Tuesday was the centenary of Robert Falcon Scott‘s expedition reaching the South Pole – five weeks after the Norwegians had got there first.
But Amundsen did get there first, and he has a claim for having got to the North Pole first too, before dying in a plane crash in the Arctic in 1928 when attempting to rescue the Italian designer of the airship Norge in which they had both passed over the North Pole. I’m sorry to have missed this exhibition about Amundsen’s life. The Natural History Museum is about to start an exhibition about the Scott expedition.
Antarctica and the Southern Ocean occupy a pretty big chunk of the planet – the driest, coldest and windiest parts of it. Not surprisingly, there is life here, but not that much of it. Only a few flowering plants can get a grip on the continent and most of the birds and mammals are wholly dependent on the richness of the seas. Life clings on around the edge of the continent.
The Antarctic Ocean is rich in phytoplankton (particularly diatoms) which are eaten by crustacea called krill – and then just about everything else (penguins, seals, whales) eats krill or the things that eat krill. The weight of Antarctic krill is about twice that of all the people of Earth.
Scott and his last two companions died about 10 weeks later and Scott, knowing he was close to death, wrote of his young son, Peter “I had looked forward to helping you to bring him up, but it is a satisfaction to know that he will be safe with you…Make the boy interested in natural history if you can. It is better than games. They encourage it in some schools. I know you will keep him in the open air. Try to make him believe in a God, it is comforting…and guard him against indolence. Make him a strenuous man. I had to force myself into being strenuous, as you know–had always an inclination to be idle“.
Peter Scott did become interested in natural history. His life seems to me to be at least as remarkable as that of his father. Peter Scott played a major part in the post-war nature conservation world, being a founder of WWF and the founder of WWT, leading scientific expeditions and publicising the wonders of nature through art and the media. He also won a bronze medal for sailing in the 1936 Olympics, a DSC for gallantry in the Navy and was the British gliding champion.
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Thank you Mark -the greatest gift my Dad gave me was an interest in all that’s in the open air. I hope I have given that to my son, time will tell no doubt.
There’s a fabulous film The Great White Silence which shows part of Scott’s expedition which is beautiful and compelling as well somewhat eerie that it was filmed a century ago. Best seen in a cinema – there are some screenings around the country and perhaps your local indie cinema.
Think Peter Scott probably in my opinion may have been more remarkable than his father as he had a massive influence on how lots of us look at wildlife,perhaps changing the outlook from killing to conserving.
The older generation had lived through violent times and killing things came natural,after all think wildlife provided extra rations during WW2 and Peter Scott probably did more to change that than anyone.