Volume 15 , Issue 6

One Hundred Years Ago - 11 February 1913

One hundred years ago today, 11 February 1913, the big headlines news in the New York Tribune, Tuesday, from New York, NY, was the death in the Antarctic of Captain Scott and four of his men. They had attained the South Pole only a year before (1912) after Amundsen and were on return journey when overtaken by a great blizzard. It was reported that they may have starved in the snows.

London, Feb. 11 (1913) -- The tragic news reached London yesterday that Captain Scott, leader of the British Antarctic expedition, and four of his followers perished nearly a year ago while returning to their main base, after successfully reaching the South Pole. The dead are Captain Scott, Dr. Edward A. Wilson, Lieutenant H. R. Bowers, Captain L. E. G Oates, Petty Officer E. Evans, R.N.

The rescue party, which left Cape Evans late in october, reached One Ton depot and found it provisioned and in good order. The party proceeded along the southern route and came upon Scott's tent on November 12. Within lay the bodies of Scott, Wilson and Bowers. No word had been received of the courageous band of explorers since early last year, when he Terra Nova brought the news to New Zealand that Captain Scott and his southern party had left for the final stage of their journey to the pole. It is the Terra Nova which now brings the news of the disaster.

Scott reached the South Pole on January 18, 1912, finding the records left there by Amundsen, the Norwegian explorer, who forestalled him by only thirty-five days. Two months later, when still 155 miles from its main base, the party was struck by a blizzard and all perished.

It was about March 29, 1912, eleven miles form One Ton depot, that the blizzard overwhelmed them. They had suffered greatly from hunger and exposure, and the death of Scott, Bowers and Wilson was virtually due to that. They died soon after the blizzard swept down on the party. Oates had died from exposure a few days earlier. The death of Edgar Evans resulted form a fall on February 17. The other members of the expedition are reported to be in good health.

Casts Gloom Over London

The disaster came as an utter surprise to London and cast a gloom over the community which has been unequalled since the death of King Edward. Such a tragic outcome of a polar expedition has not occurred since the disappearance in the northern seas of Professor Andree, the Swedish explorer, with his two Swedish companions, who left Dane's Island, Spitzbergen, in 1897, and were never afterward heard of.

Lieutenant Evans's Message

The official news came in a brief dispatch from Lieutenant E. R. G. R. Evans, of the royal navy, who was second in command when the expedition started and who now signs as commander of the expedition. The message was signaled from the Terra Nova, returning from the Antarctic regions, while passing Camaru, New Zealand. Gallant attempts were made by the other members of the expedition to succor the ill-fated party, but these were defeated by the severity of the weather conditions and lack of food. It seems practically certain that at least three of the explorers starved to death.

The fact that Petty Officer Evans died from concussion of the brain as early as February 17 seems to indicate an accident, possibly involving the loss of a portion of the equipment. Captain Oates died on March 17, which clearly shows that the party was in dire straits and must have undergone terrible sufferings during the remaining twelve days.

In the annals of plat exploration it is difficult to find any more pathetic story than that which tells the death of Oates. Though badly frostbitten and suffering intense pain, he never complained. On March 16, he was quite unable to travel and went to sleep, hoping not to wake in the morning, as further delay would jeopardize the lives of his comrades. When he woke he simply said, "I am going outside for a while," and thereupon walked out of the tent to meet death in the blizzard. His comrades were unable to dissuade him from dying the death of a hero.   |  View or Add Comments (0 Comments)   |   Receive updates ( subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

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