A polar journey of bad luck and bad choices
CAPTAIN Robert Falcon Scott lay cold, frostbitten and dehydrated in a tent in Antarctica.
He was accompanied by two companions – Edward Wilson and “Birdie” Bowers. Knowing death was near, he lay in his frigid sleeping bag and scrawled final messages to his loved ones, friends and supporters.
“These rough notes and our dead bodies must tell the tale,” he wrote in his Message to the Public.
When the original team of British explorers set out 110 years ago, they hoped to be the first men to reach the South Pole, but when they arrived on January 17, they found that a party led by Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen had beaten them to it. They headed home, disheartened, and hoped they would survive. By the end of March, 1912, all five were dead.
Petty Officer Edgar Evans died from a possible brain injury after he fell into a crevasse on February 17.
Next was Captain Lawrence Oates, who suffered from frostbite as he crossed the Ross Ice Shelf. Scared of holding up the party further, he walked out into the snow on March 17, with the now famous line, “I’m just going outside and may be some time”.
The three remaining men struggled on. On March 21, they camped for the last time. They died on about March 29. They lay, their tent covered by snow and ice, until their bodies were found by a search party in November.
Ultimately, Scott’s death was the result of bad decisions and bad luck. He made choices that left him with a small margin for error. But if his luck had been a little better, he might have survived, and we would probably view the risks he took in more positive terms.
Scott’s cumbersome and complex
transport plans were an underlying cause of the disaster. They involved a team of dogs, 19 Manchurian ponies, and three experimental (and expensive) motor sledges.
Ponies are unsuited to Antarctica. They suffered in the cold weather, which delayed the start of the journey. Worse, many of the animals purchased were old and worn out. Two never reached Antarctica, and six died on a preparatory journey in 1911.
The motor tractors were even more unsuccessful – one sank through the ice when the explorers were unloading. The others broke down near the start of the journey.
Consequently, the British explorers pulled their sledges for much of the way, without help.
This put tremendous strain on their bodies. Modern research suggested the men burnt up to 6 000 calories a day; their rations provided them with only 4 500.
In contrast, Amundsen travelled to the pole with much of the work done by a team of dogs. The men actually gained weight on the return journey.
Another major problem was that the team’s rations were deficient in various nutrients, such as vitamin C.
My previous research has shown this substance had not yet been discovered, and Edwardian understanding of scurvy was very different from today.
Writer Roland Huntford argued that the disease might have killed Scott and his companions. The evidence for this is far from clear cut, however.
Scott and Wilson suffered from scurvy beforehand (and reported their experiences in their published accounts), but neither wrote about it in their diaries leading up to their deaths. Nor did any of the explorers who found Scott’s body mention scurvy symptoms.
Nutritional deficiencies certainly didn’t help Scott, but they probably
weren’t the direct cause of his death.
On his journey south, Scott made decisions that caused further problems. He had originally planned to travel to the pole with three men. At the last minute, he took an extra person – Bowers.
This made the tent cramped and increased the time it took to cook meals. It also caused logistical complications, as all the food supplies had been packed for groups of four. On the other hand, an extra man did add pulling power and meant the party had two navigators.
Scott’s original plans also involved a support party meeting him on the way back. However, due to further last-minute changes of plan, miscommunication, and an array of unforeseen events at base camp, the relief journey was badly delayed.
When a party was sent out, it lacked the supplies or experience to travel as far south as Scott had hoped. If a better equipped party had been sent, it might have made all the difference.
Antarctica is a desert. Almost all water on the continent is frozen. To get a drink, Scott and his companions had to melt ice and snow on their paraffin-burning stove. Fuel supplies were therefore vital for hydration.
To reduce weight, the explorers left much of their fuel in cans in depots on their way to the pole. They planned to get them on their return.
The problem was that the cans leaked because of faulty seals. On the way back from the pole, Scott found that many contained much less fuel than expected.
Without enough water, the explorers became increasingly dehydrated, which hampered their physical and mental performance.
Despite all these issues, some of Scott’s party might have survived. One thing sealed their fate – the weather.
As climate scientist Susan Solomon argued – the polar winter came early in 1912. The explorers experienced far colder temperatures than they expected.
This made it more difficult to pull their sledge (as cold snow produces greater friction) and caused injuries through frostbites.
A final storm on March 21 trapped the team in their tent a few days before they died. Had the weather been different, Scott, Wilson and Bowers might have squeaked through.