#lawrence oates

[amundsenxcook]

Antarctica by Derek Mahon (1985)

[nopickls]

The heroic age of Antarctic exploration - after The Terror opening credits

[birdiebowers]

no surprises || terra nova expedition

112nd anniversary of finding the tent

series: the last place on earth (1985)

song: no surprises - radiohead

[mirages-and-polar-ice]

On my first rewatch of The Last Place on Earth and I can still safely say that Captain Lawrence Titus Oates waltzing with his freshly washed trousers is the best thing I have ever seen

[thehutpoint]

To add a bit to the Jessamine lore, a post about winter entertainment in the Cape Evans hut. Remember Deb gushing in his memoirs how he spends these nice evenings, playing chess and chatting with his absolutely best bestie Titus Oates?

Legendary eloquence of my Soldier and his penchant for chitchat is already well known, let's just focus on the other claim, the chess matches between Deb and Titus. What do the other sources say?

The above excerpt is from Ponting's "Great white South". As you can see Oates is mentioned here as the fan of backgammon, with Meares being his game partner. By the way, I cannot refrain myself from laughter at the mention of Scott, avoiding Nelson at the chess board, because chere Marie invariably kicked his arse every time. Con and his fragile ego... No mention of our dear australian jasmine though, let's move then to other sources, namely to Griff and his "Silver Lining".

Ah, so sweet miss Jessamine makes her entrance at last. Take a good notice that chess board was usually occupied by Scott and Atch, Nelson gets mentioned as the best player in the hut, while Deb... Deb usually plays chess with Griff. And Oates gets busy with backgammon. I wouldn't be surprised if Griff made a mistake with Titus's backgammon partner, thinking about Meares. Nobody ever, though, mentioned Titus playing chess. Ever. EVER.

Pictured above: Jessamine and her crush.

So it seems these long, romantic evenings of chess matches and talks existed only in the heated imagination of the australian jasmine, Frank Debenham. Looks like Deb had really huge crush on Soldier and really wanted to get close to him, so badly he attempted to bewitch reality a bit, writing about things not as they were, but as he wanted them to be (me Deb and my oh so close bestie Oates!).

I admit, getting close to Laurie wasn't an easy task, as he kept himself tightly shielded from people. Your chances grew exponentially if you had a mane and hooves, or at least four paws and a wagging tail (poor Deb had none of it). Or at least a pointy nose, have you people noticed that Meares and Atch had the pointiest noses in the whole Terra Nova team? Seems my man had a type!

[thegodofhellfire]

“I am just going outside and may be some time.”

[faworsley]

I was tagged by the lovely @grahhams to post 9 books I’m planning to read this year so here they are! Right now I’m about halfway through the Iliad and I DO want to finish it but I’m not listing it since it doesn’t count in my heart if I started it January 31 2024 lol

1. I May Be Some Time: Ice and the English Imagination by Francis Spufford

2. Endurance: An Epic of Polar Adventure by F. A. Worsley (HEART EYES EMOJI)

3. Shackleton’s Valiant Voyage by Alfred Lansing (Skeptical it was valiant on Shackleton’s part because I’m a hater but I will enjoy anyway)

4. The Aeneid by Virgil

5. A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

6. The Odyssey by Homer

7. Cook and Peary: The Polar Controversy, Resolved by Robert M. Bryce

8. The Worst Journey in the World by Apsley Cherry-Garrard

9. The Book of Common Prayer (kind of a long story and not really a light reading type book so I’m including a bonus)

10. May We Be Spared to Meet on Earth (I’ve been trying to get my hands on this one for so long, surely I can do it if I give myself another entire year lol)

And tagging some other folks who might want to do it heart hands emoji:

@wiwaxiacorrugata @c-horses123 @averagepolarexpeditionenjoyer

[greetingsprogramms]

I have dived into antarctic exploration wiki pages.

I just learned about Lawrence Oates.

I'm gonna need a minute.

[amorphousbl0b]

Reading about the Terra Nova expedition currently, and of course the guy in charge of the horses is called Oats

[richo1915]

"I am just going outside and may be some time."

Capt Lawrence Oates 17Mar1912

March 6th, 1912

"Poor Oates is unable to pull, sits on the sledge when we are track-searching- he is wonderfully plucky, as his feet must be giving him great pain. He makes no complaint, but his spirits only come up in spurts now, and he grows more silent in the tent."

Journal from Captain Scott's Last Expedition

Captain Lawrence Oates was never seen again….

[polarexplorerspoll]

POLAR EXPLORERS SHOWDOWN: ROUND THREE

[notalexhorne]

I have this image saved in an album on my phone. The album is called “pharmacy” and this is the only image in the album.

It is reserved for days like today, when what ought to be a quick dash across the street turns into an hour-long wait in a queue. I have this image saved just so I can send it to my husband to let him know that I have died of old age while waiting to pick up my prescription

[birdiebowers]

[laurielover1912]

One day, I'm going to have to write some polar boy fanfic. But what and how and stuff? It's been brewing for decades, since TLPoE, let's face it. I mean, look at my username.

And there's all this comment and art on here and photos I've never seen before ... and it's under my skin as much as it was when I was 14 and imagined I travelled back in time and lived in the Cape Evans hut with them all in 1911 (and I was older in my head obvs) and they all fell in love with me (well, Deb and Atch and Nelson and Day and Cherry and sometimes even Con) but my heart only belonged to the Soldier cos he was beautiful but a total fucking enigma (but also not).

[thehutpoint]

Nice description of Titus, I'd say. I mean he enjoyed so much all these onboard antics, full of close physical contact, it's quite obvious he loved touch. Yet he hid back in his shell (and in the stables) whenever something went wrong. My poor, dear, sweet, underappreciated Titus Oates.

[thehutpoint]

Quail Island, New Zealand. Kathleen, Scott, Teddy and Titus watch the ponies for the first time.

- Look, Titus, what a magnificent animal!

- Uh-huh.

- But I mean look! Look at this energy! Isn't this pony splendid?

- Senile, Teddy. It's senile. Starts also with "s" but means something else.

- But Titus, really, do you have to be such a pessimist?

- Stop tugging my arm, Teddy.