One hundred years ago today, during the period known as the “Heroic Age” of polar exploration, Captain Robert Falcon Scott reached the South Pole along with his four companions—Edward Wilson, Edgar Evans, Lawrence Oates and Henry “Birdie” Bowers.
Bowers was a last minute addition to the team, which meant that equipment and rations intended for four were stretched to accommodate five. But the problematic issues with Scott’s expedition began long before that decision.
Used with success by fellow British explorer Ernest Shackleton, Scott had hoped to utilize ponies to haul supplies to the proposed depots along the route he would later take to the pole. However, the Manchurian ponies purchased by the dog expert for Scott’s expedition proved to be of poor quality and ill-suited to Antarctic conditions. One consequence of this was that Scott opted to establish One Ton Depot at 79°29´S, significantly short of the original destination, when the pony transport failed.
A “modern technology” that Scott also chose to employ to transport supplies was the motor sledge. One fell through the ice and sank while being off-loaded. The other two broke down during their foray to the proposed depot point, forcing the motor team to man-haul the load to the site.
Although Scott took dogs with him on this expedition, his previous experience with dogs had not been positive, plus he lacked adequate knowledge about sled dogs. As a result, he never seriously intended to use them in his “race to the pole.” In fact, Scott had, early on, decided to rely on man-hauling for most of the journey—a true test of endurance given the loads each man had to pull and the arduous terrain.
Despite the tremendous achievement in reaching the South Pole, Scott and his team were not the first. The Norwegian explorer, Roald Amundsen and his companions—Olav Olavson Bjaaland, Hilmer Hanssen, Sverre H. Hassel and Oscar Wisting—using skis and dogsleds had arrived at the South Pole on December 14, 2011!
It should be noted that other factors, including unusually low temperatures, affected Scott’s journey. Sick and starving, Scott and two of his companions (Evans and Oates had died earlier) eventually reached what would be their final camp—a location eleven miles short of One Ton Depot, but well past the original site intended for this reserve of supplies. Blizzards prevented them from leaving the tent and all three men died. Their bodies were discovered by a search party in mid-November.
