It was 1912, and Captain Robert Falcon Scott was leading a team of intrepid explorers on a mission to claim the prize of being the first to reach the South Pole. Alongside him were two brilliant minds, geologist Thomas Griffith Taylor and meteorologist Charles Wright. They embarked on a journey fraught with unknown dangers, which they faced with a smile and a hunger for discovery.
The expedition used the supply ship Terra Nova to accompany them during the first part of the journey. Because of the ship’s name, Scott’s mission is historically known as the Terra Nova expedition.
Just before setting off on the final leg of the journey to the South Pole, Taylor and Wright captured the spirit of adventure: they posed at the entrance to an ice cave, a symbol of the unknown territories that lay ahead. The stage was thus set for one of the most daring expeditions in the annals of human history.
Although the photograph was taken shortly before the team set off for the South Pole, Taylor and Wright were not among those Scott selected to accompany him on foot for the final 1300 kilometres to the pole. His choices were Chief Scientist Dr Edward Wilson, Lawrence Oates, Henry Bowers and Edgar Evans.
Sadly, this story was not to have a happy ending. Not only had they arrived too late, with the flag of an earlier team already flying at their destination for a month, but the return journey to the rest of the men became a test of endurance and willpower. The team faced blizzards, sub-zero temperatures and rapidly dwindling food supplies. Despite their valiant efforts, all five died just a few kilometres from a supply depot that might have saved their lives.
He sacrificed his life so the other men could continue unhindered.
Edward Evans died near the Beardmore Glacier on 17 February 1912 from a head injury sustained in a fall. Captain Oates was suffering from severe frostbite and walked out into the cold with the words recorded by Scott: "I am just going outside and may be some time..." He sacrificed his life so the other men could continue unhindered.
Some time later, after taking shelter in their tents and writing farewell messages to their families, Scott, Bowers and Wilson must have succumbed to starvation and exposure to the extreme cold.
The final entry in Scott’s diary, dated 29 March 1912, read: “Every day we have been ready to start for our depot 11 miles away, but outside the door of the tent it remains a scene of whirling drift. I do not think we can hope for any better things now. 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. R. Scott. Last entry. For God’s sake look after our people.”
Eight months later, a search expedition discovered the bodies, together with their diaries and photographs. The story of the British Terra Nova expedition to Antarctica thus became one not of defeat, but of courage and sacrifice. The photograph of Taylor and Wright at the entrance to the ice cave remains an icon of adventure and the courage to face the unknown.
