Robert F. Scott: The Agony at Poleheim #2

Robert Falcon Scott (1868 – 1912)
British explorer and officer in the Royal Navy.

Scott entered navy training school at age 13 and graduated to midshipman. As lieutenant he served in the Caribbean and the Pacific. In 1899 while a torpedo lieutenant he met Sir Clements Markham and applied to lead his National Antarctic Expedition. He had no previous experience in exploration, let alone in a place as treacherous as the Antarctic.

Under Scott, the Discovery expedition, (1901-1904), covered 3100 miles with sledge teams and carried out a significant science program. He set the record for furthest south, (82 degrees), with Shackleton and Wilson. His second, Terra Nova, expedition, (1910-1912), was run on strict navy lines like the first. Scott and four others reached the South Pole on 17 January, 1912 to find that Amundsen had been there a month prior.
Scott was an intelligent and restless man given to self-doubt and vacillation. Devastated physically and mentally, his spirit was crushed when he encountered Amundsen’s black tent at the South Pole.
Scott and all of his Polar party perished on the return journey. Their heroism and Scott's moving diaries eventually created a legend that overshadowed Amundsen's achievement.