Race to the End of the Earth

Scott’s party at the South Pole, 17 January 1912.
(Wikimedia Commons)

From 17 May to 24 October 2013, the Royal BC Museum is presenting the special exhibition Race to the End of the Earth, which “recounts one of the most stirring tales of Antarctic exploration, the contest to reach the South Pole.” In conjunction with the exhibition, the museum is also presenting the giant-screen film Shackleton‘s Antarctic Adventure, about the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition. (Shackleton’s later efforts to raise money for another expedition brought him into the story told in Acts of Occupation. In Chapter 4 of the book, we talk about the plans for a proposed arctic expedition by Shackleton, to be sponsored in part by the Eaton family.)

Scott’s wrecked ship Terra Nova found off Greenland

Posted by actsofoccupation

The Terra Nova, photographed in December 1910 by Herbert Ponting.
Source: Wikimedia Commons

From the BBC:

The wreck of the ship that carried Captain Robert Scott on his doomed expedition to the Antarctic a century ago has been discovered off Greenland.

The SS Terra Nova was found by a team from a US research company.

Scott and his party set off from Cardiff aboard the Terra Nova in 1910 with the aim of becoming the first expedition to reach the South Pole.

The ship had a life after the polar trek, sinking off Greenland’s south coast in 1943.

It had been on a journey to deliver supplies to base stations in the Arctic when it was damaged by ice. The Terra Nova‘s crew was saved by the US Coast Guard cutter Southwind.

Read the rest of the story on the BBC’s website.

Cache of Cherry-Garrard letters found

Posted by actsofoccupation

Image of letters by Apsley Cherry-Garrard

Recently discovered letters written by Apsley Cherry-Garrard
(Image from The Independent.)

From The Independent:

“A century after Captain Scott’s fatal journey to the Antarctic a valuable collection of his personal possessions has been acquired for the nation, coinciding by chance with the discovery of a cache of letters written by Apsley Cherry-Garrard the youngest member of the Terra Nova expedition.

“Cherry-Garrard, who was 24 when he set out on the Polar expedition in June 1910, was one of the 12-man search party to discover the bodies of Scott, Henry “Birdie” Bowers and Edward Adrian Wilson.

“The 27 letters, between Cherry-Garrard and his mother, will be auctioned by Christie’s in October and are estimated to fetch up to £80,000.”

Read the rest of Matilda Battersby‘s article, “Cache of letters about Scott found as collection of his possessions acquired for the nation,” here.

There’s coverage in other news outlets, too:

“Hell of Captain Scott’s youngest Antarctic explorer revealed in letters” (The Guardian)

“Horrors of Scott expedition to South Pole revealed” (The Telegraph)

“Youngest member of Captain Scott’s doomed expedition describes finding explorer’s frozen body” (Daily Mail)

“Twenty-seven newly discovered letters reveal details of the search for Captain Scott and his companions” (artdaily.org)