#endurance expedtion

[sastrugie]

ok im back into my polar obsession - i know i missed alot in these fice years BUT im happy to know the fandom is still alive AHHHH

so - please reblog/ like this if you are interested in

antarctica

arctic

polar exploration

scotts expeditions

shackletons expedtions

fridtjof nansen, amundsen and co

belgica

terror the series

and polar stuff in general

cant wait to talk to yall <3

[sastrugie]

So currently I´m reading this biography of Captain Lawrence Oates, the man who commited suicide on the journey back from the south pole in 1912. I guess we all know his famous last words „I am just going outside and may be some time.“

The Person who wrote the book was Sue Limb and it was published in 1982, being the second biography of Titus ever written. The story of how she got the idea of writing the book and how she got inspired is as good as the book itself. Sue Limb had been interested in polar exploration already as a young girl and found a mentor, to whom the book is also dedicated. She called him „Uncle Deb“.

I really think this is a super cute story and it made me so happy to hear about it, so I thought I should share it with you all and everyone interested in polar exploration.

The following extract is from the introduction of the book, where Sue tells us the story:

In 1962, antarctic enthusiasts commemorated the fiftieth anniversary of Scott´s death. At Cheltenham, the home town of Scott´s companion Dr. Wilson, there was an exhibition, and Herbert Ponting´s cinefilm of the Terra Nova Expedtion, 90° South, was shown. Among the many interested townspoeple who attended was Sue Limb, whose schoolgirl susceptibilities led her to an enduring fascination with the whole story. Wishing to make contact with a surviving member of the expedition, she decided on Frank Debenham, whose books she had greatly enjoyed. Debenham had been one of Scott´s geologists and had later founded the Scott Polar Research Institue in Cambridge.

Christmas was near, so she made a Chritsmas card in the style of the South Polar Times, a light-hearted magazine which had been produced in Antarctica during the winter of 1911. Trembling slightly at her temerity, she posted the card (signed also by two friends for moral support) and waited for any response. If she was lucky, she thought, there might be an official note from a secretary. After all, an Emeritus Professor is a very august personage for a schoolgirl. But soon after Christmas a thick envelope dropped onto her doormat.

„My dear dear incredible trio“, the astonishing letter began,“You have sent me the most delightful, the cleverest and the most understanding christmas card I have ever received in my life.“ He wrote of his life in Cambridge, was full of teases, and ended: „ If your parents would entrust you to Mrs Deb and me here for a few days on your next holidays we would be delighted to see you. The advantage of three Mahomets coming on their camels to one immobile mountain is that there is the Polar Institute where you would get closer contact with things you alredy know a great deal about.“

Sue had the great fortune to become one of Debenham´s „adopted nieces“, and though he was eighty, fairly deaf and almost totally incapacitated by heart disease, „Uncle Deb“ had a razor-sharp mind, a flawless memory and an endearing personality which made him an enchanting friend and an invaluable companion. He steered her youthful literary aspirations towards the idea of a biography of Captain Oates.

[...]

Debenham also introduced Sue to Violet Oates, the sister of Captain Oates, who was also in her eighties, though very active and alert. (Miss Oates would provide Sue with hundreds of letters she had saved from the destruction ordered by her mother.)

„The important thing“, wrote Debenham after the first meeting, „is that Miss Oates is ready to consider the idea of your someday writing a biography of her brother. I would not advise your attempting such a book until you have finished your school and other training so there´s no hurry about that, but there should be no delay in finding or hearing the material, that is, making contact with certain people. That is so partly because those of us who knew him are becoming rather thin on the ground, but even more because Soldier was far from being a letter writer and you will have to depend more on circumstantial evidence, what he said or hat he did, than what he wrote down. His character will only appear from his deeds and not from his words.“

[…]

during the 1960s, others, too, did more than just to encourage. Mrs Debenham, whose hospitality to Sue was overwhelming, was also full of useful background stories.

[…]

conscious of her good fortune, the aspring biographer pored over these manuscripts in the company of Violet Oates, an irresistibly sympathetic woman. From the manuscipt sources and from conversations with Miss Oates and Professor Debenham, she produced a first draft of the book shortly before going up to Cambridge in 1965.

Sadly, „Uncle Deb“ died during that Michealmas Term in 1965 and never got to read that first draft...

I dont know why, but this whole story really touched me and since I´m also a great fan of Frank Debenhams books or simply all the things he did, I thought this short story would show what a nice, kind, warmhearted and wonderful person he was. Thanks to him we dont only have amazing books and the Scott Polar Research Institute, but also the best biography of Captain Oates ever written. I bet Deb would have been proud of her and proud of this excellent biography of his close friend.