The Diary of Robert Falcon Scott
Captain Robert Falcon Scott is regarded as one of Britain’s greatest, and bravest, explorers. However, by his own standards, his most famous expedition was something of a failure. Along with his team of select individuals, ‘Scott of the Antarctic’ aimed to be the first man to reach the South Pole. However, he was beaten to it by a matter of days and was then forced to make the ultimately fatal journey back from the Pole. Scott kept a diary throughout, even documenting the tragic demise of his team and himself.
Scott and his team finally reached the South Pole on 17 January 1912. When they got there, however, they learned that their rivals, the Norwegian team led by Roald Amundsen, had beaten them by just one month. After reaching their goal, the Britons had to make the perilous journey back to their base camp. It was, as Scott’s diaries reveal, a dangerous journey, beset with danger, and the team were hit by a series of misfortunes. With the typical understated manner of an upper-class English gentleman, Scott notes how Edgar Evans died of a fatal concussion. More famously, the diary also records the death of Captain Oakes. It notes how Oates, fearful he was becoming a burden to his colleagues, left the camp of his own accord, walking to his death. His final, heroic words, recorded for posterity in Scott’s journal, “I may be some time,” have become the stuff of legend in Britain.
Scott’s diaries become increasingly gloomy by day. Finally, when the remaining members of the team are caught in a severe blizzard some 11 miles from their next supply dump, Scott evidently came to the conclusion that they were all destined to never make it back to England. Famously, however, Scott’s final diary entry is not about him. Rather, with the threat of war looming in Europe, he expresses his concern for his country. “For God’s sake, look after our people,” he wrote. After that, the diary pages are empty.
A rescue team finally found Scott’s final camp, recovering the team’s bodies as well as the famous diaries. The diaries are now held by the British Library, though they have been reproduced and published many times over the decades. As well as providing an insider account of one of the most famous journeys in history, they are also a testament to camaraderie and, above all, to bravery.