Terra Nova Expedition
The Terra Nova Expedition took place between 1910 and 1913. It was led by Robert Falcon Scott and had various scientific and geographical objectives. Scott wanted to be the first to reach the geographic South Pole. He and four companions attained the pole on 17 January 1912. Scott’s entire party of five died on the return journey from the pole. Some of their bodies, journals, and photographs were found by a search party eight months later.
About Terra Nova Expedition in brief
The Terra Nova Expedition took place between 1910 and 1913. It was led by Robert Falcon Scott and had various scientific and geographical objectives. Scott wanted to be the first to reach the geographic South Pole. He and four companions attained the pole on 17 January 1912, where they found that the Norwegian team led by Roald Amundsen had preceded them by 34 days. Scott’s entire party of five died on the return journey from the pole; some of their bodies, journals, and photographs were found by a search party eight months later. For many years after his death, Scott’s status as tragic hero was unchallenged, and few questions were asked about the causes of the disaster which overcame his polar party. In the final quarter of the 20th century the expedition came under closer scrutiny, and more critical views were expressed about its organization and management. The expedition, named after its supply ship, was a private venture, financed by public contributions and a government grant. It had further backing from the Admiralty, which released experienced seamen to the expedition, and from the Royal Geographical Society. An attempted landing and exploration of King Edward VII Land was unsuccessful. A journey to Cape Crozier in June and July 1911 was the first extended sledging journey in the depths of the Antarctic winter. Two non-Royal Navy officers were appointed: Henry Robertson Bowers and Henry Robertson Oates, a wealthy Army captain from the 6th thth century.
To head his scientific programme, Scott also landed two Russians, Dimitri Gerovchenko and Anton Omelchenko, on Victoria Land and the Western Mountains. Other seamen on the expedition included the Antarctic veterans Edgar Evans, Toman Crean and William Lashly, and the shore party of Patrick Keohane and Thomas Forde, who landed on the shore of King Edward VII Land. Scott was the only member of the expedition not to have been a Royal Navy officer. He was the last member of his party to be killed on the journey back to the surface, and was buried in a shallow grave at the base of Cape Crozier. Scott died of a heart attack on the way back to base in November 1912. He is buried in the same grave as his party of polar explorers. Scott is buried alongside his wife, who died in December 1912. Scott and his four companions were the only members of the Terra Nova expedition to have died on their return journey to the Antarctic in 1912. The Discovery expedition had made a significant contribution to Antarcticscientific and geographical knowledge, but in terms of penetration southward had reached only 82° 17′ and had not traversed the Great Ice Barrier. Scott had claimed the McMurdo Sound area as his own \”field of work\”, and Shackleton’s use of the area as a base was in breach of an undertaking he gave Scott. Scott eventually resumed his naval career, but continued to nurse ambitions of returning south, with the conquest of the Pole as his specific target.
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This page is based on the article Terra Nova Expedition published in Wikipedia (as of Dec. 04, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
