Dictionary of National Biography, 1927 supplement/Scott, Robert Falcon
SCOTT, ROBERT FALCON (1868–1912), naval officer and Antarctic explorer, was born 6 June 1868 at Devonport, the second son of John Edward Scott, of Outlands, Devonport, by his wife, Hannah, daughter of William Bennett Cuming. His ancestors were of Scots extraction, but the family had lived in Devon for three generations. He was educated at Stoke Damerel and Stubbington House, Fareham, until in 1880 he passed into H.M.S. Britannia. In 1882 he became a midshipman and joined the Boadicea; in 1888 he served as sub-lieutenant in the Spider, and later as lieutenant in the Amphion (1889). He was promoted first lieutenant in 1897. In 1899, having been appointed in the previous year torpedo-lieutenant in the Majestic, flagship of the Channel squadron, he was offered, on the recommendation of Sir Clements Robert Markham [q.v.] and Sir R. Egerton, the command of the National Antarctic expedition. On taking up his duties in the Discovery in 1900 he was promoted commander. The expedition was organized by the Royal Geographical Society and the Royal Society, and although the personnel was drawn largely from the navy, the ship sailed under the merchant flag. The objects of the expedition were the scientific exploration of South Victoria Land and the ice barrier, discovered by Sir James Clark Ross [q.v.] in 1841, and the penetration of the interior of the Antarctic continent.
The Discovery left England in August 1901 and reached the Ross Sea via Lyttelton, New Zealand, in January 1902. A course was made southward along the coast of South Victoria Land and then eastward along the edge of the ice barrier. Ross's ‘appearance of land’ was confirmed by the discovery of King Edward VII Land. The ship returned westward and entered McMurdo Sound, where an anchorage off Hut Point, Ross Island, in lat. 77° 50′ 50″ S., was selected as a suitable place for wintering. This remained the base of the expedition for about two years, since in the following summer the ice failed to break up and liberate the ship. The expedition was excellently staffed and equipped for the varied scientific work which was actively pursued throughout the two years. Of many sledge journeys the two principal were led by Scott. Accompanied by (Sir) Ernest Henry Shackleton and Dr. Edward Adrian Wilson [q.v.] he went south over the barrier along the edge of the plateau to lat. 82° 16′ 33″ S. (30 December 1902), discovering the southward continuation of the South Victoria Land mountain-range and making the southern record. Dog teams were used on the outward journey, but they were little help on the return, which was also made difficult by the serious breakdown of Shackleton and by an outbreak of scurvy which attacked the three men. A year later Scott made a long journey westward over the high plateau of Antarctica to lat. 77° 59′ S., long. 146° 33′ E. This was the first long journey towards the interior of the continent, and it amplified the work done by Lieutenant A. B. Armitage on his pioneer journey to the plateau in the previous season. Other important results of the expedition were the survey of the coast of South Victoria Land, the sounding of the Ross Sea, and investigations into the nature of the barrier and into the structure of the Antarctic continent. The researches in zoology, magnetism, and meteorology were also of great value. The Discovery with its two relief ships, Morning and Terra Nova, returned to New Zealand in April 1904.
Scott had proved his capacity not only as a leader and sledge traveller but as a student of scientific problems and an investigator with sound judgement. On his return from the Antarctic he was promoted captain (1904) and returned to his naval duties. After serving afloat for a few years in command successively of the Victorious, the Essex, and the Bulwark, he became in 1909 naval assistant to the second sea lord of the Admiralty. The same year he announced his plans for a new Antarctic expedition which was to continue the work of the Discovery and to attempt to reach the Pole, following as far as possible the route by which Shackleton had reached lat. 88° 23′ S. in January 1909.
With the financial support of the British and Dominion governments the Terra Nova was able to sail in June 1910. Winter quarters were established at Cape Evans in lat. 77° 38′ 24″ S., 15 statute miles north of the Discovery's old anchorage. Before the Terra Nova returned to New Zealand she made a course eastward to King Edward Land, and discovered Roald Amundsen's Fram, which was landing a wintering party at the Bay of Whales on the ice barrier preparatory to making an attempt on the Pole. This news confirmed the announcement of his plans which Amundsen had made to Scott some months earlier. Scott set out on his southern sledge journey 1 November 1911. Several food and oil-fuel depôts had been laid in the previous autumn, the most southerly being One Ton depôt in lat. 79° 28′ 53″ S., 130 geographical miles from the base. Scott had hoped to put this depôt in lat. 80° S., but the condition of the ponies had compelled him to forgo the last 31 miles. After a few days march the motor sledges broke down beyond repair. This was inconvenient, but reliance was placed chiefly on ponies and dogs, which helped the transport to the foot of the Beardmore glacier. Here the last of the ponies was shot for food and the dogs were sent back with a supporting party (11 December). Depôts for the return journey were established on the outward route. Heavy haulage and fierce blizzards delayed the explorers and extremely low temperatures taxed their endurance. On 4 January 1912, in lat. 86° 32′ S., the last supporting party, consisting of Lieutenant E. R. G. R. Evans, R.N., and two seamen, left Scott to continue his journey to the Pole with Dr. E. A. Wilson, Captain Lawrence Edward Grace Oates [q.v.], Lieutenant H. R. Bowers, R.I.M., and Petty Officer Edgar Evans. In spite of the use of ski, pulling was heavy and progress slow. Temperature frequently fell to -23° F. and never rose as high as zero. On 16 January a flag was sighted, and Scott's anticipation of being forestalled by Amundsen proved true. On 18 January the Pole was reached. In the vicinity was a tent left by Amundsen with a note for Scott. The Norwegians had reached the Pole on 14 December 1911, and left three days later. Subsequent recalculation of Bowers's observations show that the possible error in the determination of the polar position was not more than 30″.
In spite of bad travelling conditions fair progress was made on the return journey till the head of the Beardmore glacier was reached (7 February). Petty Officer Evans, however, was breaking down under the strain, and he died on 17 February. His weakness had entailed dangerous delay. On the barrier temperatures of -30° to -47° F. sorely tried the four men, weak from want of warm food. A shortage of oil in the depôts by evaporation through the stoppers of the tins was a serious and unforseen calamity. Frost-bite made marching slow and painful. By the beginning of March it was a race against time to reach one depôt after another before the party's strength gave out. Progress was frequently interrupted by strong winds. On 17 March Oates, who was too badly frost-bitten to go any further, walked out into a blizzard, hoping by this sacrifice to allow the others to push on to safety. Four days later they camped in lat. 79° 40′ S. eleven miles from One Ton depôt. There seemed to be a faint hope; but a long-continued blizzard put an end to all possibility of advancing. On 29 March Scott made the last entry in his diary: ‘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 any more.’
In accordance with instructions a relief party with dog teams had set out from the base to meet Scott, but was held up by a blizzard at One Ton depôt from 3 to 10 March, when a shortage of dog food compelled a return. Eight months later a search party under Dr. E. L. Atkinson found the tent and the bodies. Scott's diaries, letters, photographs, and message to the public were recovered, as well as the valuable geological specimens from the Beardmore glacier, which, in spite of their weight, had been retained to the end. A snow cairn surmounted by a cross was built over the tent. Some months later a cross to the memory of the five men was erected at Observation Hill on Hut Point, Ross Island.
In addition to the polar journey, much valuable exploration was carried out, together with notable scientific researches. A party, under Lieutenant V. Campbell, unable to land in King Edward Land, was put ashore by the Terra Nova at Cape Adare and was moved in the second year to Terra Nova Bay. In face of great difficulties this party explored the coastal region of South Victoria Land and reached the expedition's main base in safety.
The news of the disaster to Scott and his companions did not reach Europe till February 1913 when the expedition finally returned to New Zealand. The achievement and the heroic end aroused world-wide admiration. A memorial service was held in St. Paul's Cathedral on 14 February, government pensions were awarded to the dependents of those who had perished, and Scott's widow received the rank and precedence of the wife of a K.C.B. A Mansion House fund was opened to commemorate the explorers, and devoted chiefly to the publication of their scientific results and to the foundation of a polar research institute at Cambridge.
Scott received the C.V.O. in 1904, the Polar medal (in that year also), and the gold medals of many British and foreign geographical societies. He also received the honorary degree of D.Sc. from the universities of Cambridge and Manchester. Statues of Scott, the work of Lady Scott, stand in Waterloo Place, London, Portsmouth dockyard, and in Christchurch, New Zealand, and there are busts, also by Lady Scott, at Devonport and Dunedin, New Zealand. There is a portrait plaque in St. Paul's Cathedral. A portrait by D. A. Wehrschmidt (Veresmith), painted in 1905, was deposited on loan in the National Portrait Gallery in 1924. Another portrait, bust size and posthumous, painted by C. Percival Small, was given to the Gallery by Sir Courtauld Thomson in 1914. A third picture, also posthumous, based upon photographs and painted by Harrington Mann, was presented to the house of the Royal Geographical Society by Scott's family.
Scott married in 1908 Kathleen, youngest daughter of Canon Lloyd Bruce, by whom he had one son.
[R. F. Scott, The Voyage of the ‘Discovery’, 1905; L. Huxley, Scott's Last Expedition, 1913; E. R. G. R. Evans, South with Scott, 1921; British Antarctic Expedition (Terra Nova), 1910–1913: Scientific Results, 1914; Geographical Journal, 1902–1913, passim; Journal of the Royal United Services Institution, March 1913; private information.]