Scott arrives at the South Pole

Scott at the Pole 18 January 1912

Wilson, Scott, Oates, Bowers, Evans

"Wednesday January 17,1912  Camp 69, T.-22 degrees at start. Night -21degrees.  The Pole, Yes , but under very different conditions from those expected.  We have had a horrible day-add to our disappointment a head wind 4 to 5, with a temperature -22 degrees and companions labouring on with cold feet and hands.

We started at 7.30, none of us having slept much after the shock of our discovery. We followed the Norwegian sledge tracks for some way; as far as we make out there are only two men.....

Great God this is an awful place and terrible enough for us to have labored to it without the reward of priority. Well, it is something to have got here, and the wind may be our friend to-morrow.  We have had a small stick of chocolate and the queer taste of a cigarette brought by Wilson.  Now for the run home and a desperate struggle. I wonder if we can do it."
   
from the diary of Robert Falcoln Scott

Expecting to be the first team to ever reach the South Pole, Robert Falcoln Scott and his men arrived only to find a Norwegian crew headed by Roald Amundsen had beaten them by a month.  Scott and his men perished during their return to base camp.

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