#Amundsen now's not the time dude

[writingestexplorer]

A while back I bought this on Ebay. It's an album made by someone (I'm imagining a boy scout but given its appeal here it may have been a middle-aged woman) with some pretty fragile original press clippings and handwritten notes. I got it laminated so it didn't fall apart any further.

"Every possible thing was provided man could want, so it was nothing to do with food that killed them. after reaching the Pole they retraced their steps. after crossing the glacier, Petty Officer Evans died of concussion of the brain, through walking over rough ice. He was the strong man of the Party and the least expected to succumb. It left them a shaken party.

After journeying on through the average of 47° of frost they reached eleven miles from the one ton depot when a fearful blizzard began. Captain Oates, who had been ill & bearing suffering without grumbling, thought he was keeping back the party & said “I am going out in the blizzard & I may be gone a long time”. They new he was walking to his death, but knew it was the act of a British hero and an English gentleman. His body was never found. They had food enough for two days and only eleven miles more to go, all would have gone well, had not the blizzard detained them. The knew their end was near so this is a brief discription of what Cap. Scott wrote. He said he hoped people would help the relations etc. of people who died. They had taken risks and new it, but did it to show Englishmen could undergo hardships.

Relief parties were sent out and found dead bodies & Cap Scott’s letter."

[grimm-the-tiger]

I was reading about the Belgian Antarctic Expedition, which came within inches of suffering the same fate as the Lost Franklin Expedition, and for some reason, one detail in particular struck me as bizarrely funny. 

The thing that dooms most Arctic expeditions is shoddy planning and supplies. One would think that they’d have learned this by *checks notes* 1897, but nope. In particular, a malady called scurvy killed most people on these expeditions; scurvy had generally become less of a problem by this point in history when people realized that it could be treated with lemon juice, but the Belgian Antarctic Expedition had two things going against them. The first was that no one really planned for this to happen, and the second was that the expedition was a disaster anyway. 

So the crew of the expedition got scurvy. In particular, two of its leaders got scurvy, leaving two guys who would later become more famous, Frederick Cook and Roald Amundsen, in charge. Now, Cook had some prior experience in the Arctic and, while it would take another 20 years for people to realize what caused scurvy (vitamin C deficiency) and how to treat it, Cook (correctly) realized that eating raw meat, which contained trace amounts of vitamin C, could at least help. Besides, they’d reached a point in the expedition where a dude had jumped overboard and declared he was going to walk across the pack ice back to Belgium and was never seen again, so what did they have to lose? 

This isn’t funny. What is funny is that everyone else thought Cook was a lunatic, and the mental image of this guy chasing people around deck holding raw, frozen penguin and demanding they eat the penguin to treat their scurvy while they understandably question his sanity and their life choices is too good to ignore. 

So that’s the story of why this one random detail from an already disastrous Arctic expedition has been making me randomly crack up for the past few weeks. Tune in next time for, I dunno, me making fun of the British Navy’s naming choices or something. 

[sastrugie]

Since I see you like antarctic explorers: Amundsen and Scott for the historical figure thing! :3

Heythank you! This isgonna be hard but ok: Let´sstart with Amundsen

Why Ilike them: Amundsen was andstill is one of the greatest, most qualified and talented (can I saythat?) polar explorers of all time. I have ultimative respect for himbeing (probably) the first man at both poles!

Why Idont: His personality was asunforgiving and cold as the polar regions themselves. I mean this ison the one side, a good feature but on the other side.. a person ofhis team committed suicide because of him so…

Favouriteanecdote: In his polar diaryAmundsen literally wrote: The most important man on the wholeexpedition is the cook. This amused me.

Favouritequote: I like this one becauseit shows his respect of nature: „Everythingis on a reduced scale in the polar regions; we cant afford to beextravagant.“ and Ialso like the phrase he said in The last place on earth, a TVadaption of the drama, „Ifeel the irony, if I´m to be honest my dream since childhood hasbeen the north, the north pole itself. And here I am, at the exactopposite end of the earth.“

BrOTP:Whoa that one is hard butprobably Cook? They were shipmates on the Belgica and he trainedAmundsen in polar travelling and when none believed Cook that he wasat the North Pole, Amundsen did. He never doubted him ,despite Cooksunpopularity in press and media.

OTP:I dont ship Amundsenromantically to be honest.

An-oh-god-what-did-that-have-to-happen:WHY DID YOU TELL NONE DUDE; LIKE IT WOULD HAVE MADE THINGS EASIER FOREVERYONE INCLUDING YOURSELF!

Unpopularopinion: Amundsen never wantedto explore, he just wanted to be first

Awish: more pictures of hisexpedition, his crew, more biographies of his crew MORE RECORDS?

5words to best describe them:north-fram-cold-planning-dogs (I´m not good at this sorry)

Mynickname for them: I dont haveone, I call him either Roald or Amundsen

Ifyou could say one thing to them:WHERE DID YOU DIE AND HOW? BECAUSE THATS STILL A MYSTERY TO THE POLARFANDOM

Favouriteportrayal of them: I like howthey portrayed him in The last place on earth (series) because itshows Amundsens character with all his flaws and strenghts andwithout prejudice

LEASTfavourite portrayalof them:Ironically I hate how he got portrayed in The last place on earth(book), because honestly he was not that perfect and immortal. He wasan explorer not a viking for gods sake.

OK now Scott!

WhyI like them: I don´t likeScott, the tragic british hero , I dont like Scott the passiveaggressive who planned everything wrong. I like Scott the man, justhow he was. I like to see him as a normal human. I like his cutelittle diary entries, his sentimentality towards animals his elttersto best friends and his thirst for science

WhyI dont: his moodswings and badtemper, obviously.

Favouriteanecdote: Many but none is asadorable as this one:

„Debenhamhad four or five poets, and more popular still – a collection ofthirty „paperback sixpennies“, which every one was alwaysborrowing. He kept them in a box under his elevated bunk, and Iremember one evening after we had turned in, some one came into ourcubicle and started burrowing about. Debenham said, „Now then, whatare you after down there?“ A voice replied, „Where do you keepthis sixpenny novels, Debenham?“ It was Scott, who couldnt sleepand wanted some light literature!“                                                     -With Scott: the silver lining; Griffith Taylor (read this book,guys!!!!)

Favouritequote: I know this is allclichee and mainstream but it´s his message to the public…

BrOTP:Con and Bill, because? They were so different yet so similar. Theywere dependent on one another and they needed each other. They diedtogether, Bill died basically in Cons arms.

OTP:I dont really have one, to be honest. (JUST NOT KATHLEEN)

An-oh-god-what-did-that-have-to-happen:I´m sorry Con, b u t  why didnt you have more trust in dogs…?

Unpopularopinion: Scotts first object ofthe expedition (at least for himself) was not the south pole. It wasa lovely idea to him but mainly a strategy to actract the public andthe  press. It would garantuee him money for his funds. What hereally wanted was a scientific achievement (which the exepefition hadbut it was sadly overshadowed by the loss of the polar party..) Andwhen Amundsen appeared things got tricky..

Awish: better weather for thejourney back?? If that actually made a difference..

5words to best describe them:antarctica-ponies-royal navy-worried-diary

Mynickname for them: Con

Ifyou could say one thing to them: „You´renot as bad as you think! But the next time.. please consider dogs“

Favouriteportrayal of them: David Cranesbiography (Scott of the antarctic) was really good in my opinion,because it focused on Scott the man, not Scott the hero or Scott thevillain.

LEASTfavourite portrayal of them:THE LAST PLACE ON EARTH BOOK AND SERIES. Like, Scott was not the impersonateddevil.

name me a historical figure and I´ll answer ..