Brave gentleman, gallant comrade, thoughtful of others even at the
end,--so died Captain Robert F. Scott, conqueror of the Antarctic, and
yet conquered by it. And no less credit is due his four companions, who
perished courageously in one of the greatest polar tragedies the world
has ever known. Robert Falcon Scott was born at Outlands, Davenport,
England, in 1868. He entered the navy at the age of fourteen. In
1900-1904 he commanded the Discovery, and besides making a new
“farthest south” record added greatly to scientific knowledge regarding
the Antarctic region. He was promoted to captain, and in 1910 was given
command of the ill-fated expedition on which he lost his life.
With four companions, Captain Scott on the final dash for the Pole left
his main party in camp at Cape Evans, the base of operations on McMurdo
Sound. On January 17, 1912, the South Pole was reached at last; but
they found to their great amazement that they had been preceded by over
a month by Amundsen and his party, who attained the Pole on December
14, 1911. The calculations of the two expeditions located the Pole on
nearly the same spot.
Then Scott and his comrades began the return, which ended so
tragically. Ill luck seemed to hover over them always. First Edgar
Evans died as the result of a fall in which he received concussion
of the brain. This tragedy left the remaining members of the party
terribly shaken. Then Captain R. E. G. Oates, a military officer who
had special charge of the ponies and dogs, became sick.
This slowed up the others, and fuel and food began to run low. Finally,
on March 17, Oates became too sick to go on in the face of a raging
blizzard. Although he begged them to push on and leave him, the other
three bravely refused, when they knew that to remain was death to all.
And then Oates coolly did that which will place his name high among
the heroes of all time. Deliberately he walked away from camp in the
swirling snow to death. His body was never found; but this inscription
was erected to his memory:
Hereabout died
A Very Gallant Gentleman
Capt. R. E. G. Oates
Inniskillen Dragoons,
who on the return from the Pole in March, 1912, willingly
walked to his death in a blizzard to try and save his comrades
beset by hardship.
Only eleven miles from food and shelter, the blizzard held the others
imprisoned, and there they died. Their bodies and records were
recovered on November 12 by a relief expedition from Cape Evans. Dr.
Edward A. Wilson, chief of the scientific staff of the expedition,
and Lieutenant H. R. Bowers, had died with Captain Scott. The burial
service was read over the graves of the dead, and a cairn and a cross
with their names was erected.
Captain Scott’s last message, written at the door of death on March
25, 1912, shows the calm and uncomplaining heroism of the man,
especially one passage:
“For my own sake I do not regret this journey, which has shown that
Englishmen can endure hardships, help one another, and meet death with
as great fortitude as ever in the past. We took risks. We knew we took
them. Things have come out against us, and therefore we have no cause
for complaint; but bow to the will of Providence, determined still to
do our best to the last.”