Abstract
Abstract This paper discusses an unsourced anecdote in Roland Huntford’s dual biography of Scott and Amundsen and their race for the South Pole; the first edition of the book was published in 1979. During a meeting between the Fram and Terra Nova in the Bay of Whales on 4 February 1911, Lieutenant Victor Campbell allegedly told Roald Amundsen—in order to deceive him—that one of the British motor sledges was “already on terra firma”. In a recent article in Polar Record, Huntford received criticism for (seemingly) having imagined the episode. However, a description of this incident, though with a slight variation compared to Huntford’s version, can be found in Tryggve Gran’s book, Kampen om Sydpolen [The Battle for the South Pole], published in 1961. Hence, one must conclude that Campbell really did try to mislead Amundsen regarding the motor sledges. Nevertheless, it is unlikely that the attempted deception had an impact on Amundsen’s plan for his south polar journey.
Highlights
[Mot slutten av lunsjen kom Amundsen med et spørsmål som ga den snartenkte Victor Campbell anledning til på en fin och fordekt måte å gi et fnugg av sine følelser luft
When the encounter in the Bay of Whales took place, Gran was in the field as a member of the party that laid down the One Ton Depot, so one must assume that Campbell told him the story about the attempted deception when they were reunited at Cape Evans in late November 1912, or perhaps later
The fact that Gran knew in such detail what Campbell and Amundsen had been talking about, despite the conversation being in Norwegian, and that he knew that Campbell was the second member of the British party after Scott most disturbed by the Norwegian presence in the Bay of Whales, suggests that Campbell was Gran’s source
Summary
[Mot slutten av lunsjen kom Amundsen med et spørsmål som ga den snartenkte Victor Campbell anledning til på en fin och fordekt måte å gi et fnugg av sine følelser luft. Den pillen som Campbell nettopp serverte, var ikke lett og svelgje.] Gran (1961: 97) When the encounter in the Bay of Whales took place, Gran was in the field as a member of the party that laid down the One Ton Depot, so one must assume that Campbell told him the story about the attempted deception when they were reunited at Cape Evans in late November 1912, or perhaps later.
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