The Last Expedition

Description

Centenary of Captain Scott's expedition to the South Pole. This is 'the most gripping story of polar exploration ever written' - Sir Ranulph Fiennes WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY SIR RANULPH FIENNES The Last Expedition is Captain Scott's gripping account of his expedition to the South Pole in 1910-12. It was meant to be a voyage of scientific discovery and a heroic exploration of the last unconquered wilderness. Scott's expedition, carried in the Terra Nova, pitted him and his team not only against the elements but also against the Norwegian explorer, Amundsen. Ultimately, Scott was beaten by both. The journals are full of incident and drama, courage and endurance, hope and bitter disappointment. These journals were found, along with Scott's body, several months after his death and just 11 miles from base camp and safety.

Robert Falcon Scott was born in 1868. He became a naval cadet at the age of 13 and he was made a full lieutenant in the Royal Navy in 1889. The Royal Geographical Society appointed him to command the National Antarctic Expedition of 1901-1904. The expedition set sail on the Discovery and reached further south than anyone before. Scott returned to Britain as a national hero. In 1910 Captain Scott organised a second expedition to sail to the Antarctic on board the Terra Nova. On the 17th January 1912 the party reached the pole, only to find that they had been beaten by the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen. Scott and his companions died on their march back to safety on 29 March 1912.Eight months later, a search party found the tent, the bodies and Scott's journals. The journals were first published in 1913.

The death of Captain Oates ("I am just going outside and may be some time") and Scott's last entry ("For God's sake look after our people") have become the stuff of legend, but what stands out is his skill as a writer. Unlike Amundsen, who simply raced to the South Pole, Scott took a more leisurely, scientific interest in everything he saw, making notes on the "green ghostly light" of dawn, the changeable weather, the blizzards, the penguins, the killer whales, even his own dogs and ponies. He has nothing but praise for his men * Guardian *