For the unknown Antarctic continent, without any maps, data and previous experience, it is a very dangerous move to venture closer to the South Pole. However, this still does not stop the first people who want to reach the South Pole, they have only courage and faith. Then the first expedition to the South Pole, all of whom were killed, left a diary of everything they encountered.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="607" > the South Pole Race</h1>
In 1911, a crazy Antarctic expedition began, their purpose was to reach the deepest part of the Antarctic - the South Pole, a team led by the British explorer Robert E. Lee. Robert Falcon Scott, a British naval officer and polar explorer, traveled to the Antarctic continent from 1900 onwards, leading an expedition to discover the Antarctic plateau and accumulating a wealth of experience.
Robert. Scott
After a decade of exploration, he decided to advance to the most dangerous part of antarctica.
In 1910, Scott began his second Antarctic expedition, this time with the goal of becoming the first person to reach the South Pole and hoping to bring back the fossil of tongue and sheep's tooth (a seed of extinction) from the Antarctic continent to confirm the continental drift theory.
But he found that this time he had a competitor, the Norwegian Roald. Amundsen, Amundsen is a Norwegian polar explorer, he has also participated in Antarctic exploration before, and he originally planned to explore the North Pole, but when raising funds, two Americans announced that they had reached the North Pole, so that his funds were difficult to raise, so he changed the expedition plan, and no one had landed on the South Pole, so there was a competition with Scott.
Roald. Amundsen
On this side, Scott was nervously preparing expedition supplies, and he decided to advance in the Antarctic using sled dogs, horses and tractors supplemented by human towing. Scott chose the Siberian pony, and he thought that someone had used this horse in the Arctic before, but he did not decompose the horse, and the final results showed that the horse's physique was not suitable for the extreme low temperature of the Antarctic.
Siberian pony
Antarctica is different from most other parts of the earth in that there are only two seasons a year, with April-October being the cold season and November-March being the warm season, so it is most appropriate to travel to Antarctica during the warm season.
Scott Expedition's food, including biscuits, cocoa powder, tea, butter, sugar
Scott and his plan were to depart from England in June 1911, and after a five-month voyage, they reached the South Pole in November, just in time for the warm season in the South Pole. However, Scott's expedition came with a number of problems from the beginning.
When their expedition ship arrived in New Zealand, it was trapped by ice floes off the Antarctic for 20 days, which cost them a lot of supplies, and when they arrived at the predetermined location in Antarctica, one of the tractors fell into the sea while unloading. And by this time Scott had heard that Amundsen's expedition had set up camp in Walvis Bay, 320 kilometers away, ready to go.
The news made Scott and his expedition members nervous, which was destined not to be a normal expedition, but full of competitive flavors.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="607" > heading towards the South Pole</h1>
2 days after Scott and his party reached the Antarctic continent, they set off to catch up. With 16 men, 22 sled dogs and 10 Siberian horses in their party, Scott was a very serious explorer who calculated exactly how much supplies the 16 men needed to consume per day, how many kilometers they needed to travel each day, all down to each person per day.
Scott's plan was that the 16-man team would leave a portion of the men and supplies behind each time they reached a certain location, advance in a section, and finally select only 4 people to join him and storm the final South Pole, but Scott did not announce the list of the 4 men at the beginning in order to keep everyone the firmest faith.
Two weeks later, they advanced 240 kilometers to reach the first predetermined location, a place called the "One Ton Warehouse", which was the place where the previous expedition team specialized in replenishing supplies, where as much as a ton of supplies remained, and this location would also serve as a supply point for their return, and then, 5 of the 16 people stayed behind as a pick-up for their return journey.
A ton warehouse
After that, they had to cross the Ross Ice Shelf, a huge triangular ice shelf about 800 kilometers wide and about 970 kilometers inland, a huge piece of ice floes that was the size of French territory.
The red arrow is the Ross Ice Shelf
Huge Rose ice shelf
After crossing the Ross Ice Shelf, they also had to cross a 3,500-kilometer-long, 4,000-meter-high trans-Antarctic Mountain Range, and then advance another 400 kilometers to reach the South Pole.
The red arrow points to the Transverse Antarctic Mountains
Transverse the Antarctic Mountains
Thus, together with the return journey, their total mileage reached a staggering 2600 km, equivalent to the distance from London to Moscow, and Scott's expedition was funded by the Royal Geographical Society of The United Kingdom, and they not only had to reach the South Pole, but also carried out a lot of scientific expeditions along the way, while the other team of Amundsen Expeditions, the mission was much simpler, that is, to conquer the South Pole.
In this way, Scott was under great pressure to compete for the first to reach the South Pole, but also to complete the scientific expedition, not to mention that he was also an extremely rigorous person.
Scott, who hit the South Pole
In addition, they had to return to their station at the end of March of the following year, otherwise the arrival of the cold Antarctic season would be very dangerous.
When they spent two months crossing the Ross Ice Shelf and coming to the huge trans-Antarctic Mountains, the Siberian horses could not stand the low temperature of the Antarctic at this time, and they were all gone, they killed the horses as a supplement for food, while the sled dogs and 3 people, carrying some of the rock specimens collected on the road, returned to a ton warehouse together.
Only 8 people were left, and since the sled dogs had to pull back the collected rock specimens, they had to move forward by hand, and the 8 of them divided into two teams, pushing two 300 kg sleds, and struggling in the snow.
Fortunately, the warm season in Antarctica at this time kept them at the speed they should have, and after crossing the trans-mountain range, Scott finally selected the four team members who finally attacked the South Pole, and the remaining three returned to the "one-ton warehouse" to join the people there.
At the one-ton base waiting for Scott as they returned from the team
The three members watched Scott and the 5 of them leave for the remaining 400 kilometers, no one knowing what else awaited them.
The last sprinter
Scott left some supplies and marked them with stones for each established route, which would reduce the weight of their luggage and, on their way back, they would be supplied, they would use strictly prescribed rations, they would get closer to the South Pole, the weather was as good as ever, and there was hardly any snowstorm, and just like that, 67 days later, on January 17, 1912, they arrived at a place they had never been to before, the South Pole.
The Scott four reached the South Pole
However, they were surprised to find that there was a tent at the South Pole with a Norwegian flag on it, and it turned out that the Amundsen expedition had reached the South Pole a month before them, which made Scott and them very disappointed.
Scott planted the British flag at the South Pole, rested for 2 days, and began the 1300-kilometer long return journey.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="607" > fatal return journey</h1>
Scott wrote in his diary on the first day of the return trip, "This return trip will probably be very tiring and boring", and the return trip is like the descent after the snowy mountain is not easier than when it came, and with it, obviously, this time, it is still the warm season in Antarctica, but the weather seems to be getting colder.
Start your return journey
On January 27, Scott wrote that the blizzard came earlier than usual, and God was joking with us, that it was flat when we came, that when we went back, we had to go through the deep snow ditch, and the search for the way back became extremely difficult, and we felt more and more hungry, but we did not dare to eat too much food, because if we did not rush to the next supply point, we did not expect to be able to really eat a full meal.
On Feb. 1, Scott wrote that we spent most of the day trekking, and today we walked from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., and we were still walking because the blizzard was getting bigger and bigger, and we were going to cross the mountains as quickly as possible, and we had 8 days of rations, and at the current rate, to reach the next supply point, it was no problem, but Evans (a member of the team) had a frostbite on his finger.
On February 17, we finally crossed the mountains and found a supply point, but Evans's physical strength was getting worse and worse, although he still said that he was all right, but we used skis and carried the sleigh in front, and he couldn't keep up behind, and finally we had to stop and wait for him.
At noon we were cooking, but before we could see Evans follow, we stood on a high place and found him far away from us, motionless, and we hurried back to him and found that his skis were lost, his shoes were gone, his gloves were gone, he fell weakly, completely frozen, I asked him what had happened, he said he had fallen, and we pulled him down the tent with a sleigh.
By night, he had fallen asleep and never woke up, and we had lost a heroic member of the team.
On February 22nd, I didn't feel very good, the weather was very abnormal, it seemed to be colder than winter, the blizzard became unusually violent, in this environment, it was difficult to discern the direction, the sleigh became more and more difficult, we decided to stop moving forward, wait for the blizzard to pass, in the evening, we drank a soup made of horse meat, delicious and delicious, really doubling and energetic, this is the most satisfying meal we have eaten since we returned.
Reach one of the supply points
Even if the situation is getting worse, Scott they did not, reduce the weight of the sled, the sled also has rock specimens collected near the South Pole, they did not lose them in order to increase, the chance of their own survival, you know, at this time less than a kilogram of weight, can increase their probability of survival.
A large part of the weight in the sled comes from rock specimens
February 26, 4 days, the snowstorm is blowing non-stop, we can't wait, we have to go, this weather socks and clothes can't dry at all, we set off with cold feet, the next supply station is expected, there are 90 kilometers, we have to plan the rations very precisely, and the day of hunger is about to start again.
On March 17, we arrived at a supply point and there were still 670 kilometers to go, but Oates (a member of the team) felt that he was about to die, we used a sleigh to pull him, walked for several days, after dinner, Oates suddenly said to us, to go outside, maybe a little longer, I had a bad premonition, but I expected his body, did not allow him to go too far, but half an hour later, he did not come back, we went out to look for him, and we could not find him again.
The worst result came, and Oates voluntarily disappeared in order not to drag us down.
On March 19th, we walked dozens of kilometers, but did not find the predetermined supply point, the blizzard was too big, the weather was extremely cold, we could not move forward, there was only a little food left, and our only hope of survival was the blizzard, stopping before we ran out of food.
On March 29, a full ten days, the blizzard not only did not stop, but also became more and more violent, Scott and the 3 of them, on this day to consume the last bit of food, and the Antarctic temperature reached in March, the lowest ever, close to -50 degrees Celsius, Scott and two other team members died one after another, the rescue team according to the location of the 3 of them, believed that Scott persisted until the end to die, because he had to record all this in his diary.
Scott and their last tent, on the right was a sleigh made of marks
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="607" > the final diary</h1>
Scott's diary of March 29 is nothing more than his last words, he wrote, we are taking risks, we know it, the sky is not the way to complain, we can only persist until the end, if we survive, I will tell the world how determined, enterprising, and brave my companions are, so as to inspire everyone, our remains and these diaries, will tell our stories.
Scott also left a suicide note to her wife, who wrote, "Honey, it's really too cold here, colder than I describe with you, I can barely write, except for the sheltered tent, we have nothing, the wind is still howling, but all that I can tell you about this expedition is that it is many times better than staying at home!
Scott and his wife
But the worst part is that I can't see you again, it's inevitable, I can only face it, if you can meet the right man, then you should get out of the sadness and start a new life, for Peter (3-year-old son), I hope he will love nature in the future, like the outdoors, hope that God will bless my family, the recipient wrote, "My widow".
6 months later, the rescue team found Scott in their tent, and three corpses that had long since frozen, and found on Scott, these diaries and letters, and in the tent there was Scott they, the 17 kilograms they had brought back on the journey, plant fossil specimens, even though they had completely exhausted their physical strength, and had not forgotten to bring these stones back.
Scott brought back a specimen of the Antarctic rock
Their last encampment was only 17 kilometers from a ton warehouse, but bad weather hindered them, and they completed this last distance, and they had already walked 1100 kilometers in extremely cold weather.
Later, in order to commemorate, Scott and Amundsen, in 1957, the United States set up a scientific research station in the South Pole Center called Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station to commemorate these two explorers who first launched an attack on the South Pole.
Amundsen-Scott Station
Many scholars believe that the reason for Scott's failure, in addition to bad weather, is that he mistakenly used Siberian ponies, which although they can pull more goods than sled dogs, but they can't stand the low temperature of antarctica, which caused Scott to have to use human labor, but from Scott's move to bring back more than a dozen kilograms of rock specimens until their deaths, the reason for his choice of these Siberian ponies is obvious, that is, he not only has to conquer the South Pole, but also as much as possible. Completing the scientific expedition, they exhausted their lives and successfully brought back the rock specimens.
In this sense, their Antarctic expedition was more successful and worthy of awe than Amundsen's team.
In many adventures in human history, many people have first used their lives to open up a hot land for future generations, and their spirit is one of the most precious qualities of human beings.
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