Scotland and the Antarctic

Section 3: Scott, Shackleton and Amundsen ... Scott's journey to the South Pole

The fatal journey

On 1 November 1911 the British expedition set off on the 1,300km (800-mile) journey to the South Pole. On 4 January 1912 Scott chose his team for the last part of the journey to the pole (Evans, Bowers, Wilson and Oates) and the rest of the support team turned back. At this time they were man-hauling the sledge.

On 16 January, 16km (10 miles) from the pole, they crossed the marks of sledges, skis and dogs left by Amundsen's party. The five men marched on to the pole downhearted, where they found a tent left by Amundsen with some equipment. Scott was to comment 'Great God, this is an awful place'.

The party set off for the return journey suffering from the cold and - most of them - from frostbite. The return journey was truly awful with temperatures far colder than expected at that time of year. Poor snow conditions and frequent blizzards meant that progress was very slow.

Evans had cut his hand on the way to the pole and this had turned gangrenous. He was also suffering from scurvy. On the way down the Beardmore Glacier he fell and injured his head - and was to die a few days later. On 17 March they had been trapped in the tent for a day by a blizzard. Oates, who had been suffering from frostbite and felt he could not go on, said 'I'm just going outside and may be some time'. He was never seen again.

Further marches were made, but on 21 March, 18km (11 miles) from 'One Ton Depot', they were again held up by blizzards which continued for several days. They ran out of food and fuel for the stove and were never to leave the tent again. The threesome were 210km (130 miles) from their base camp.

The most amazing thing in those few days was that Scott, who was now in a far worse physical state than Bowers or Wilson, wrote a whole series of letters: to his wife, to his friend the author James Barrie, to the families of the men who came with him to the pole and to others who had helped the expedition. He included a report on the failure to reach home base and blamed it mainly on bad luck and the atrocious weather.

It is believed Scott died on 29 March 1912. A search party found their bodies almost eight months later, on 12 November, and the news did not reach Britain until early in 1913. A party had gone south looking for Scott in March 1912 but after a four-day stay at 'One Ton Depot' they had returned to Cape Evans. Scott at that time was 100km (60 miles) from the depot.