Race to the South Pole

Explorers first reached the North Pole in 1909, but reaching the South Pole was to prove to be much more difficult. Antarctica, largely covered in ice experiences the coldest temperatures in the world, made worse by the wind chill factor. To top it off, during the winter months it is dark for a large proportion of the time.

There were two main contenders in the race to the South Pole – the Norwegian Roald Amundsen and Captain Robert Scott from Britain.

Both expedition leaders planned the expedition in different ways. Amundsen spent time preparing in the far north and chose to rely on sled dogs and skis. Scott was more ‘hi-tech’ and chose to use science to aid the expedition. He used green-tinted goggles to combat snow-blindness, skis and a mixture of ponies, dogs, motor sledges and ‘man-hauling’ to reach the Pole. 

The two leaders also had different ideas about diet. Scott’s men would rely on canned meat whereas Amundsen’s men would eat fresh seal meat.

Scott and Amundsen set up base camps on opposite edges of the Ross Ice Shelf. Amundsen left base camp on October 20, 1911, with a party of four and successfully reached the South Pole on 14 December 1911. He raised the Norwegian flag to commemorate the expedition. Amundsen left two letters, one for the King of Norway and the other for Scott. They returned to camp with 11 dogs having started with over 50. They reached Tasmania on 7 March where news of their success reached the rest of the world.

Scott, accompanied by nine men, set off from his camp 11 days later Amundsen. Things went wrong for Scott from the beginning. The motorized sledges broke down and had to be abandoned. Unusually, a series of blizzards then struck and lasted several weeks into December. Scott’s ponies were a poor choice for Antarctic travel as well. Their hooves sank deep into the snow, and the perspiration froze them. Dogs avoided this fate because they pant rather than perspire.

Scott sent his remaining dogs back to base camp along with several members of the expedition. Over the next month, most of the men returned to the camp. Scott’s plan from here on was for the five men remaining to carry all the supplies the rest of the way to the Pole and back. They were lacking in food and fuel so the men lacked the energy they needed to travel 10 miles a day.

On January 17, 1912, the last members of the weary, disappointed British team finally reached the Pole. They saw the Norwegian flag knew they had been beaten to the Pole.

Worse was to come on Scott’s return trip. He and his men did not have enough food or fuel to last the journey. Scott’s markers locating the spots he’d left extra supplies had been covered by snow. The men faced scurvy and frostbite, and trying to find the markers along their route to base camp used up valuable time. One by one members of Scott’s team began to die until no-one was left.

Maps, geological specimens, photographs and diaries were collected from the camp by a search party the following spring.