Robert Falcon Scott

Do you know that Captain Robert Falcon Scott is

a legend of Antarctic Exploration? If not, why not? Probably

because he's more famous for his death and the mistakes

that he made leading up to it, rather than his achievements

and career. Do you know what made his name virtually

inseparable from the history of Antarctic Exploration?

His Life

Robert Falcon Scott was born on 6 June 1868

in Devonport. He became a naval cadet at the age of

13 and served on a lot of Royal Navy ships in the 1880s

and 1890s.

Robert was a famous explorer who travelled to Antarctica, leading a team of 5 adventurers, himself, Edgar Evans, Henry Bowers, Lawrence Oates and Wilson. He got the attention of the Royal Geographical Society, which him in the lead of the National Antarctic Expedition of 1901-1904. The expedition (which included Ernest Shackleton, who later leads another adventure in 1914) reached further south than anyone before them and Scott returned to Britain a national hero. He had caught the exploring bug and began to plan an expedition to be the first one to reach the South Pole: he spent years raising funds for their trip.

Scott went back to to the Antarctic with the ill-fated Terra Nova Expedition of 1910-1912. Where he attempted to be the first man to the South Pole. This trip is often criticised for its poor preparation including taking ponies instead of dogs to haul the sleds through the

snow. Eight months after, a search party rediscovered the tent, the

bodies and Scott's diary. The bodies were buried underneath the

tent, with a cairn of ice and snow to mark the spot. Scott's last diary

entry was on 29th March 1912. He went to Antarctica the second

time because he was in a race between Roald Amundsen and

himself.