
It is ill to sit still and contemplate the ruin which has assailed our transport. The scheme of advance must be very different from that which I first contemplated. The Pole is a very long way off, alas!
And in his second comment he voices his worries about the effectiveness of using the dogs to pull the sledge.
Bit by bit I am losing all faith in the dogs—I’m afraid they will never go the pace we look for.
These are important points because, historically, a lot of people have criticised Scott for his decision to opt for man-hauling of the sledges on the final push to the pole, i.e. he chose not to use dogs to pull his sledge.
What these comments criticising Scott always do is fail to take into account circumstances at the time and the continual decision-making that expedition leaders always do throughout an expedition, any expedition. The focus is always on maximising the chances of the success of the expedition.
The comments I quote above are notification of decision making processes of crucial elements of the expedition.
Scott has also made crucial decisions before now; when he learned of Amundsen’s presence “just around the corner” (in geographical terms) and, more importantly, the huge numbers of sled dogs that Amundsen had with him.
On the 22nd February Scott wrote:
But every incident of the day pales before the startling contents of the mail bag which Atkinson gave me—a letter from Campbell setting out his doings and the finding of Amundsen established in the Bay of Whales.
One thing only fixes itself definitely in my mind. The proper, as well as the wiser, course for us is to proceed exactly as though this had not happened. To go forward and do our best for the honour of the country without fear or panic.
There is no doubt that Amundsen’s plan is a very serious menace to ours. He has a shorter distance to the Pole by 60 miles—I never thought he could have got so many dogs safely to the ice. His plan for running them seems excellent. But above and beyond all he can start his journey early in the season—an impossible condition with ponies.
Decision making on any expedition is always on-going and requires rational thought, Scott’s decision here is the right one to make. An expedition leader of lesser experience, especially considering what was at stake, may well have chosen to react to circumstances beyond his control.
[On this last point, its ironical that Amundsen does just that (next year) as he makes his first push for the pole a full month "too early", driven by the thought that he has to beat Scott. A decision that almost costs the life of one of his expedition members.]
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Yesterday two new bloggers joined Race For The Pole by bringing their journals online, these are Roald Amundsen, the leader of the Norwegian Antarctic expedition, and Tryggve Gran, also a Norwegian but with Scott’s expedition.
Yesterday’s tweet about eh new journal writer said:
Welcome to 2 new Tweeters for #RaceForThePole : @RoaldEGAmundsen @TryggveGran – both have started posting from today
Their journals are here: “Amundsen’s Journal” and here “Gran’s Journal“.
About Tryggve Gran
Gran was taken on board as the British expedition’s ski instructor and he signed up some time before the expedition left the UK.
Its worth noting that when he was asked later about “national allegiances” since his compatriot was running the rival expedition, Gran commented that he would not have traveled with Scott had he known, simply out of national allegiance.
As is now clear, Amundsen kept his Antarctic plans secret from everyone, including his financial backers and his men, until they were leaving Madeira, i.e. their last landfall before committing to Antarctica and their last chance to communicate their changed plans “to the world” (see the newspaper article from October 2nd 1910 here ).
When the news that Amundsen was heading to Antarctica broke, Gran was committed to Scott’s expedition and he gave that expedition his full commitment and efforts.
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Twitter and Facebook Accounts For Our Users
We have now been able to publish a page with links to the Twitter and Facebook accounts for the site and the users (members of each expedition) – or at least for the expedition member’s accounts that are “live” at this moment (more will be added later).
Things to let you know about:
- All users / accounts have their own Twitter account
- The “Race For The Pole” account also re-tweets the posts made by the individual accounts
- So, you can either follow individual users/accounts or just follow the twitter account for the main web site.
- There is only one Facebook account – for the site as a whole
- the reason for this is to reduce the numbers of accounts everywhere
- this makes it easier for you to follow what’s going on
- and makes it easier for me to administer
The “Follow Us” page is here : Link to “Follow Us” page
If you have any problems or questions please get in touch using the “Contact Us” page.