14 DECEMBER SPECIAL ISSUE : The Conquest of South Pole (part 2)

Published on 13.12.2011 - General Info

The Norwegian explorer Roald Amudsen decided to lighten the ski-trek still further and to set off with only four men, the two others having the mission of going off to explore Edward VII Land. He arrived first at the South Pole.

14 December 1911 : a first man ever to reach South Pole

Be that as it may, in September 1911, the two men were hard at work, a few hundred kilometres from one another. Finally ready.

After organising numerous secret votes to decide the day of the great departure, Amundsen finally left his base in the Bay of Whales on 08 September with the sole objective of reaching the Pole.

Three days later, because of the intense cold and a thick fog, he turned back without even having reached his first supply depot. At that time, the Norwegian explorer decided to lighten the ski-trek still further and to set off with only four men, the two others having the mission of going off to explore Edward VII Land. This time, the weather conditions were less catastrophic; on 20 October, four sledges, each pulled by 13 huskies, headed off towards the Great South.

Ahead of them there stretched 15,000 unknown kilometres as the crow flies that they had decided to signpost with snowmen every 100 kilometres so that they could more easily recognise the return itinerary. Two weeks later, they reached the last stockpile of rations without let or hindrance, and rested there for 48 hours. The ski-trek was light and the men were sometimes progressing more than 50 kilometres a day! When they had arrived at the foot of the mountain chain that divides the Antarctic in two, they only had another 600 kilometres to cover. The crossing of the Axel Heiberg glacier, which ascends towards the continental plateau at an altitude of more than 3,000 meters, was accomplished in less than a week.

At the top, they slaughtered the dogs that were no longer necessary and the march was resumed, despite temperatures that were dropping from day to day and the blizzard that had started to rage again.

On 08 December, they passed the southernmost record established by Shackleton in 1909 (88°23' South) and were then only 180 kilometres from their goal. Six days later, victory. Their hands frozen, their bodies bruised but transcended by the exploit, they set up a tent inside which Amundsen left a message for Scott and his men.

On 07 March, 1912, after a month-long sea-crossing almost without incident, the Fram arrived in Tasmania; the explorer then sent a cable to his brother asking him to let the entire world know of the great news; the Norwegians had beaten the English by arriving at the South Pole first!

Scott's Dramatic Odyssey

At the same time, March 1912, the worst had not yet arrived for Scott's men. But the expedition had been going wrong for several weeks already. It had been nothing but a chapter of unfortunate accidents.

There was first of all the tactical choice that was mentioned earlier. From the beginning, Scott had opted for a heavy ski-trek. When he left Cape Evans on 01 November 1911, it was a caravan of more than 50 kilometres long that stretched across the ice; the sledges weighed 300 kilograms each. Furthermore, they were pulled by ponies that were getting stuck in the snow up to their underbellies. As they were slowing the expedition down it was decided to slaughter them along the way. There then followed technical setbacks; the air-cooling system of the motorised sledges was not working properly; it was causing numerous breakdowns and inevitable delays. The atmospheric conditions, for their part, were not favourable either for the English explorers; for four days, a frightening gale had been blowing over the expedition making all progress impossible. After which a short period of thaw had made the ground soft and almost impassable. In the first 19 days the caravan had only covered 291 kilometres, or an average of about 15 kilometres a day.

Before attacking the glacier that gave access to the plateau, Scott decided to send the dogs back to base, thereby evidencing a blind obstinacy with consequences that were to be fatal. On 03 January 1912, 65 days after their departure, with the men having to pull the sledges themselves, the team was still 273 kilometres from its goal - Amundsen, for his part, had taken 51 days to cover the same distance! Scott then took the decision to send three men back to base. They were now no more than five to make the final assault on the Pole: Robert Falcon Scott, Birdie Bowers, Titus Oates, Edgar Evans and Bill Wilson.

Despite the various misfortunes, the five men were content finally to be alone and to do battle with the danger. But a hammer blow was going to put a brake on the explorer's new ardour; several days before reaching the top of the mountain chain, they saw the tracks of Amunden's sledges. But even if that did not prove that the Norwegian had reached the Pole, the discovery was difficult to digest. To give up so close to the goal? The men were not minded to. But one can imagine the Englishmen's disappointment on discovering that, on 17 January, after 78 days of progressing over a more than difficult terrain, the Union Jack would not be the first flag to fly at the South Pole. In this saga that was to last for more than 10 years, Scott had arrived 44 days after his Norwegian rival…

In the tent, the expedition leader discovered, in addition to the letter that Amundsen had written to him and an envelope addressed to the King of Norway, some spare clothes and a sextant. Two days later, it was five frustrated men who set off on the return journey. More than 1,500 kilometres of inhuman suffering with the unbearable thought in their heads that the failure, whatever the welcome they received in England, would in perpetuity be stronger than victory. Another race against time had begun. The nightmare was beginning; it was to be a slow agony…

Scott and all team mates died on the way back

Edgar Evans was the first to be a victim - of scurvy and frostbite. When they reached the first stockpile, it was the turn of Titus Oates to see his feet turn black from gangrene. On 17 February, Evans died in his sleep; one month later, Oates went out of the tent like a zombie. Despite the blizzard that was blowing, he said to his comrades that he was going for a little walk. They were never to see him again.

On 17 March, Scott and the two other survivors were approaching the last stockpile of rations; no more than 20 or so short kilometres to cover. But a storm arose and prevented their advance; once again, the men were blocked. The next day, they ran out of fuel. They had practically no more rations either; the trio prepared themselves for the inevitable.

Perhaps they had in mind, beyond the exploit, beyond the failure, the idea that it was preferable for their lives to end with an heroic act of which future generations could be proud. Scott, Wilson and Bowers set up the tent that was to be their shroud one last time; they knew however that they were only 180 kilometres away from Cape Evans !

Eight months later, a patrol coming from the winter quarters in search for the missing men enabled a reconstruction of the last moments of their lives; as Wilson and Bowers were lying quietly in their sleeping bags and the leader was stretched out on top of his, history deduced that Scott died last and, before expiring in turn, he had had the time and the delicacy to take care of his comrades without having had the strength to get back into what could have protected him from the cold for a few moments longer.

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