Disobedient deputy blamed for Antarctic tragedy

For 105 years, Captain Robert Falcon Scott has been blamed for the failure of his Antarctic exhibition and the deaths of himself and his four companions. But perhaps his real fault was to trust a lazy, undermining deputy.

Research suggests it was not the leader’s poor planning that ended the 1912 mission to reach the South Pole. Documents discovered at the University of New South Wales suggest that Scott’s deputy, Lieutenant ‘‘Teddy’’ Evans, should at least share the blame.

Chris Turney, a professor at the university, has found evidence that actions taken by Evans which resulted in the death of the team have been covered up for more than a century.

Evans, who survived the expedition and later became Baron Mountevans, crucially undermined Scott by stealing rations from food depots and failing to pass on orders for a dog sled team that would have brought Scott home safely, Turney claims.

Logs, letters and official correspondence show that there was doubt among Scott and his men about Evans’s capabilities. Letters written by Scott during the expedition show that he saw Evans as ‘‘not at all fitted to be second in command’’, and he promised to ‘‘take some steps concerning this’’.

Scott decided not to take Evans with him all the way to the pole. Instead, he sent him back to base camp with instructions to organise a dog sled team to meet Scott’s group as they returned.

Evans did not follow these orders. He apparently failed to send out the dog sled team, and ate the larger part of the rations set aside at each food cache on the journey back.

‘‘The new documents suggest at the very least appalling leadership on the part of Evans or at worst, deliberate sabotage, resulting in the death of Scott and his four companions,’’ Turney said.

‘‘The documents also show how public records were altered in later accounts of the expedition and why a committee of inquiry into the expedition was rapidly shut down almost before it began.

‘‘For too long, Scott has been held responsible for the death of himself and the men of his party who made the fateful expedition to the South Pole,’’ he said.

‘‘These new documents very different story.’’ tell a

CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY Captain Robert Scott’s ill-fated expedition to the South Pole became one of the great heroic failures of British history.

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS Edward ‘‘Teddy’’ Evans stole rations from food depots and failed to pass on orders, an academic claims.