Discovery Expedition
Encyclopedia : D : DI : DIS : Discovery Expedition
Discovery Expedition (1901 - 1904) Robert Falcon Scott headed this Antarctica expedition, spending two winters on Ross Island and treks to the South Pole.
First season
The RRS Discovery sailed from the UK on August 6, 1901. Amongst the crew were Second Lieutenant Ernest Shackleton, Albert Armitage and Dr. Edward Adrian Wilson. On January 3, 1902, the Discovery crossed the Antarctic Circle and on February 3, 1901, the ship sailed into a bay within the Ross Ice Shelf. The next day Scott ascended eight hundred feet in a hydrogen-filled balloon. In McMurdo Sound, three prefabricated huts were erected on shore to store supplies and scientific equipment; the ship would serve as the men's living quarters.
On November 2, 1901, a team was sent to locate the South Pole. By December 30, 1901, they had reached (82° 17’S), about 350 miles from Hut Point. After they made camp, Scott ordered Shackleton to stay with the dogs, while he and Wilson marched several more miles southward. Stunned that he was not allowed to share the glory of the "furthest-south" record, Shackleton never forgave Scott.
Second season
On October 26, 1903, Scott and his nine-man party marched west from Hut Point toward the mountains of Victoria Land. By mid-November, after a grueling climb up the Ferrar Glacier, they had reached the plateau.
- "Before us lay the unknown...What fascination lies in the word! Could anyone wonder that we determined to push on, be the outlook ever so comfortless?"...Robert Falcon Scott
Scott reached the UK in September 1904. During the following year, he edited his diaries and wrote The Voyage of the Discovery. The 1905 book was a popular and critical success. Shackleton seethed in private because of Scott's portrayal of him as a weak man ordered home. He vowed he would return to Antarctica to finish what Scott had begun: to stand victorious at the South Pole.
See also
Further reading
- Landis, M. (2003). Antarctica: Exploring the Extreme: 400 Years of Adventure. Chicago Review Press. ISBN 1556524803
- Scott, R. (1905). The Voyage of the "Discovery": Scott's First Antarctic Expedition: v. 1. Cooper Square Press. ISBN 0815410794
- Scott, R. (1905). The Voyage of the "Discovery": Scott's First Antarctic Expedition: v. 2. Cooper Square Press. ISBN 0815411510
- Wilson, E. (2001). Discovery Illustrated: Pictures from Captain Scott's First Antarctic Expedition. Reardon Publishing. ISBN 187387748X
External links
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.