Robert Falcon Scott
Robert Falcon Scott
Captain Robert Falcon Scott CVO RNwas a British Royal Navy officer and explorer who led two expeditions to the Antarctic regions: the Discovery Expedition, 1901–1904, and the ill-fated Terra Nova Expedition, 1910–1913. On the first expedition, he set a new southern record by marching to latitude 82°S and discovered the Polar Plateau, on which the South Pole is located. During the second venture, Scott led a party of five which reached the South Pole on 17 January 1912 after Roald...
NationalityBritish
ProfessionExplorer
Date of Birth6 June 1868
The events of the day's march are now becoming so dreary and dispiriting that one longs to forget them when we camp; it is an effort even to record them in a diary.
We shall stick it out to the end, but we are getting weaker of course and the end cannot be far. It seems a pity, but I do not think I can write more. For God's sake, look after our people.
We are showing that Englishmen can still die with a bold spirit, fighting it out to the end.
We are weak, writing is difficult, but for my own sake I do not regret this journey, which has shown that Englishmen can endure hardships, help one another, and meet death with as great a fortitude as ever in the past.
Had we lived I should have had a tale to tell of the hardihood, endurance and courage of my companions which would have stirred the heart of every Englishman. These rough notes and our dead bodies must tell the tale.
Winners are born, Champions are made.
With great care we might have a dog's chance, but no more.
The dog is almost human in its demand for living interest, yet fatally less than human in its inability to foresee.
I may not have proved a great explorer, but we have done the greatest march ever made and come very near to great success.
Hunger and fear are the only realities in dog life: an empty stomach makes a fierce dog.
Keep engaged in the all new popular and fancy, positive side of things!
But take comfort in that I die at peace with the world and myself - not afraid.
But if we have been willing to give our lives to this enterprise, which is for the honour of our country, I appeal to our countrymen to see that those who depend on us are properly cared for.
Certainly dog driving is the most terrible work one has to face in this sort of business.