Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-lj6df Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T04:29:31.409Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

‘Terra firma’: a myth in secondary accounts of the meeting between the Fram and Terra Nova expeditions, 4 February 1911

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 October 2015

Karen May*
Affiliation:
27 Old Gloucester Street, London, WC1N 3AX ([email protected])

Abstract

In this article the author isolates an anecdote from Roland Huntford's account of the Scott and Amundsen expeditions’ meeting on 4 February 1911 at Framheim, the Norwegian base in the Bay of Whales. In this anecdote, Lieutenant Victor Campbell allegedly told Roald Amundsen that a British motor sledge was ‘already on terra firma’, which consequently led Amundsen to worry that a British motor-sledge had already travelled across the Great Ice Barrier to reach the Beardmore Glacier. The author demonstrates the primary evidence that indicates that this anecdote is unrealistic: Amundsen's journal further indicates that he did not consider Scott's vehicles a threat. This ‘terra firma’ myth has skewed our modern understanding of events, ascribing to Amundsen an erroneous motivation (a supposed fear of the British motor sledges) to explain and excuse his too-early start for the south pole in September 1911, which was an error that nearly led to a Norwegian death (that of Lieutenant Kristian Prestrud). In reality, fear of Scott's motor sledges was not the reason for Amundsen's ‘false start’. This article concludes with a discussion on the hazards of attributing ‘hidden motivations’ to historical figures without citation of primary evidence, and recommends that Huntford include clearly-cited references and endnotes for the next edition of his joint biography of Scott and Amundsen, in keeping with modern standards of scholarship.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aubert, S., Skelton, J., Frenot, Y. and other. 2014. Scott and Charcot at the col du Lauteret; 1908 trials of the first motor sledges designed for transport in the Antarctic. Grenoble: Station Alpine Joseph Fourier.Google Scholar
Bomann-Larsen, T. 2011. Roald Amundsen. Stroud: The History Press.Google Scholar
Cherry-Garrard, A. 1994. The worst journey in the world. London: Picador.Google Scholar
Crane, D. 2006. Scott of the Antarctic. London: Harper Perennial.Google Scholar
Ellis, A. (editor). 1969. Under Scott's command: Lashly's Antarctic diaries. London: Victor Gollancz.Google Scholar
Evans, E.R.G.R. 1949. South with Scott. London: Collins.Google Scholar
Fiennes, R. 2004. Captain Scott. London: Hodder and Stoughton.Google Scholar
Griffiths, T. 1985. The last place on earth, episode three: Leading Men. Birmingham: Central Television.Google Scholar
Griffiths, T. 1986. Judgement over the dead: the screenplay of ‘The last place on earth’. Norfolk: Thetford Press.Google Scholar
Hooper, M. 2011. The longest winter. London: John Murray.Google Scholar
Huntford, R. 1979. Scott and Amundsen. London: Hodder and Stoughton.Google Scholar
Huntford, R. 2002. Scott and Amundsen. London: Abacus.Google Scholar
Huntford, R. 2010. Race for the south pole. London: Continuum Publishing.Google Scholar
King, P. (editor) 1999. Scott's last journey. London: HarperCollins.Google Scholar
Kløver, G.O. 2010a. The Roald Amundsen diaries: The south pole expedition 1910–12. Oslo: The Fram Museum.Google Scholar
Kløver, G.O. 2010b. Roald Amundsens dagbøker: Sydpolsekspedisjonen 1910–12. Oslo: The Fram Museum.Google Scholar
Kløver, G.O. 2011a. Thorvald Nilsens dagbøker: Sydpolsekspedisjonen 1910–14. Oslo: The Fram Museum.Google Scholar
Kløver, G.O. 2011b. Mannskapet dagbøker [the crew's journals]: Sydpolsekspedisjonen 1910–14. Oslo: The Fram Museum.Google Scholar
Knopp, G. 2012. Der Wettlauf zum Südpol: das größte Abenteuer der Geschichte. München: C. Bertelsmann Verlag.Google Scholar
Lambert, K. 2002. Hell with a capital H: an epic story of Antarctic survival. London: Pimlico.Google Scholar
Lane, H., Boneham, N. and Smith, R.D.. 2012. The last letters: the British Antarctic expedition 1910–13. Cambridge: Scott Polar Research Institute.Google Scholar
Langner, R-K. 2007. Scott and Amundsen: duel in the ice. London: Haus Publishing.Google Scholar
Levick, G.M. 2012. A gun for a fountain pen: Antarctic journal November 1910–January 1912. Perth, Western Australia: Australian Capital Equity Pty Ltd.Google Scholar
Lewis, G. and May, K.. 2013. ‘Will make a good Admiral’: a reassessment of Captain Scott's naval career. Polar Record 51 (257): 111129.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MacPhee, R.D.E. 2010. Race to the end: Amundsen, Scott and the attainment of the south pole. New York: Sterling Publishing Co.Google Scholar
May, K. 2012. Could Captain Scott have been saved? Revisiting Scott's last expedition. Polar Record 49 (248): 7290.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
May, K. and Lewis, G.. 2015. ‘They are not the ponies they ought to have been’: revisiting Cecil Meares’ purchase of Siberian ponies for Captain Scott's British Antarctic (Terra Nova) Expedition (1910–1913). Polar Record. URL: journals.cambridge.org/article_S0032247415000029 (accessed 17 March 2015).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rosove, M. 2001. Antarctica, 1772–1922: freestanding publications through 1999. California: Adélie Books.Google Scholar
Scott, R.F. 1913. Scott's last expedition. Vol. I. New York: Dodd, Mead and Co.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Seymour, T. 2012. My grandfather, a modern medievalist: the life of the 8th Baron de Walden. National Trust Publications.Google Scholar
Shackleton, E. 2000. The heart of the Antarctic. London: Penguin.Google Scholar
Thyvold, H-O. 2010. Roald Amundsen: conqueror of the south pole. Oslo: Font Forlag.Google Scholar
Tosh, J. 2002. The pursuit of history. (revised 3rd edn). Harlow: Pearson Education Limited.Google Scholar
Turney, C. 2012. 1912: the year the world discovered Antarctica. London: The Bodley Head.Google Scholar