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| Captain Scott centenary: Storm rages around polar explorer's reputation | Captain Scott centenary: Storm rages around polar explorer's reputation |
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| The centenary of the deaths of Captain Robert Falcon Scott and four of his fellow explorers will be marked on Thursday in a commemorative service at St Paul's Cathedral which will draw 2,000 Scott admirers from all over the world. There are dozens of other events and exhibitions marking the loss. A hundred years after their demise on the trek back from the south pole, the story retains remarkable resonance. | The centenary of the deaths of Captain Robert Falcon Scott and four of his fellow explorers will be marked on Thursday in a commemorative service at St Paul's Cathedral which will draw 2,000 Scott admirers from all over the world. There are dozens of other events and exhibitions marking the loss. A hundred years after their demise on the trek back from the south pole, the story retains remarkable resonance. |
| It is not certain that 29 March 1912 is the precise day on which Scott died. The date is chosen because it marks the final entry in his journal. | It is not certain that 29 March 1912 is the precise day on which Scott died. The date is chosen because it marks the final entry in his journal. |
| "Since the 21st," he wrote, "we have had a continuous gale from WSW and SW. We had fuel to make two cups of tea apiece and bare food for two days on the 20th. Every day we have been ready to start for our depot 11 miles away, but outside the door of the tent it remains a scene of whirling drift. I do not think we can hope for any better things now. We shall stick it out to the end, but we are getting weaker, of course, and the end cannot be far. It seems a pity, but I do not think I can write any more." Then, as an addendum: "For God's sake look after our people." | "Since the 21st," he wrote, "we have had a continuous gale from WSW and SW. We had fuel to make two cups of tea apiece and bare food for two days on the 20th. Every day we have been ready to start for our depot 11 miles away, but outside the door of the tent it remains a scene of whirling drift. I do not think we can hope for any better things now. We shall stick it out to the end, but we are getting weaker, of course, and the end cannot be far. It seems a pity, but I do not think I can write any more." Then, as an addendum: "For God's sake look after our people." |
| The journal – and the fact he died – are the principal reasons we remember Scott. As Max Jones, author of The Last Great Quest, explains in his introduction to the Oxford World Classics edition of Scott's Journals, "We do not remember Captain Scott because he was a great explorer, but because he composed the most haunting journal in the history of exploration. Scott carved his name on the nation's psyche by penning a last testament of duty and sacrifice, which would resonate throughout the great war and beyond." | The journal – and the fact he died – are the principal reasons we remember Scott. As Max Jones, author of The Last Great Quest, explains in his introduction to the Oxford World Classics edition of Scott's Journals, "We do not remember Captain Scott because he was a great explorer, but because he composed the most haunting journal in the history of exploration. Scott carved his name on the nation's psyche by penning a last testament of duty and sacrifice, which would resonate throughout the great war and beyond." |
| One man who will not be at St Paul's is Roland Huntford. Indeed, admirers of Scott would be horrified if he were there. It was Huntford who in 1979, in his book Scott and Amundsen, overturned almost 70 years of Scott veneration. For Huntford, a former Scandinavian correspondent for the Observer, the Norwegian Roald Amundsen, who beat Scott to the pole by a month, was a genius; Scott a bungler. | One man who will not be at St Paul's is Roland Huntford. Indeed, admirers of Scott would be horrified if he were there. It was Huntford who in 1979, in his book Scott and Amundsen, overturned almost 70 years of Scott veneration. For Huntford, a former Scandinavian correspondent for the Observer, the Norwegian Roald Amundsen, who beat Scott to the pole by a month, was a genius; Scott a bungler. |
| "When I wrote the book," Huntford says, "Scott was the knight in shining armour and Amundsen was written out of the script. But on every point I found Amundsen coming out on top." | "When I wrote the book," Huntford says, "Scott was the knight in shining armour and Amundsen was written out of the script. But on every point I found Amundsen coming out on top." |
| Despite having won the race, Amundsen had been largely ignored outside Norway; his own diaries, more matter-of-fact than Scott's, had never been published. Worse, he was traduced for not "playing the game". When he attended a dinner at the Royal Geographical Society in London in 1912, the president, Lord Curzon, offered a toast – not to Amundsen, but to his dog teams. | Despite having won the race, Amundsen had been largely ignored outside Norway; his own diaries, more matter-of-fact than Scott's, had never been published. Worse, he was traduced for not "playing the game". When he attended a dinner at the Royal Geographical Society in London in 1912, the president, Lord Curzon, offered a toast – not to Amundsen, but to his dog teams. |
| Edwardian gentlemen like Curzon dismissed Amundsen's achievement as a "dash" to the pole. He had skied and sledged with dogs; Scott and his honourable Englishmen hauled their own sledges (mainly because the motorised sledges they hoped to use didn't work). | Edwardian gentlemen like Curzon dismissed Amundsen's achievement as a "dash" to the pole. He had skied and sledged with dogs; Scott and his honourable Englishmen hauled their own sledges (mainly because the motorised sledges they hoped to use didn't work). |
| Amundsen had just wanted to get there; Scott was collecting scientific specimens as he went. There were 35lb of rock samples in the tent in which the frozen bodies of Scott and his last two companions, Edward Wilson and Henry Bowers, were found almost eight months later. (Edgar Evans had died in mid-February and Lawrence Oates had walked out of the tent into immortality on 17 March.) They had continued to carry the samples despite their desperate state. They had lived and died as Englishmen. | Amundsen had just wanted to get there; Scott was collecting scientific specimens as he went. There were 35lb of rock samples in the tent in which the frozen bodies of Scott and his last two companions, Edward Wilson and Henry Bowers, were found almost eight months later. (Edgar Evans had died in mid-February and Lawrence Oates had walked out of the tent into immortality on 17 March.) They had continued to carry the samples despite their desperate state. They had lived and died as Englishmen. |
| Huntford thought this claptrap. Amundsen hadn't just won the race; he had brought his men back safely. Everything else was sentimental tosh – the sort of tosh Huntford thought undermined Britain throughout the 20th century. "Amundsen wanted to get to the pole, but Scott wanted to be a hero," says Huntford, now in his mid-80s. "Everything had to have a moral purpose. Scott was suffering from the heroic delusion. I took a dislike to him because I thought he personified the kind of third-rater that has got to the top of society here and brought the country to its present state. He was a mediocrity, a very poor leader, and, like many mediocrities, was very jealous." | Huntford thought this claptrap. Amundsen hadn't just won the race; he had brought his men back safely. Everything else was sentimental tosh – the sort of tosh Huntford thought undermined Britain throughout the 20th century. "Amundsen wanted to get to the pole, but Scott wanted to be a hero," says Huntford, now in his mid-80s. "Everything had to have a moral purpose. Scott was suffering from the heroic delusion. I took a dislike to him because I thought he personified the kind of third-rater that has got to the top of society here and brought the country to its present state. He was a mediocrity, a very poor leader, and, like many mediocrities, was very jealous." |
| Huntford believes Wilson and Bowers would have made it back without Scott; Scott had, in effect, willed his own death to ensure a kind of secular sainthood. | Huntford believes Wilson and Bowers would have made it back without Scott; Scott had, in effect, willed his own death to ensure a kind of secular sainthood. |
| Huntford says his debunking of Scott produced "a storm of sentimental rage"; he was threatened with legal action and more than 30 years later is still reviled at the Scott Polar Research Institute in Cambridge, which had been established with the money left over from the appeal launched with royal approval to look after the dependants of the lost men. The fact that Huntford lives in Cambridge adds piquancy. | Huntford says his debunking of Scott produced "a storm of sentimental rage"; he was threatened with legal action and more than 30 years later is still reviled at the Scott Polar Research Institute in Cambridge, which had been established with the money left over from the appeal launched with royal approval to look after the dependants of the lost men. The fact that Huntford lives in Cambridge adds piquancy. |
| Insecure | Insecure |
| Despite official condemnation, the book became a bestseller, was turned into a TV series called The Last Place on Earth, and has never been out of print. It was published at the perfect moment. Deference had been replaced by irreverence; imperial heroes had gone out of fashion; Scott had already been removed from Madame Tussauds as the Beatles and other pop heroes moved in. | Despite official condemnation, the book became a bestseller, was turned into a TV series called The Last Place on Earth, and has never been out of print. It was published at the perfect moment. Deference had been replaced by irreverence; imperial heroes had gone out of fashion; Scott had already been removed from Madame Tussauds as the Beatles and other pop heroes moved in. |
| There was, by the turn of the 20th century, a war for the soul of Scott. Was he hero or villain? Can the real man be unpacked from the layers of myth? Paul Theroux, in his introduction to a US edition of Huntford's book, called Scott "insecure, dark, panicky, humourless, an enigma to his own men, unprepared; and a bungler, but in the spirit of a large-scale bungler, always self-dramatising." The modern-day Antarctic traveller Ranulph Fiennes replied with a biography that defended Scott and labelled Huntford a conspiracy theorist. | There was, by the turn of the 20th century, a war for the soul of Scott. Was he hero or villain? Can the real man be unpacked from the layers of myth? Paul Theroux, in his introduction to a US edition of Huntford's book, called Scott "insecure, dark, panicky, humourless, an enigma to his own men, unprepared; and a bungler, but in the spirit of a large-scale bungler, always self-dramatising." The modern-day Antarctic traveller Ranulph Fiennes replied with a biography that defended Scott and labelled Huntford a conspiracy theorist. |
| Neither of these extreme views is accurate. The truth, as ever, lies somewhere between the two poles. | Neither of these extreme views is accurate. The truth, as ever, lies somewhere between the two poles. |
| "Scott is an Edwardian naval officer and you have to look at him through that filter," says the Royal Geographical Society's Alasdair Macleod. "He showed huge stoicism, and his care for his men is born of his naval training." He was a rather starchy and unimaginative naval officer and an accidental explorer; everything else flows from that. Amundsen was, in Macleod's words, "practically born on skies"; Scott was happiest at sea. | "Scott is an Edwardian naval officer and you have to look at him through that filter," says the Royal Geographical Society's Alasdair Macleod. "He showed huge stoicism, and his care for his men is born of his naval training." He was a rather starchy and unimaginative naval officer and an accidental explorer; everything else flows from that. Amundsen was, in Macleod's words, "practically born on skies"; Scott was happiest at sea. |
| Scott was born in 1868 into a wealthy Devon family with naval connections. He became a naval cadet at 13 and rose gradually through the ranks. He only turned to polar exploration, around the turn of the century, because his path to promotion was blocked. The family money had run out, his father and brother had died, and he needed to support his mother and sisters. | Scott was born in 1868 into a wealthy Devon family with naval connections. He became a naval cadet at 13 and rose gradually through the ranks. He only turned to polar exploration, around the turn of the century, because his path to promotion was blocked. The family money had run out, his father and brother had died, and he needed to support his mother and sisters. |
| He was already an acquaintance of Sir Clements Markham, president of the Royal Geographical Society and de facto overseer of polar exploration, and a chance meeting in a London street when Markham was looking for an officer to head an expedition to the Antarctic led Scott to apply. | He was already an acquaintance of Sir Clements Markham, president of the Royal Geographical Society and de facto overseer of polar exploration, and a chance meeting in a London street when Markham was looking for an officer to head an expedition to the Antarctic led Scott to apply. |
| His expedition of 1901-4 – named after his ship, the Discovery – was deemed a success, though the attempt on the pole by Scott, Wilson and 29-year-old Lieutenant Ernest Shackleton almost got them killed. Scott published an account of the voyage which established him as a national figure, though failed to win him the knighthood he had hoped. He then spent five laboured years raising money – from the government, the RGS, private backers and commercial sponsors – for another expedition before again setting off, this time on the Terra Nova, in June 1910. His team numbered 65, drawn from more than 8,000 applicants. | His expedition of 1901-4 – named after his ship, the Discovery – was deemed a success, though the attempt on the pole by Scott, Wilson and 29-year-old Lieutenant Ernest Shackleton almost got them killed. Scott published an account of the voyage which established him as a national figure, though failed to win him the knighthood he had hoped. He then spent five laboured years raising money – from the government, the RGS, private backers and commercial sponsors – for another expedition before again setting off, this time on the Terra Nova, in June 1910. His team numbered 65, drawn from more than 8,000 applicants. |
| The private Scott is hard to pin down. His face in portraits and photographs is rather blank. Sara Wheeler, author of Terra Incognita: Travels in Antarctica, points to his neuroses. "He's quite neurotic about himself and whether he's going to achieve anything in life," she says. "Doubt is a real hallmark of Scott, and that's quite atypical of figures like him." | The private Scott is hard to pin down. His face in portraits and photographs is rather blank. Sara Wheeler, author of Terra Incognita: Travels in Antarctica, points to his neuroses. "He's quite neurotic about himself and whether he's going to achieve anything in life," she says. "Doubt is a real hallmark of Scott, and that's quite atypical of figures like him." |
| She argues that Scott chose the charismatic, voluble sculptor Kathleen Bruce as his wife – they married in September 1908 and had a son, Peter, a year later – because she was the galvanic force he wasn't and could draw him out of himself. | She argues that Scott chose the charismatic, voluble sculptor Kathleen Bruce as his wife – they married in September 1908 and had a son, Peter, a year later – because she was the galvanic force he wasn't and could draw him out of himself. |
| She also contrasts him with Shackleton, volcanic, Anglo-Irish, far more of an adventurer than Scott. Though no gambler. Shackleton had got to within 97 miles of the south pole on his own expedition in 1909 before turning back as his provisions ran low. "Are you a lion or a donkey?" his wife Emily asked him. "Better a live donkey than a dead lion," Shackleton replied. By 1910 Scott and Shackleton were rivals, and in death Scott was able to out-lionise him. | She also contrasts him with Shackleton, volcanic, Anglo-Irish, far more of an adventurer than Scott. Though no gambler. Shackleton had got to within 97 miles of the south pole on his own expedition in 1909 before turning back as his provisions ran low. "Are you a lion or a donkey?" his wife Emily asked him. "Better a live donkey than a dead lion," Shackleton replied. By 1910 Scott and Shackleton were rivals, and in death Scott was able to out-lionise him. |
| Scott's reputation now lies somewhere between the extremes of Huntford and Fiennes. David Crane's 2005 biography paints a stolid figure, far from at ease with himself but doing a decent job in the most demanding of circumstances. He absolves Scott from blame for the ultimate disaster and, drawing on Susan Solomon's book The Coldest March, prosaically blames the weather, which was 10 to 20 degrees below what was usual for March. "They had been, quite literally, killed by the cold." | Scott's reputation now lies somewhere between the extremes of Huntford and Fiennes. David Crane's 2005 biography paints a stolid figure, far from at ease with himself but doing a decent job in the most demanding of circumstances. He absolves Scott from blame for the ultimate disaster and, drawing on Susan Solomon's book The Coldest March, prosaically blames the weather, which was 10 to 20 degrees below what was usual for March. "They had been, quite literally, killed by the cold." |
| Julian Dowdeswell, director of the Scott Polar Research Institute, emphasises the scientific contribution made by Scott's expeditions. "Scott was not a scientist," Dowdeswell says. "He was a navy man through and through. But we hold the diaries of most of the scientists who were on the expeditions, and if you read those it's clear they respected Scott as an intellect who was engaged with them and wanted to learn about and understand science. He accepted willingly that part of the role he had on the expedition was to enable the science to take place, and he wouldn't compromise that to reach the pole." | Julian Dowdeswell, director of the Scott Polar Research Institute, emphasises the scientific contribution made by Scott's expeditions. "Scott was not a scientist," Dowdeswell says. "He was a navy man through and through. But we hold the diaries of most of the scientists who were on the expeditions, and if you read those it's clear they respected Scott as an intellect who was engaged with them and wanted to learn about and understand science. He accepted willingly that part of the role he had on the expedition was to enable the science to take place, and he wouldn't compromise that to reach the pole." |
| David Barnes, a marine ecologist at the British Antarctic Survey who has used the Scott collection at the Natural History Museum, says it set standards that were not matched until the 1990s. "I regard him as the science pioneer of high Antarctic research," says Barnes. | David Barnes, a marine ecologist at the British Antarctic Survey who has used the Scott collection at the Natural History Museum, says it set standards that were not matched until the 1990s. "I regard him as the science pioneer of high Antarctic research," says Barnes. |
| "Scott died in the service of science," echoes Edward Larson, author of An Empire of Ice: Scott, Shackleton and the Heroic Age of Antarctic Science. "As for beating Amundsen, he never had a chance." | "Scott died in the service of science," echoes Edward Larson, author of An Empire of Ice: Scott, Shackleton and the Heroic Age of Antarctic Science. "As for beating Amundsen, he never had a chance." |
| The bodies of Scott, Wilson and Bowers were left in the tent in which they were found. Oates and Evans were never discovered. The search party who happened on the tent built a cairn of snow around it, and photographed it. That photograph – and the ones found inside the tent of the five exhausted, bleary-eyed men at the pole – came to define the expedition. | The bodies of Scott, Wilson and Bowers were left in the tent in which they were found. Oates and Evans were never discovered. The search party who happened on the tent built a cairn of snow around it, and photographed it. That photograph – and the ones found inside the tent of the five exhausted, bleary-eyed men at the pole – came to define the expedition. |
| The cairn was then abandoned, and its location is now unknown. It is estimated to be under 20-odd metres of impacted snow on the slowly drifting Ross ice shelf. In a couple of centuries the ice which encloses it will slip into the ocean, and Captain Robert Falcon Scott RN will finally get the burial at sea he would have wanted. | The cairn was then abandoned, and its location is now unknown. It is estimated to be under 20-odd metres of impacted snow on the slowly drifting Ross ice shelf. In a couple of centuries the ice which encloses it will slip into the ocean, and Captain Robert Falcon Scott RN will finally get the burial at sea he would have wanted. |
| Pocket profile | |
| Born 6 June 1868 at Stoke Dameral near Devonport in Devon | |
| Career Became a naval cadet at 13. Commanded a torpedo vessel, but turned to polar exploration because his promotion prospects were blocked. Led the Discovery expedition in 1901-4. Was feted on his return, wrote up the expedition in The Voyage of the Discovery, married sculptor Kathleen Bruce in 1908 and had a son the following year. His second expedition, the Terra Nova, sailed in June 1910. The film and photographs of the ill-fated expedition and the posthumous publication of his journals established him as the quintessential British hero until revisionists assailed him in the 1970s. | |
| What he said "Had we lived, I should have had a tale to tell of the hardihood, endurance and courage of my companions which would have stirred the heart of every Englishman. These rough notes and our dead bodies must tell the tale." | |
| What they say "What really interests me is that he turned out to be a fantastic writer. Where did that come from? He wasn't even that much of a reader, and didn't have much education. I don't believe there's such a thing as a natural writer, but if you were going to find an example of somebody who was it would be him." – Sara Wheeler |