Terra Nova Expedition Research Articles

A species by any other name would sound as sweet.

David Smith argues against the prevalent practice of naming newly discovered species after human beings.

“Strict injunctions that the dogs should not be risked”: A revised hypothesis for this anecdote and others in narratives of Scott’s last expedition

AbstractThis article updates Karen May’s earlier 2012 hypothesis (Could Captain Scott have been saved? Revisiting Scott’s last expedition). In this revised hypothesis, Cecil Meares, not Surgeon E. L. Atkinson, originated the unsubstantiated statement that “Strict injunctions had been given by Scott that the dogs should not be risked in any way.” This hypothesis incorporates new information uncovered since 2012, specifically Meares’ misrepresentations during the Terra Nova expedition; Atkinson’s 1911 journal entries; Atkinson’s 1919 allegation that Meares had “disobeyed orders”; and Tryggve Gran’s “The Race for the South Pole between Scott and Amundsen”, a 1945/post-1945 document that appears to have been Roland Huntford’s source for anecdotes in Huntford’s 1979 Scott–Amundsen biography. The article gives a proposed chronology for how Meares’ early misrepresentations and Gran’s later misunderstandings influenced the decisions, and later presentations, of the Terra Nova expedition.

Recent Royal Navy award: The Edward Leicester Atkinson prize

AbstractMore than 100 years have now passed since Scott’s Terra Nova expedition to the Antarctic, which was quickly followed by the First World War. Out of the events of those times emerges the name of Edward Leicester Atkinson, the Royal Navy Surgeon and Antarctic explorer who was a member of the scientific staff of Scott’s expedition, and who went on to serve in the First World War. In his honour, the Edward Leicester Atkinson Prize will be awarded annually to a Royal Navy Medical Officer who displays the values of leadership and moral courage during the New Entry Medical Officer course, either at Britannia Royal Naval College or the Institute of Naval Medicine.

Where should Captain Scott's support parties have turned back?

ABSTRACTCaptain Robert Falcon Scott's plan for the attempt to reach the South Pole during the Terra Nova Expedition was to use horses, motorised sledges and dog teams to lay depots on the Ross Ice Shelf to advance the effective starting point for the three man-hauling groups to the foot of the Beardmore Glacier. His idea was that two of the groups would turn back after two and four weeks, after depositing supplies for the final polar party to rely on during the return journey. In this paper, the logic of the mathematical ‘jeep problem’ is applied to derive the theoretically optimal points at which the support parties should have turned back in order to optimise the relationship between distance and consumption of supplies. The results show that, according to this model, Scott took both his support parties along too far, especially the last support party under Lieutenant E.R.G.R. ‘Teddy’ Evans.

The Barrier Silence by Edward A. Wilson

ABSTRACTThe drafting, publishing and subsequent reproduction of Edward Wilson's evocative and sinisterly premonitory poem, The Barrier Silence, is examined. It was written in October 1911 for Part 3 of the South Polar Times (SPT), Vol. 3, prepared and ‘published’ at Robert Falcon Scott's British Antarctic (Terra Nova) Expedition hut at Cape Evans, Ross Island, shortly before Wilson, Scott and three other members set off on the ill-fated South Pole journey. Wilson contributed most of the illustrative material for all three volumes of the SPT, but this poem is the only written article attributed to him, although it is possible that he was also the author of an anonymous poem. Events that may have influenced Wilson to write his poem are also considered.

Had We Lived ... Phantasms & Nieves Penitentes: Conversation between Anne Noble and Geoffrey Batchen

In the conversation, two of the most prominent New Zealand authors in the field of photography talk about the body of work of Anne Noble’s Antarctica photography projects. Had we lived is a re-photographic project reflecting on the tragedies of heroic age exploration (commemorating the centenary of the deaths of Robert Falcon Scott and his men on their return from the South Pole – Terra Nova Expedition or British Antarctic Expedition to the South Pole, 1912) and on the memory of Erebus tragedy of 1975, when a tourist plane flying over Antarctica crashed into Mt Erebus, killing all 257 people on board. Anne Noble re-photographed image taken by Herbert Bowers at the South Pole – the photograph of Scott and his men taken after they arrived at the South Pole to find Amundsen had already been and gone. Phantasms and Nieves Penitentes projects hint at the triumph of Antarctica over human endeavour and as a non-explorer type herself photographer Anne Noble states: “I rather liked this perverse reversal”. Both tragic events have a notable relationship to photography – Erebus in particular, as those who died were likely looking out of the aeroplane windows taking photographs at the time of impact. This relationship is addressed throughout the conversation between the two, providing an insightful commentary on the questions of authenticity, documentary value and the capacity of photography to exist in the in-between spaces of thoughtful imagining, and rational dreaming. Keywords: Antarctica, authenticity, documentary, photographic imaginary, re-photographing

Dangerous shores and disoriented penguins in Beyond the Utmost Bound: A Performance about Antarctic Exploration

ABSTRACTThis essay describes Beyond the Utmost Bound: A Performance about Antarctic Exploration, which retold the story of Robert Falcon Scott's Terra Nova expedition of 1911–1913. The performance interwove scenes adapted from Apsley Cherry-Garrard's The Worst Journey in the World with scenes that provided contemporary reflections on representing Antarctica in art, photography, and literature, with narration staged as a dialogue between a contemporary and a heroic age explorer. The performance argued thematically for the value of research that may not necessarily be connected directly to immediate gain, locating the ultimate value of exploration not in the “bagging of the pole” nor in the heroics of its narratives, but in Terra Nova’s scientific work and in the camaraderie that forms among researchers.

Edward Leicester Atkinson (1881–1929): Antarctic explorer, scientist and naval surgeon

Edward Leicester Atkinson qualified at St Thomas's Hospital in 1906 and joined the Navy in 1908. He was a doctor and parasitologist on Captain Scott's Terra Nova expedition to the Antarctic and had to take charge of the expedition when Scott died on his return from the South Pole. After the expedition he went to China and discovered the cause of schistosomiasis, returning at the start of the First World War in which he served with distinction, winning a DSO and Albert Medal but also being severely injured. After the war he served in various naval posts and became the youngest Surgeon Captain in the Navy before being retired on health grounds in 1928. He died at sea the following year.

Why do the British still remember Scott of the Antarctic?

The announcement of the death of the British polar explorer Captain Robert Scott on his return from the South Pole, which he had reached on 17 January 1912, caused a sensation in Britain and around the world. Although he lost the race to the South Pole to a Norwegian party led by Roald Amundsen, the recent centenary of Scott’s last expedition aroused widespread interest not only in Britain but around the world. This paper examines why the British public continues to consume Scott’s story, with particular reference to the period since 1945. Part one examines how Scott’s story has been adapted to the cultural context of post-imperial Britain, in part by emphasising the scientific aims of his last expedition. Part two moves on to emphasise how this new emphasis was supported by the Royal Geographical Society and the Scott Polar Research Institute, and drew on the extensive material culture and striking visual record left by the Terra Nova expedition.

100 Years Since Scott Reached the Pole: A Century of Learning About the Physiological Demands of Antarctica

The 1910-1913 Terra Nova Expedition to the Antarctic, led by Captain Robert Falcon Scott, was a venture of science and discovery. It is also a well-known story of heroism and tragedy since his quest to reach the South Pole and conduct research en route, while successful was also fateful. Although Scott and his four companions hauled their sledges to the Pole, they died on their return journey either directly or indirectly from the extreme physiological stresses they experienced. One hundred years on, our understanding of such stresses caused by Antarctic extremes and how the body reacts to severe exercise, malnutrition, hypothermia, high altitude, and sleep deprivation has greatly advanced. On the centenary of Scott's expedition to the bottom of the Earth, there is still controversy surrounding whether the deaths of those five men could have, or should have, been avoided. This paper reviews present-day knowledge related to the physiology of sustained man-hauling in Antarctica and contrasts this with the comparative ignorance about these issues around the turn of the 20th century. It closes by considering whether, with modern understanding about the effects of such a scenario on the human condition, Scott could have prepared and managed his team differently and so survived the epic 1,600-mile journey. The conclusion is that by carrying rations with a different composition of macromolecules, enabling greater calorific intake at similar overall weight, Scott might have secured the lives of some of the party, and it is also possible that enhanced levels of vitamin C in his rations, albeit difficult to achieve in 1911, could have significantly improved their survival chances. Nevertheless, even with today's knowledge, a repeat attempt at his expedition would by no means be bound to succeed.

Could Captain Scott have been saved? Revisiting Scott's last expedition

ABSTRACTCaptain Scott has been criticised for indecisiveness and for not making use of the dog teams for his own relief in his Terra Nova Expedition (1910–1913). This essay will demonstrate how a mistake made in Roland Huntford's double biography of Scott and Amundsen in 1979, repeated in polar writing by various authors until the present day, has maligned Scott's reputation. In fact, Scott left appropriate written orders in October 1911 for the polar party's relief by the dog teams, orders that were not subsequently implemented by the men at base. A re-examination of the actions and roles of two expedition members in particular, Lieutenant E.R.G.R. Evans and Surgeon Edward Atkinson, suggests strongly that misjudgements back at Cape Evans led to the failure of the mission to rescue Scott and his polar party. In this account all distances are in geographical miles.

Etymologia:Pseudoterranova azarasi

To the Editor: Regarding the March 2011 Etymologia on Pseudoterranova azarasi (1), we think that someone literally missed the boat on the derivation of Pseudoterranova. Although the Greco-Latin amalgam, Pseudoterranova, translates to “false new earth,” the generic name of the organism refers to the ship, the Terra Nova, which Robert Falcon Scott captained en route to Antarctica exactly 100 years ago in his ill-fated attempt to be the first person to reach the South Pole. During the Antarctic summer of 1911–12, while Scott and 4 companions trudged toward the South Pole, the ship’s surgeon, Edward Leicester Atkinson, who remained with the Terra Nova, dissected polar fish, birds, and sea mammals, looking for parasites. Atkinson found an unusual nematode in a shark, and in 1914, he, along with parasitologist Robert Thomson Leiper of the London School of Tropical Medicine, commemorated the ship by conferring the name Terranova antarctica upon this newly discovered creature (2). The genus Pseudoterranova was established by Aleksei Mozgovoi in 1951 for a somewhat similar nematode obtained from a pygmy sperm whale. Pseudoterranova azarasi, the subject of the Etymologia, was originally described in 1942 as Porrocecum azarasi, but recent molecular work, as described by Arizono et al. (3) and Mattiucci and Nascetti (4), showed that this nematode is part of a large species complex within Pseudoterranova. Thus, it has been transferred to this genus as part of the P. decipiens species complex. The nomenclatural specifics are complex and arcane. However, in this centennial year of the Terra Nova expedition, we think it is worthwhile to remember the historic origins of these names.

Dr Edward Wilson (1872-1912): Antarctic Hero

Edward Wilson was an artist, doctor, naturalist and explorer. He was on both Scott's Antarctic expeditions of the early 1900s, as Junior Surgeon and Zoologist on the Discovery expedition of 1901 and as Chief of Scientific Staff on the Terra Nova expedition of 1910. He reached the Pole with Scott in 1912 and died with him on their ill-fated return from the Pole.

The foundations of Antarctic glaciology

Heroic treks inland by Scott, Shackleton, and Amundsen in the early 1900s demonstrated the immensity of the Antarctic ice cover. But it has taken a century to estimate its volume and elucidate its intricate dynamics. Three significant milestones in the development of Antarctic glaciology have been: the memoir Glaciology by Charles Wright and Raymond Priestly arising from the Terra Nova expedition (1910–1913); the Norwegian-British-Swedish Expedition (1949–1952); the International Geophysical Year (1957–1958). Robert Scott thought glaciology so important he appointed a physicist as glaciologist (Wright) and to work with him, a scientist with previous experience of Antarctic ice (Priestley). Their compendium is a classic work. The Norwegian-British-Swedish Expedition was the first true international scientific expedition to Antarctica. Their studies provided the first clear picture of the Antarctic glacial environment, leading to the concept that sea level is controlled principally by the state of the Antarctic ice sheet. Glaciology was one of the main studies in the International Geophysical Year. Research was conducted at coastal and inland stations and on over-snow traverses. Measurements on traverses provided the first glimpse of the surface elevation, magnitude of the ice volume, snow accumulation, and mean annual surface temperatures.

Subrecent Moraine Ridge Formation on Cuff Cape, Victoria Land, Antarctica

A small bedrock ridge called Cuff Cape, protruding from an ice field in the inner part of Granite Harbour, Victoria Land, Antarctica, carries a system of moraine ridges. Cuff Cape was during deglaciation bounded to the south by a terrestrial, slow-retreat ice margin and towards the north and west by a faster-retreat, marine-based ice margin. Based on studies of contemporary processes along the present ice margin, sediment facies states of logged trenches and the morphology of the moraines, it can be concluded that moraines on low altitudes are composed of sediments deposited in fluvial troughs and meltwater ponds along a frontal glacier apron. The sediments were primarily deposited as debris flow diamictons, generated from melted-out sediments from basal debris bands and sorted sediments deposited as traction load and suspended load sediments in the marginal ponds. These sediments were in a frozen state later glaciotectonically thrust and stacked into moraine ridges during minor readvance stages. The largest moraine, covering a narrow retreat zone, was formed along the terrestrial ice margin by means of push and stacking of frontal apron diamictons. This moraine also carries superimposed minor ridges along its proximal slope, suggesting frequent readvance stages. Based on a survey of Cuff Cape, carried out by the English Terra Nova expedition in 1910–1913, it can be concluded that the youngest moraine has been formed since then. The absence of lichen growth on the moraines also suggests that they are of a very recent age.

Victor Campbell and Michael Barne in Svalbard: the 1914 voyage of Willem Barents

AbstractIn 1914 the Northern Exploration Company of London employed Commander Victor Campbell (the leader of the Northern Party of Robert Falcon Scott's Terra Nova expedition of 1910–1913) to voyage to Spitsbergen in charge of a mineral-prospecting team. Campbell sailed in the schooner Willem Barents, taking Michael Barne (the second lieutenant on the British National Antarctic Expedition of 1901–1904) as mate. There was a mixed British and Norwegian crew. Between May and August, Campbell took the schooner to various sites between Recherchefjorden and Krossfjorden on the west coast of Spitsbergen, maintaining two-way contact with London through the Norwegian radio station at Grønfjorden. Hearing that war was about to break out, the expedition visited the German meteorological station at Ebeltofthamna, then sailed back to Norway, from where the British members returned to England.

The history of Granite House and the western geological party of Scott's Terra Nova expedition

ABSTRACTIn summer 1911—1912, during Robert Falcon Scott's Terra Nova expedition (1910–1913) a field party of four men led by the geologist Griffith Taylor surveyed the coast and hinterland of Victoria Land, Antarctica. During their stay at Cape Geology (77°00'S, 162°35'E), Granite Harbour, the members of the ‘western geological party’ built Granite House, a rock shelter used as a kitchen. The field party finished its work in the Granite Harbour region in the second week of January 1912, but heavy sea ice prevented Terra Nova from reaching the prearranged meeting point at the entrance to the bay. Faced with the possibility of being trapped for the winter, the party left Granite Harbour and travelled overland back toward the winter quarters on Ross Island. One month later the party was picked up by Terra Nova and was returned safely to Cape Evans. During an expedition to Granite Harbour in January-February 1992, the authors discovered an 80-year-old note left by the field party in a cigarette tin in the vicinity of Granite House. Dated 14 January 1912, the note was written by Taylor to Lieutenant H.L.L. Pennell, the skipper of Terra Nova, to let him know that the party had left for Cape Roberts. Granite House is a significant relic of the ‘heroic era’ and merits protection.

Profile: Herbert G. Ponting

AbstractHerbert Ponting, Robert Falcon Scott's photographer and cinematographer on the Terra Nova expedition, was the first specialized, professional photographer to accompany a polar expedition. Born in 1870, he had already acquired an international reputation as a travel writer and photographer before joining Scott in 1910. His personality did not mesh readily with those of other expedition members, but in his film 90° North Ponting produced what is arguably the finest travel documentary before Robert Flaherty's Nanook of the North. His work compares favourably with professional film records of much later exploration, for example those of Hillary and Tenzing on Everest in 1953. After his year in Antarctica he produced various versions of the film, and undertook a number of unsuccessful enterprises. He died in 1935. We can still learn from the work of this pompous British photographic artist from the early years of the century.

Profile: Thomas Crean

AbstractBorn in Annascaul, Ireland in 1877, Thomas Crean enlisted in the Royal Navy in 1893 and was serving in New Zealand when Scott's British National Antarctic Expedition passed through en route for McMurdo Sound, Antarctica. As an AB in Discovery he gained experience which he later put to good use in two further British expeditions, Scott's British Antarctic (Terra Nova) Expedition, in which he sledged to the polar plateau, and Shackleton's Imperial Tran-Antarctic (Endurance) Expedition, in which he was given charge of the dog teams, drifted on the pack ice of the Weddell Sea and took part in the epic open-boat journey to South Georgia.

Some Tunicates of the Terra Nova Expedition

THE first portion of Prof. Garstang's long-promised account of the tunicates of the Terra Nova Expedition is now issued. This includes the Doliolida only, for each group is to be dealt with separately. It is not only a list and description of the species found, but also a critical monograph on the subject, containing valuable new views and a detailed survey of the work of previous writers, the whole being a helpful and important contribution to our knowledge of those pelagic tunicates which reproduce by budding and have ‘nurse’ stages.