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SCOTT'S LAST EXPEDITION

IN TWO VOLUMES

VOL. I. BEING THE JOURNALS OF

CAPTAIN R. F. SCOTT, R.N., C.V.O.

VOL. II. BEING THE REPORTS OF THE JOURNEYS AND THE SCIENTIFIC WORK UNDERTAKEN BY DR. E. A. WILSON AND THE SURVIVING MEMBERS OF THE EXPEDITION

ARRANGED BY

LEONARD HUXLEY

WITH A PREFACE BY

SIR CLEMENTS R. MARKHAM, K.C.B., F.R.S.

WITH PHOTOGRAVURE FRONTISPIECES, 6 ORIGINAL SKETCHES IN PHOTOGRAVURE BY DR. E. A. WILSON, 18 COLOURED PLATES (10 FROM DRAWINGS BY DR. WILSON), 260 FULL PAGE AND SMALLER ILLUSTRATIONS FROM PHOTOGRAPHS TAKEN BY HERBERT G. PONTING AND OTHER MEMBERS OF THE EXPEDITION, PANORAMAS AND MAPS

VOLUME I

NEW YORK

1913

PREFACE

Fourteen years ago Robert Falcon Scott was a rising naval officer,able, accomplished, popular, highly thought of by his superiors,and devoted to his noble profession. It was a serious responsibilityto induce him to take up the work of an explorer; yet no man livingcould be found who was so well fitted to command a great AntarcticExpedition. The undertaking was new and unprecedented. The object wasto explore the unknown Antarctic Continent by land. Captain Scottentered upon the enterprise with enthusiasm tempered by prudenceand sound sense. All had to be learnt by a thorough study of thehistory of Arctic travelling, combined with experience of differentconditions in the Antarctic Regions. Scott was the initiator andfounder of Antarctic sledge travelling.

His discoveries were of great importance. The survey and soundingsalong the barrier cliffs, the discovery of King Edward Land, thediscovery of Ross Island and the other volcanic islets, the examinationof the Barrier surface, the discovery of the Victoria Mountains—arange of great height and many hundreds of miles in length, which hadonly before been seen from a distance out at sea—and above all thediscovery of the great ice cap on which the South Pole is situated,by one of the most remarkable polar journeys on record. His small butexcellent scientific staff worked hard and with trained intelligence,their results being recorded in twelve large quarto volumes.

The great discoverer had no intention of losing touch with hisbeloved profession though resolved to complete his Antarcticwork. The exigencies of the naval service called him to the commandof battleships and to confidential work of the Admiralty; so thatfive years elapsed before he could resume his Antarctic labours.

The object of Captain Scott's second expedition was mainly scientific,to complete and extend his former work in all branches of science. Itwas his ambition that in his ship there should be the most completelyequipped expedition for scientific purposes connected with the polarregions, both as regards men and material, that ever left theseshores. In this he succeeded. He had on board a fuller complementof geologists, one of them especially trained for the study ofphysiography, biologists, physicists, and surveyors than ever beforecomposed the staff of a polar expedition. Thus Captain Sco

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