Scotts Last Expedition Volume I

Scott's Last Expedition Volume I

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Title: Scott's Last Expedition Volume I
Author: Captain R. F. Scott
Release Date: March 15, 2004 [EBook #11579]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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SCOTT'S LAST EXPEDITION
IN TWO VOLUMES
VOL. I. BEING THE JOURNALS OF
CAPTAIN R. F. SCOTT, R.N., C.V.O.
VOL. II. BEING THE REPORTS OF THE JOURNEYS AND THE
SCIENTIFIC WORK UNDERTAKEN BY DR. E. A. WILSON AND
THE SURVIVING MEMBERS OF THE EXPEDITION
ARRANGED BY
LEONARD HUXLEY
WITH A PREFACE BY
SIR CLEMENTS R. MARKHAM, K.C.B., F.R.S.

WITH PHOTOGRAVURE FRONTISPIECES, 6 ORIGINAL
SKETCHES IN PHOTOGRAVURE BY DR. E. A. WILSON, 18
COLOURED PLATES (10 FROM DRAWINGS BY DR. WILSON),
260 FULL PAGE AND SMALLER ILLUSTRATIONS FROM
PHOTOGRAPHS TAKEN BY HERBERT G. PONTING AND
OTHER MEMBERS OF THE EXPEDITION, PANORAMAS AND
MAPS
VOLUME I
NEW YORK
1913

PREFACE
Fourteen years ago Robert Falcon Scott was a rising naval officer, able,
accomplished, popular, highly thought of by his superiors, and devoted
to his noble profession. It was a serious responsibility to induce him to
take up the work of an explorer; yet no man living could be found who
was so well fitted to command a great Antarctic Expedition. The
undertaking was new and unprecedented. The object was to explore the
unknown Antarctic Continent by land. Captain Scott entered upon the
enterprise with enthusiasm tempered by prudence and sound sense. All
had to be learnt by a thorough study of the history of Arctic travelling,
combined with experience of different conditions in the Antarctic
Regions. Scott was the initiator and founder of Antarctic sledge
travelling.
His discoveries were of great importance. The survey and soundings
along the barrier cliffs, the discovery of King Edward Land, the
discovery of Ross Island and the other volcanic islets, the examination
of the Barrier surface, the discovery of the Victoria Mountains--a range
of great height and many hundreds of miles in length, which had only
before been seen from a distance out at sea--and above all the discovery
of the great ice cap on which the South Pole is situated, by one of the
most remarkable polar journeys on record. His small but excellent
scientific staff worked hard and with trained intelligence, their results
being recorded in twelve large quarto volumes.
The great discoverer had no intention of losing touch with his beloved
profession though resolved to complete his Antarctic work. The
exigencies of the naval service called him to the command of

battleships and to confidential work of the Admiralty; so that five years
elapsed before he could resume his Antarctic labours.
The object of Captain Scott's second expedition was mainly scientific,
to complete and extend his former work in all branches of science. It
was his ambition that in his ship there should be the most completely
equipped expedition for scientific purposes connected with the polar
regions, both as regards men and material, that ever left these shores. In
this he succeeded. He had on board a fuller complement of geologists,
one of them especially trained for the study of physiography, biologists,
physicists, and surveyors than ever before composed the staff of a polar
expedition. Thus Captain Scott's objects were strictly scientific,
including the completion and extension of his former discoveries. The
results will be explained in the second volume of this work. They will
be found to be extensive and important. Never before, in the polar
regions, have meteorological, magnetic and tidal observations been
taken, in one locality, during five years. It was also part of Captain
Scott's plan to reach the South Pole by a long and most arduous journey,
but here again his intention was, if possible, to achieve scientific results
on the way, especially hoping to discover fossils which would throw
light on the former history of the great range of mountains which he
had made known to science.
The principal aim of this great man, for he rightly has his niche among
the polar Dii Majores, was the advancement of knowledge. From all
aspects Scott was among the most remarkable men of our time, and the
vast number of readers of his journal will be deeply impressed with the
beauty of his character. The chief traits which shone forth through his
life were conspicuous in the hour of death. There are few events in
history to be compared, for grandeur