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KF5JRV > TODAY 18.01.19 17:13l 36 Lines 1812 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 29598_KF5JRV
Read: GUEST
Subj: Today in History - Jan 18
Path: IW8PGT<IZ3LSV<IK6ZDE<VE2PKT<N3HYM<KF5JRV
Sent: 190118/1231Z 29598@KF5JRV.#NWAR.AR.USA.NA BPQ6.0.18
After a two-month ordeal, the expedition of British explorer Robert
Falcon Scott arrives at the South Pole only to find that Roald Amundsen,
the Norwegian explorer, had preceded them by just over a month.
Disappointed, the exhausted explorers prepared for a long and difficult
journey back to their base camp.
Scott, a British naval officer, began his first Antarctic expedition in
1901 aboard the Discovery. During three years of exploration, he
discovered the Edward VII Peninsula, surveyed the coast of Victoria
Land–which were both areas of Antarctica on the Ross Sea–and led limited
expeditions into the continent itself. In 1911, Scott and Amundsen began
an undeclared race to the South Pole.
Sailing his ship into Antarctica’s Bay of Whales, Amundsen set up base
camp 60 miles closer to the pole than Scott. In October, both explorers
set off; Amundsen using sleigh dogs and Scott employing Siberian motor
sledges, Siberian ponies, and dogs. On December 14, 1911, Amundsen’s
expedition won the race to the pole. Encountering good weather on their
return trip, they safely reached their base camp in late January.
Scott’s expedition was less fortunate. The motor sleds soon broke down,
the ponies had to be shot, and the dog teams were sent back as Scott and
four companions continued on foot. On January 18, they reached the pole
only to find that Amundsen had preceded them by over a month. Weather on
the return journey was exceptionally bad, two members perished, and
Scott and the other two survivors were trapped in their tent by a storm
only 11 miles from their base camp. Scott wrote a final entry in his
diary in late March. The frozen bodies of he and his two compatriots
were recovered eight months later.
73 de Scott KF5JRV
Pmail: KF5JRV@KF5JRV.#NWAR.AR.USA.NA
email: KF5JRV@ICLOUD.COM
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