Scott, Robert Falcon ___ 1868-1912 ___ British ___ explorer

BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY
Scott was born near Devonport, Devon, into a family with strong naval traditions. He was educated locally, but turned to the navy in 1880, when only 13. On completion of his training in 1882, he became a midshipman on HMS Boadicea. Six years later, he rose to the rank of sub-lieutenant on HMS Spider and then, in 1989, to lieutenant. Later, he joined the flagship of the Channel Squadron, HMS Majestic, and was appointed as lieutenant for torpedoes. However, his career took a turn in 1901 when the Royal Geographical Society asked him to command a National Antarctic Expedition. As well as undertaking biological, meteorological and geological studies, the expedition charted approximately 1,200 miles of coastline. On his return to England in 1904, Scott was promoted to captain, and, a year later, made commander of the Royal Victorian Order. In 1906, he returned to a sea-going naval position on HMS Victorious, and then served successively on HMS Albemarle and HMS Bulwark. In 1908, he married Kathleen Bruce. They had one son in 1910. In 1909, Scott was appointed Naval Secretary to the Second Sea Lord. A year later he set off on his second major expedition, this time with the intention of reaching the South Pole. But he and his team were delayed by bad weather, and, as is well known, Roald Amundsen, using dogs and with better weather, reached the pole first. On the return journey, Scott and all the members of his team were unable to journey through the blizzards and the cold and perished in February-March 1912. The bodies, along with diaries and important geologicals sample, were discovered eight months later.
A biography link
Wikipedia bio
The Diary Review - Race to the South Pole

DIARY DATES, CONTENT DESCRIPTORS
1910-1912 ___ exploration geology weather

WEB TEXT LINKS
a few extracts
etext
a few pages

ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT LINKS
Cambridge University: Scott Polar Research Institute
Royal Geographical Society ___ 1911 (also some at British Library)

SOME PUBLISHED TITLES
The Diaries of Captain Robert Scott: A Record of the Second Antartic Expedition 1910-1912
Scott’s Last Expedition: The Journals
 

May 2005, August 2008, April 2013
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IMPORTANT NOTES AND CAUTIONS: 1) The first line of basic information may be incomplete in several ways: some historical figures have different names (titles, pen-names); their birth and death dates may be unknown or uncertain (g - guess, c - circa); similarly, their occupations may be unknown, or they may have had other jobs; and, for early diarists, I've used 'British' a bit too freely. 2) The biographical summary may not be accurate. It was compiled quickly from various sources, mostly on the internet, and the facts were not checked anywhere near as rigorously as they would have been if they'd been intended for publication in a printed form. 3) The journal dates and descriptors (which are in no particular order) must be treated with caution: since I have not examined the diaries myself, the descriptors are only guesses based on bibliographies, anthologies and internet biographies. 4) For the biography and etext links, I have ignored any sites with charges, and I have avoided, wherever possible, those with pop-ups or too much advertising. I have limited myself to providing three etext links where there is some variety between them. 5) For the original manuscript links, I have limited myself to providing a maximum of two (although, for a few diarists, their original diaries are held in more than two places). 6) I have provided the titles - chosen randomly - for up to three printed editions of the diaries.