Robert Falcon Scott is a well-known person around these parts for the role that he played in the exploration of the Antarctic region and perhaps most famously for his fatal attempt on the South Pole. Scott was an Englishman and served in the Royal Navy for 18 years before being chosen as the leader of a joint Royal Society and Royal Geographical Society Antarctic expedition—to be known as the British National Antarctic Expedition. Scott's ship that he would command during this expedition was the "Discovery" and was built especially for this expedition—a wooden sailing ship with engines and came in at 172 feet long, 34 feet wide and was 485 tons unladed. The Discovery Expedition left Dundee, Scotland (where the ship had been built) on July 31, 1901 sailing south to Antarctica. It would be another 192 days before Discovery sailed into Ross Island in McMurdo Sound and prepared to winter over on February 8, 1902.
In this photo attributed to Robert Falcon Scott, the Discovery is seen locked in ice in Winter Quarters Bay. McMurdo Station would be directly behind the ship and Observation Hill would be off the image to the right. Discovery Hut can be seen covered in snow in the middle of the image. Source: Robert F. Scott - The Voyage of the Discovery, by Captain Robert F. Scott, HathiTrust digital library.
British National Antarctic Expedition 1901-1904
Winter Quarters Bay and Discovery Hut
Scott named the small bay in front of McMurdo Station Winter Quarters Bay upon anchoring Discovery and preparing for the winter. A small hut was built on what would be known as Hut Point which would become the storeroom and shelter but the men would continue to live and work on the Discovery which was allowed to become encased in the ice. It was described by Ernest Shackleton (the soon to be infamous polar explorer but currently a third lieutenant in charge of equipment and deep sea water analysis on Discovery) in this way:
"The Discovery hut was a large strong building, but was so draughty and cold in comparison with the ship, which was moored one hundred yards away, that it was, during the first year, never used for living quarters. Its sole use was as a storehouse, and a large supply of rough stores, such as flour, cocoa, coffee, biscuit, and tinned meat, was left there in the event of its being used as a place of retreat should any disaster overtake the ship. During the second year occasional parties camped inside the hut, but no bunks or permanent sleeping quarters were ever erected"
Discovery Hut on Hut Point was constructed in 1902 and served as a base of operations for a number of Antarctic expeditions.
Discovery Hut is named as a Historic Site (just as the Scott Cross on Observation Hill has been) and has been the site of exhaustive rehabilitation work (mostly the removal of snow around the hut, resealing the roof to keep out snow, as well as a cataloging of all the contents of the Hut which still contains original food and supplies). It's amazing to stand in that spot and try to imagine the experience that these men were having, the conditions not unlike what they are now but in my case I'm encased in any number of layers of clothes, quite well fed, and out for a stroll from my warm and comfortable dormitory.
George Vince
It wasn't long before things started to go awry when one of the members of the crew on their way back from an aborted trip excursion to Cape Crozier became stranded and in their attempt to find higher ground, Seaman George Vince slipped over the edge of a cliff and died - presumed to have drowned - and his body was never recovered. The crew erected the cross in his honor on the Hut Point promontory overlooking the sea ice of McMurdo Sound. Standing next to it now the view is spectacular - notable also because in front of the cross lies the gap between Black and White Islands (not overly creative but you can blame Scott for not being imaginative since he named them) and could you do it, the South Pole lies in a nearly straight line from it.
The cross at Hut Point erected by the Discovery Expedition in honor of George Vince, a member of the expedition, who drowned in the vicinity.
The inscription on George Vince's Cross reads: Sacred to the memory of George T. Vince - AB.RN - of the Doscovery - who was drowned near this spot - March 11, 1902
George Vince's Cross on Hut Point looking to the south pole across the sea ice and the McMurdo Ice Shelf - McMurdo Station is on the far left, the creatively named White Island is in the center left and the equally creative Black Island is to the right
Farthest South 82°17'
Though there were many scientific projects that were to be undertaken during this trip, the big goal was to try to reach the South Pole or at least push past the farthest any one else had gone (the record at that point having been set by Norwegian Carsten Borchgrevink as 78°50′ in 1899). On November 2, 1902, Scott, Shackleton, and Edward Wilson (a junior doctor and zoologist) headed out from Ross Island with sled dogs and a support party. Things did not go well. Mistakes had been made with the dogs' food meaning that in addition to the team not being experienced with the dogs they also were not effective, and as the dogs grew weaker, Wilson was forced to kill the weakest as food for the others. Wilson was afflicted by snow blindness, Shackleton began to show signs of early scurvy, and all were suffering from lack of food. On December 31, 1902, they turned back – having achieved the farthest south distance. The return journey proved worse as Shackleton collapsed from scurvy and the rest of the dogs died - but they arrived on February 3, 1903 after 93 days and 960 miles.
Return Home
Discovery still locked in the ice with relief ships Morning and Terra Nova alongside in early February 1904.
It wasn't until January 5, 1904 (another year had passed) that a relief expedition came to retrieve Robert Falcon Scott and the Discovery Expedition. The British Admiralty was ordering them home whether or not they could get Discovery freed from the ice. Sawing and dynamite efforts quickly began in earnest to free the ship and eventually the ice gave way through these efforts and those of Mother Nature – Discovery was released on February 3, 1904 and began the journey back to England.
In the McMurdo cafeteria there is a large print of picture showing Discovery locked in ice with the relief ships Morning and Terra Nova floating alongside shortly after the ice had broken apart. When I was most recently out at Hut Point, I was able to recreate the image and then overlay the picture in the cafeteria.
McMurdo Station in 2016 and Discovery (still somewhat encased in the ice) with the relief ships Morning and Terra Nova in 1904.
It's amazing to stand in this spot and to see these very different and very similar worlds overlapping. Though they are over 100 years apart from each other (what would Scott have thought of the windmills atop the hill to the left?) our goals are still the same – to press beyond what we know. Scientific endeavor may seem less hazardous now as compared to those early Antarctic expeditions but our quest for knowledge and understanding is the same. Today we study the Dry Valleys as a way to understand the surface of Mars, ice caves on Mt. Erebus to understand the theorized ice caves on Saturn's moon Enceladus, and long sealed lakes under the ice sheet as stand ins for the search for life on Jupiter's moon Europa. Whether to understand ourselves, our world, or our solar system - science in Antarctica is still pushing the boundaries of what's possible - for both humans and our imagination.
You can read more about Robert Falcon Scott's Discovery Expedition in numerous place on the web merely by searching for it. If you'd like to read the actual account of the expedition, the book published by Scott upon his return "The Voyage of the Discovery" can be found online at the Hathi Trust Digital Library
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