Book description
WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY SIR RANULPH FIENNES
The Last Expedition is Captain Scott's gripping account of
his expedition to the South Pole in 1910-12. It was meant to be a
voyage of scientific discovery and a heroic exploration of the last
unconquered wilderness. Scott's expedition, carried in the Terra
Nova, pitted him and his team not only against the elements but
also against the Norwegian explorer, Amundsen. Ultimately, Scott was
beaten by both. The journals are full of incident and drama, courage
and endurance, hope and bitter disappointment.
These journals were found, along with Scott's body, several months
after his death and just 11 miles from base camp and safety.
Robert Falcon Scott was born in 1868. He became a naval cadet at the
age of 13 and he was made a full lieutenant in the Royal Navy in 1889.
The Royal Geographical Society appointed him to command the National
Antarctic Expedition of 1901-1904. The expedition set sail on the
Discovery
and reached further south than anyone before. Scott returned to Britain
as a national hero. In 1910 Captain Scott organised a second expedition
to sail to the Antarctic on board the
Terra Nova
. On the 17th January 1912 the party reached the pole, only to find that
they had been beaten by the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen. Scott and
his companions died on their march back to safety on 29 March 1912.
Eight months later, a search party found the tent, the bodies and
Scott's journals. The journals were first published in 1913.
