History of Science: Norwegian explorer wins perilous race to the South Pole while British rival dies along with his crew — December 14, 1911

In 1910, a fierce competition began between Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen and British sea captain Robert Falcon Scott. Each explorer wanted to be the first to reach the geographic South Pole and thereby conquer Earth’s last unexplored continent. The race was destined to end in tragedy.

Scott had previously attempted to conquer the southernmost tip of the continent in 1902, but had to turn back due to poor health and unfavorable temperatures. The crew, most of whom were recently returned from Ernest Shackleton’s Nimrod, set sail from Cardiff, Wales on 15 June 1910.

Amundsen, on the other hand, played his cards close to the vest. He also wanted to be the first to reach the Pole, which he initially aimed for. In 1909, after Matthew Henson, Robert Peary, and four Inuit assistants defeated him, he secretly changed his plans.

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Amundsen left Norway on August 9, 1910 aboard the Fram. Fram had previously been used on two important expeditions. One drifted over the Arctic Ocean, and the other explored what is now Nunavut, Canada. Amundsen kept his plans a secret from all but three of his crew until they arrived on the Portuguese island of Madeira in September.

At that point he told his crew and sent a message to his rival. According to the Antarctic Heritage Trust, he sent a telegram to Scott saying: “Please rest to inform me that the Fram is heading to the South Pole. Amundsen.” This message awaited Scott when he arrived in Melbourne, Australia in October.

By early 1911, Scott had established a base in McMurdo Bay, while Amundsen had entered Whale’s Bay and established a base at Framheim on the Ross Ice Shelf. This brought Amundsen decisively 60 miles (100 kilometers) geographically closer to the South Pole.

After initial exploration efforts failed, Amundsen returned to Framheim and regrouped. He split his team and one group set out for the South Pole while the other group explored another region. On October 21, Amundsen and his crew, Olaf Bjerland, Oskar Wisting, Helmer Hansen, and Sverre Hassell, set out from Framheim in four sleds each pulled by 13 dogs.

At 3pm local time on December 14th, Amundsen shouted “Stop!”

Believing they had reached the South Pole, they immediately pitched their tents and raised the Norwegian flag.

Scott arrived 35 days later and found Amundsen’s tent and the Norwegian flag. He and his crew perish on the return trip from starvation, dehydration, and exposure to extreme cold.

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In his last diary entry on March 29, Scott wrote, “I don’t think I could hope for anything better right now. I intend to see it through to the end, but of course my strength is declining and the end won’t be far off. I’m afraid I can’t write any more.” The next resupply point was only 11 miles (17 km) away. Their bodies were discovered in November 1912.

Why did Amundsen’s crew succeed while Scott did not? A few details could make the difference. Amundsen took a shorter route over the Axel Glacier. He also dressed his crew in traditional Inuit costumes, whereas Scott’s team wore woolen clothing. They also ruthlessly reduced the weight of the sled and organized supplies so that they could reach it with minimal exposure to the ruthless temperatures.

Finally, Amundsen planned to shoot and eat sled dogs along the way to supplement their relatively meager rations, and they ate raw penguin meat, which provided vitamin C, essential to prevent scurvy. All of these factors may have helped him arrive earlier and return safely.

Early reports portrayed Scott’s failure as one of incompetence, but recent evidence suggests he may have simply fallen prey to unusually harsh weather, and possibly crew misconduct. A 2017 article in the journal Polar Record suggested that crew member Edward Evans may have contributed to the team’s failure by ingesting more than his fair share of food and leaving it short in the main warehouse. It is also possible that he failed to give orders such as deploying the dog sled at a critical moment, which may have led to the team’s collapse.

Just a few years later, Shackleton took the helm of the Endurance as part of an attempt to cross the coldest continent on foot. This attempt famously failed. The ship sank and the crew was stranded on Elephant Island. Incredibly, however, the entire crew survived for four months and were rescued in August 1916, after Shackleton had set off to find help.

Currently, Antarctica is home to the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, as well as the IceCube Neutrino Observatory and the South Pole Telescope.