Captain Robert Falcon Scott, Dr Edward Wilson and Lieutenant Henry Bowers were found in their last camp, on the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica, 100 years ago yesterday (Nov 12th). They had been trying to make their way back through 800 miles of frozen wastes after their successful attempt on the South Pole.
Defined by a potent combination of heroism and tragedy, their expedition has, over the last century, become the stuff of British legend.
The Scott Polar Research Institute is currently attempting to raise £35,000 towards the purchase of one of the few of Captain Scott’s last letters still remaining in private hands. The letter, written to Sir Francis Bridgeman, is one of the most telling; in it Scott wrote, ‘I want to tell you that I was not too old for this job.’
The Institute holds many of Scott’s last letters and those of his companions among its collections and makes them accessible through its Polar Museum.
The book, The Last Letters: the British Antarctic Expedition 1910-13 has been compiled by the collections staff of the Scott Polar Research Institute, at the University of Cambridge, to enable the public to learn more about the contribution made during the “Heroic” age of Polar exploration, 100 years on.
The book’s launch will take place at 6.30pm at the Polar Museum this Thursday, 15 November. The event will be marked by a performance by singer-songwriter Jake Wilson of “All’s Well,” a collection of songs inspired by the Pole Party. Tickets, priced £5 (£3.50 concessions) are available on request by contacting museum@spri.cam.ac.uk. The book is also available from the Polar Museum shop and costs £10.
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Image: This photograph is a composite image made by Ponting to capture the desolation of the Polar Party. It comprises a photograph taken by Ponting of an approaching snow storm on 18 December 1911 and a photograph taken in November 1912 by a member of the search party of the tent in which Scott, Wilson and Bowers died
Credit: Scott Polar Research Institute
Reproduced courtesy of the University of Cambridge
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