Editing Robert Falcon Scott (section)

=== Last march ===
[[File:Scottgroup.jpg|thumb|alt=A monochrome image of five men in heavy polar clothing. All look unhappy. The standing men are carrying flagstaffs and a Union Jack flag flies from a half-mast in the background.|Scott's party at the South Pole: Oates, Bowers, Scott, Wilson and Evans.]]
The deflated party began the {{convert|862|mi|km}} return journey on 19 January. "I'm afraid the return journey is going to be dreadfully tiring and monotonous", wrote Scott on that day.<ref>Scott's diary, 19 January 1912</ref> The party made good progress despite poor weather, and had completed the Polar Plateau stage of their journey, approximately {{convert|300|mi|km}}, by 7 February. In the following days, as the party made the {{convert|100|mi|km}} descent of the [[Beardmore Glacier]], the physical condition of Edgar Evans, which Scott had noted with concern as early as 23 January, declined sharply.{{sfn|Huxley|1913a|p=551}} A fall on 4 February had left Evans "dull and incapable,"{{sfn|Huxley|1913a|p=560}} and on 17 February, after another fall, he died near the glacier foot.{{sfn|Huxley|1913a|pp=572–573}} Still needing to travel {{convert|400|mi|km}} across the [[Ross Ice Shelf]], the prospects of Scott's party steadily worsened as they struggled northward with deteriorating weather, a puzzling lack of fuel in the depots, hunger, and exhaustion.{{sfn|Huxley|1913a|pp=574–580}}

Meanwhile, back at Cape Evans, the ''Terra Nova'' arrived at the beginning of February, and Atkinson decided to unload the supplies from the ship with his own men rather than set out south with the dogs to meet Scott as ordered.<ref>[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/antarctica/robert-falcon-scott/9770678/Scott-of-the-Antarctic-could-have-been-saved-if-his-orders-had-been-followed-say-scientists.html "Karen May & Peter Forster on Cherry-Garrard's 1948 postscript"], The Telegraph, accessed 12 October 2014.</ref> When Atkinson finally did leave south for the planned rendezvous with Scott, he encountered the scurvy-ridden Edward ("Teddy") Evans who needed urgent medical attention. Atkinson therefore tried to send the experienced navigator Wright south to meet Scott, but chief meteorologist Simpson declared he needed Wright for scientific work. Atkinson then decided to send the short-sighted Cherry-Garrard on 25 February, who was not able to navigate, only as far as One Ton depot (which is within sight of Mount Erebus), effectively cancelling Scott's orders for meeting him at latitude 82 or 82.30 on 1 March.{{sfn|May|2013}}

On the return journey from the Pole, Scott reached the 82°S meeting point for the dog teams, {{convert|300|mi|km}} from [[Hut Point]], three days ahead of schedule, noting in his diary for 27 February 1912, "We are naturally always discussing possibility of meeting dogs, where and when, etc. It is a critical position. We may find ourselves in safety at the next depot, but there is a horrid element of doubt." On 2 March, Oates began to suffer from the effects of frostbite and the party's progress slowed as he was increasingly unable to assist in the workload, eventually only able to drag himself alongside the men pulling the sledge. By 10 March the temperature had dropped unexpectedly to below {{convert|-40|C}}.{{sfn|Solomon|2001|pp=292–294}}

[[File:Last_Rest_(Grave_of_Scott,_Wilson,_and_Bowers).png|thumb|upright|[[Cairn]] over the tent containing the bodies of [[Edward Adrian Wilson]], [[Henry Robertson Bowers]] and Robert Falcon Scott]]
In a farewell letter to [[Edgar Speyer|Sir Edgar Speyer]], dated 16 March, Scott wondered whether he had overshot the meeting point and fought the growing suspicion that he had in fact been abandoned by the dog teams: "We very nearly came through, and it's a pity to have missed it, but lately I have felt that we have overshot our mark. No-one is to blame and I hope no attempt will be made to suggest that we had lacked support."{{sfn|May|2013|pp=1–19}} On the same day, Oates, whose toes had become frostbitten,<ref>"Oates disclosed his feet, the toes showing very bad indeed, evidently bitten by the late temperatures" Scott diary entry, 2 March 1912. "The result is telling on ... Oates, whose feet are in a wretched condition. One swelled up tremendously last night and he is very lame this morning" Scott diary entry 5 March 1912. "Titus Oates is very near the end"&nbsp;– Scott diary entry, 17 March 1912.</ref> voluntarily left the tent and walked to his death.{{sfn|Huxley|1913a|pp=591–592}} Scott wrote that Oates' last words were "I am just going outside and may be some time".{{sfn|Huxley|1913a|p=592}}

After walking {{convert|20|mi}} farther despite Scott's toes now becoming frostbitten,<ref>"My right foot has gone, nearly all the toes—two days ago I was proud possessor of best feet. These are the steps of my downfall. Like an ass I mixed a small spoonful of curry powder with my melted pemmican—it gave me violent indigestion. I lay awake and in pain all night; woke and felt done on the march; foot went and I didn't know it. A very small measure of neglect and have a foot which is not pleasant to contemplate." Scott's diary 18 March 1912</ref> the three remaining men made their final camp on 19 March, approximately {{convert|12.5|mi|km}} short of One Ton Depot. The next day a fierce blizzard prevented their making any progress.{{sfn|Huxley|1913a|p=594}} During the next nine days, as their supplies ran out, and with storms still raging outside the tent, Scott and his companions wrote their farewell letters. Scott gave up his diary after 23 March, save for a final entry on 29 March, with its concluding words: "Last entry. For God's sake look after our people".{{sfn|Huxley|1913a|p=595}} He left letters to Wilson's mother, Bowers' mother, a string of notables including his former commander, Sir [[George Egerton (Royal Navy officer)|George Egerton]], his own mother and his wife.{{sfn|Huxley|1913a|pp=597–604}}

He also wrote his "Message to the Public", primarily a vindication of the expedition's organisation and conduct in which the party's failure is attributed to weather and other misfortunes, but ending on an inspirational note, with these words:
{{blockquote|We took risks, we knew we took them; things have come out against us, and therefore we have no cause for complaint, but bow to the will of Providence, determined still to do our best to the last&nbsp;... Had we lived, I should have had a tale to tell of the hardihood, endurance, and courage of my companions which would have stirred the heart of every Englishman. These rough notes and our dead bodies must tell the tale, but surely, surely, a great rich country like ours will see that those who are dependent on us are properly provided for.{{sfn|Huxley|1913a|pp=605–607}}}}

Scott is presumed to have died on 29 March 1912, or possibly one day later. The positions of the bodies in the tent when it was discovered eight months later suggested that Scott was the last of the three to die.{{sfn|Huxley|1913a|p=596}}{{sfn|Jones|2003|p=126}}{{sfn|Huntford|1985|p=509}}

In his final journal entry he wrote:<ref>{{Cite web |title=Scott Polar Research Institute, Cambridge » Scott's Last Expedition |url=https://www.spri.cam.ac.uk/museum/diaries/scottslastexpedition/#:~:text=Thursday,%20March%2029th%201912&text=Every%20day%20we%20have%20been,the%20end%20cannot%20be%20far. |access-date=2024-06-25 |website=www.spri.cam.ac.uk}}</ref>
{{Blockquote|text=I do not think we can hope for any better things now. We shall stick it out to the end, but we are getting weaker, of course, and the end cannot be far.

It seems a pity, but I do not think I can write more.

R. SCOTT.

For God’s sake look after our people.|source=}}[[File:Cross on Observation Hill, McMurdo Station.jpg|thumb|[[Observation Hill (McMurdo Station)|Observation Hill]] memorial cross, erected in 1913]]

The bodies of Scott and his companions were discovered by a search party on 12 November 1912. [[Tryggve Gran]], who was part of the search party, described the scene as, "snowcovered til up above the door, with Scott in the middle, half out of his {{sic|bagg}}&nbsp;... the frost had made the skin yellow & transparent & I’ve never seen anything worse in my life."<ref>{{cite web |last= Flood |first= Alisonn |title= Antarctic diary records horror at finding Captain Scott's body |url= https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/dec/12/antarctic-diary-finding-captain-scott-tryggve-gran |website= The Guardian |access-date= 15 December 2018 }}</ref> Their final camp became their tomb; their records and personal belongings were retrieved before the tent roof was lowered over the bodies and a high [[cairn]] of snow was erected over it, topped by a roughly fashioned cross, erected using Gran's skis.{{sfn|Huxley|1913b|pp=345–347}} Next to their bodies lay {{convert|35|lb}} of ''[[Glossopteris]]'' tree fossils which they had dragged on hand sledges.<ref>{{Cite book|last= Coyne |first= Jerry |year= 2010 |title= Why Evolution is True |location= New York |publisher= Penguin Group |page= 99 |isbn= 978-0143116646}}</ref> These were the first ever discovered Antarctic fossils and proved that Antarctica had once been warm and connected to other continents.<ref name=":0" />

In January 1913, before ''Terra Nova'' left for home, a large wooden cross was made by the ship's carpenters, inscribed with the names of the lost party and [[Alfred, Lord Tennyson|Tennyson]]'s line from his poem [[Ulysses (poem)|''Ulysses'']]: "To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield", and was erected as a permanent memorial on [[Observation Hill (McMurdo Station)|Observation Hill]], overlooking [[Hut Point]].{{sfn|Huxley|1913b|p=398}}