The discovery of the South Pole - the centuries-old dream of polar explorers - at its final stage in the summer of 1912, took on the character of a tense competition between the expeditions of two states - Norway and Great Britain. For the first it ended in triumph, for others - in tragedy. But, despite this, the great travelers Roald Amundsen and Robert Scott who led them entered the history of the development of the sixth continent forever.
First explorers of the south polar latitudes
The conquest of the South Pole began back in those years when people only vaguely guessed that somewhere on the edge of the Southern Hemisphere there should be land. The first of the navigators who managed to approach it was Amerigo Vespucci, who sailed in the South Atlantic and in 1501 reached the fiftieth latitude.
It was an era when great geographical discoveries were made. Briefly describing his stay in these previously inaccessible latitudes (Vespucci was not only a navigator, but also a scientist), he continued his journey to the shores of a new, recently discovered continent - America - bearingtoday is his name.
The planned study of the southern latitudes in the hope of finding an unknown land almost three centuries later undertook the famous Englishman James Cook. He managed to get even closer to it, while reaching the seventy-second parallel, but Antarctic icebergs and floating ice prevented his further progress to the south.
Discovery of the sixth continent
Antarctica, the South Pole, and most importantly, the right to be called the discoverer and pioneer of the ice-bound lands and the fame associated with this circumstance haunted many. Throughout the 19th century there were incessant attempts to conquer the sixth continent. They were attended by our navigators Mikhail Lazarev and Thaddeus Bellingshausen, who were sent by the Russian Geographical Society, the Englishman Clark Ross, who reached the 78th parallel, as well as a number of German, French and Swedish researchers. These enterprises were crowned with success only at the end of the century, when the Australian Johann Bull had the honor of being the first to set foot on the shore of hitherto unknown Antarctica.
From that moment on, not only scientists rushed to the Antarctic waters, but also whalers, for whom the cold seas represented a wide fishing area. Year after year, the coast was developed, the first research stations appeared, but the South Pole (its mathematical point) still remained inaccessible. In this context, the question arose with extraordinary urgency: who will be able to get ahead of competitors and whose national flag will be the first to fly on the southerntip of the planet?
Race to the South Pole
At the beginning of the 20th century, attempts were repeatedly made to conquer the impregnable corner of the Earth, and each time the polar explorers managed to get closer to it. The climax came in October 1911, when the ships of two expeditions at once - the British, led by Robert Falcon Scott, and the Norwegian, led by Roald Amundsen (the South Pole was an old and cherished dream for him), almost simultaneously headed for the coast of Antarctica. Only a few hundred miles separated them.
It is curious that at first the Norwegian expedition was not going to storm the South Pole. Amundsen and his crew members were on their way to the Arctic. It was the northern tip of the Earth that was listed in the plans of an ambitious navigator. However, on the way, he received a message that the North Pole had already submitted to the Americans - Cook and Piri. Not wanting to lose his prestige, Amundsen abruptly changed course and turned south. In doing so, he challenged the British, and they could not help standing up for the honor of their nation.
His rival Robert Scott, before devoting himself to research, served as an officer in Her Majesty's Navy for a long time and gained sufficient experience in command of battleships and cruisers. After retiring, he spent two years on the coast of Antarctica, taking part in the work of a scientific station. They even made an attempt to break through to the pole, but having advanced a very significant distance in three months, Scott was forced to turn back.
On the eve of the decisive assault
Tactics to achieve the goal inThe peculiar Amundsen-Scott race was different for the teams. The main vehicle of the British were Manchurian horses. Short and hardy, they were the best suited to the conditions of the polar latitudes. But, besides them, travelers also had at their disposal dog teams, traditional in such cases, and even a complete novelty of those years - motor sledges. The Norwegians relied in everything on the proven northern huskies, who had to pull four sleds loaded with equipment all the way.
Both of them had to travel eight hundred miles one way, and the same amount back (if they survive, of course). Ahead of them were glaciers cut by bottomless cracks, terrible frosts, accompanied by snowstorms and blizzards and completely excluding visibility, as well as frostbite, injuries, hunger and all kinds of hardships that were inevitable in such cases. The reward for one of the teams was to be the glory of the discoverers and the right to hoist the flag of their state on the pole. Neither the Norwegians nor the British doubted that the game was worth the candle.
If Robert Scott was more skilled and experienced in navigation, then Amundsen clearly surpassed him as an experienced polar explorer. Decisive crossings to the Pole were preceded by wintering on the Antarctic continent, and the Norwegian managed to choose a much more suitable place for her than his British counterpart. Firstly, their camp was located almost a hundred miles closer to the end point of the journey than the British, and secondly, Amundsen laid out the route from it to the pole in such a way thatmanaged to pass the areas where at this time of the year the most severe frosts and incessant snowstorms and blizzards raged.
Triumph and defeat
Norwegian detachment managed to go all the way and return to the base camp, keeping within the period of the short Antarctic summer. One can only admire the professionalism and brilliance with which Amundsen led his group, withstood with incredible accuracy the schedule he himself compiled. Among the people who trusted him, there were not only deaths, but even those who received any serious injuries.
A completely different fate awaited Scott's expedition. Before the most difficult part of the journey, when one hundred and fifty miles remained to the goal, the last members of the auxiliary group turned back, and five British explorers harnessed themselves to heavy sleds. By this time, all the horses had died, the motor sledges were out of order, and the dogs were simply eaten by the polar explorers themselves - they had to take extreme measures to survive.
Finally, on January 17, 1912, as a result of incredible efforts, they reached the mathematical point of the South Pole, but there a terrible disappointment awaited them. Everything around bore traces of the rivals who had been here in front of them. In the snow, one could see the imprints of sledge runners and dog paws, but the most convincing evidence of their defeat was a tent left between the ice, over which the Norwegian flag fluttered. Alas, they missed the discovery of the South Pole.
Scott wrote about the shock that the members of his group experienced indiary. The terrible disappointment plunged the British into a real shock. They all spent the next night without sleep. They were weighed down by the thought of how they would look into the eyes of those people who, over hundreds of miles of travel across an icy continent, freezing and falling into cracks, helped them reach the last leg of the journey and launch a decisive but unsuccessful assault.
Disaster
However, in spite of everything, it was necessary to gather strength and return. There were eight hundred miles of return journey between life and death. Moving from one intermediate camp with fuel and food to another, the polar explorers lost strength catastrophically. Their situation became more and more hopeless every day. A few days later, death visited the camp for the first time - the youngest of them and seemingly physically strong Edgar Evans died. His body was buried in the snow and covered with heavy ice floes.
The next victim was Lawrence Ots, a dragoon captain who went to the Pole driven by a thirst for adventure. The circumstances of his death are very remarkable - having frostbitten hands and feet and realizing that he was becoming a burden to his comrades, at night he secretly left the place of lodging for the night and went into impenetrable darkness, voluntarily dooming himself to death. His body was never found.
The nearest intermediate camp was only eleven miles away when a sudden blizzard picked up, completely eliminating the possibility of further advance. Three Englishmen found themselves in ice captivity, cut off from the whole world, deprived of food and anyor an opportunity to warm up.
The tent they pitched, of course, could not serve as any kind of reliable shelter. The air temperature outside dropped to -40 oC, respectively, inside, in the absence of a heater, it was not much higher. This insidious March blizzard never let them out of its arms…
Posthumous lines
Six months later, when the tragic outcome of the expedition became obvious, a rescue group was sent in search of the polar explorers. Among the impenetrable ice, she managed to find a snow-covered tent with the bodies of three British explorers - Henry Bowers, Edward Wilson and their commander Robert Scott.
Among the belongings of the dead were found Scott's diaries, and, which struck the rescuers, bags of geological samples collected on the slopes of the rocks protruding from the glacier. Incredibly, the three Englishmen stubbornly continued to drag these stones even when there was little hope of rescue.
In his notes, Robert Scott, having detailed and analyzed the reasons that led to the tragic denouement, highly appreciated the moral and strong-willed qualities of his comrades accompanying him. In conclusion, addressing those in whose hands the diary fell, he asked them to do everything so that his relatives would not be left to the mercy of fate. Dedicating a few farewell lines to his wife, Scott bequeathed to her to make sure that their son received an appropriate education and was able to continue his research activities.
By the waysay, in the future, his son Peter Scott became a famous ecologist who devoted his life to protecting the natural resources of the planet. Born shortly before the day his father went on his last expedition, he lived to a ripe old age and died in 1989.
Public outcry caused by the tragedy
Continuing the story, it should be noted that the competition of two expeditions, which resulted in the discovery of the South Pole for one, and death for the other, had very unexpected consequences. When the celebrations on the occasion of this, of course, important geographical discovery ended, the congratulatory speeches ceased and the applause ceased, the question arose about the moral side of what had happened. There was no doubt that indirectly the cause of the death of the British lay in the deep depression caused by the victory of Amundsen.
Not only in the British, but also in the Norwegian press there were direct accusations against the recently honored winner. A quite reasonable question was raised: did Roald Amundsen, experienced and very experienced in the study of extreme latitudes, have the moral right to draw the ambitious, but lacking the necessary skills, Scott and his comrades into the competitive process? Wouldn't it be more correct to invite him to unite and jointly implement his plan?
The Amundsen Mystery
How Amundsen reacted to this and whether he blamed himself for unwittingly causing the death of his British colleague is a question that has forever remained unanswered. True, many of those who are closeknew the Norwegian explorer, they claimed to have seen clear signs of his mental confusion. In particular, his attempts at public excuses, which were completely uncharacteristic of his proud and somewhat arrogant nature, could serve as evidence of this.
Some biographers tend to see evidence of self-unforgiven guilt in the circumstances of Amundsen's own death. It is known that in the summer of 1928 he went on an Arctic flight, which promised him certain death. The suspicion that he foresaw his own death in advance is caused by the preparations he made. Not only did Amundsen put all his affairs in order and paid off his creditors, he also sold all his property, as if he was not going to go back.
The sixth continent today
One way or another, the discovery of the South Pole was made by him, and no one will take this honor away from him. Today, large-scale scientific research is being carried out at the southern tip of the Earth. At the very spot where the Norwegians once expected triumph, and the British - the greatest disappointment, today is the international polar station "Amundsen-Scott". In its name, these two fearless conquerors of extreme latitudes invisibly united. Thanks to them, the South Pole on the globe is perceived today as something familiar and quite within reach.
In December 1959, an international treaty on Antarctica was concluded, initially signed by twelve states. According to this document, any country has the right to conduct scientific research throughout the continent south of the sixtieth latitude.
Thanks to this, today, numerous research stations in Antarctica are developing the most advanced scientific programs. Today there are more than fifty of them. Scientists have at their disposal not only ground-based means of monitoring the environment, but also aviation and even satellites. The Russian Geographical Society also has its representatives on the sixth continent. Among the existing stations there are veterans such as Bellingshausen and Druzhnaya 4, as well as relatively new ones - Russkaya and Progress. Everything suggests that great geographical discoveries do not stop even today.
A brief story of how brave Norwegian and British travelers, defying danger, strove for their cherished goal, can only in general terms convey all the tension and drama of those events. It is wrong to consider their duel only as a fight of personal ambitions. Undoubtedly, the thirst for discovery and the desire to assert the prestige of one's country, built on true patriotism, played a paramount role in it.
