Enough !


What do you do when making plans to go on an Antarctic expedition.. Leading men whose life you insist, with discipline, are counting on you.. ???
That the best case senario of sunny days and warm temps will prevail? NO!
That the most normal weather will prevail. At the very least you'll plan.
That the worst weather will kill... *beep* !!!!
His recklessness with other peoples is inexcusible.
Seems to me as per Peter Principle, he "rose to his level of incompetentcy".

Two: That it WASN'T A race to the Pole.
The hell it wasn't.... Some may have forgotten your history.. but times where still tough if you weren't part of the privilege/wealty class.. Kids working in factories, no social services,. etc.. You had to do 'something' to make your mark on the world.
Both Aumundson & Scott still hadn't(at least in there minds) One perhaps more than the other.. Whoever got to the pole first would reap the rewards, prestige.
Hell if it wasn't a race. OF COURSE IT WAS A RACE.

So. CASE CLOSE.

As Bugs use to say 'What a bunch of ma-roons'
Have a nice day

reply

Amundsen told everyone, his own government and sponsors included, that he was sailing for the North Pole. The Fram had been designed and built by Nansen (seasoned Arctic explorer) as a ship specifically intended for sea ice study. It had very little draught and a removeable keel. It would roll horrendously even in slight seas and most of the crew had awful seasickness. It was never built to sail the thousands of miles from Norway to the Antarctic.

Amundsen didn't tell anyone of his change of plans until after Scott had left the UK, too late to change his plans of a major scientific investigation of Ross Island and the surrounding area.

After learning that they had landed on the same side of Antarctica (despite the "gentleman's agreement" that the Ross ice shelf was British territory)Scott knew Amundsen may get to the Pole first. All he could do was hope for the best.

It was never a race. They didn't begin at the same time and Amundsen's sole aim was the Pole at all costs. Scott's aim was an investigation of the region. The Pole was a secondary aim - a huge public relations achievement obviously, but all the same, not the main reason for his expedition.

I got this series recently on DVD and it was better than my memory of it, even though it does take quite a few liberties with Scott's character.
I can heartily recommend Ranulph Fiennes' book on Captain Scott, which attempts to re-dress the balance in favour of Scott as a doomed hero who had an awful lot of bad luck, as opposed to an incompetent fool.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Captain-Scott-Sir-Ranulph-Fiennes/dp/034082699 1

Its origin and purpose, still a total mystery

reply

I would disagree. While it may have not started out as one, but the time Scott found out, HE WAS ALREADY WEEKS AHEAD of Amundson. At that point, it did be come a race, one that Scott was destined to lose, for to many reasons to list here.

Scott, like many military leaders i've met while in the service suffered from his own hubris and the belief that the pole was somehow his already. Not to mention his overloaded ship, undertrained staff, and complte lack of original thought. To die for 90 some mile of uncharted terrain, is so sad when propper planning and sticking to that plan could have brought all his men home alive and not had their deaths wasted on Scotts need for glory and recognition.

reply

[deleted]

Bull. Scott wanted to get to the pole first, that was his entire objective. All his talk about "science" and "discovery" and 'research" was just that, talk, as "gentlemen" didn't engage in such petty endeavours as a "race".

It was all just to make himself appear far nobler than he really was, and to cloak his desires in a more sophisticated package.

reply