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The race to the South pole
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Amundsen
Amundsen chartered the Norwegian ship Fram, whilst secretly planning for the South Pole instead -
Robert Scott
Scott announces his second south Pole expedition. -
Robert Scott
After very rushed preparations, Scott sailed from England to NZ with three motor sledges, nineteen Siberian ponies, thirty-three huskies and twenty-four men. -
Amundsen
Amunsden and his crew set off for Antarctica from Oslo, Norway on the Fram -
Amundsen
Fram docked at Madeira in Spain and Amundsen sent a telegram to Scott that he was going to the South Pole instead. -
Terra Nova
The Terra Nova, Scott's ship, was hit by a ferocoius gale three days out that lasted 36 hours and nearly sank the ship. -
Scott
Scott's old hut was blocked. -
Amundsen
Amundsen and crew reached Antarctica and docked at Ross Ice Shelf and set up base camp. -
Robert Scott
Scott's old hut on Ross Island was blocked by ice, so new winter quarters were built at Cape Evans, also on Ross Island.. NextScott organised the setting up of depots and a telephone line between Cape Evans and Hut Point in less than a week. Amundsen and his team took a good year to do the same. -
Amundsen
Amundsen's team of 5 men and 52 dogs set off for the South Pole. They travelled the most direct route. -
Robert Scott
Scott and his polar team left on their race to the South Polevwith 14 men on 2 motor sleds, 10 ponies and 2 dog sleds. Scott had decided that they would ride motor sleds and ponies until they could go no further and then haul the supplies by foot for the rest of the way. The motor sleds soon broke down and the horses kept sinking through ice and snow. The weather was miserable with blizzards. -
Amundsen
They reached their last supply depot, 772 kms away from the Pole. -
Amundsen
They created another supply depot for the return journey -
Robert Scott
The tired, starved and frozen horses were shot. The men had to pull their own sleds in deep snow. Some men were blinded and some fell down crevasses. -
Amundsen
They climbed a 3000m mountain glacier. -
Amundsen
They reached the South Pole. In 3 days, they skiied a radius of 16km, then planted the Norwegian flag. -
Robert Scott
Scott chose fellow explorers, Edward Wilson, Lawrence Oates, Edgar Evans and Henry Bowers to accompany him. The supplies had only been planned for a four-man team. -
Robert Scott
The five exhausted and starving men reached the South Pole, only to find that Amundsen had beaten them by 33 days. Now they had to survive the journey back to base camp in bad weather. -
Amundsen
They returned to the Bay of Whales, happy and excited -
Robert Scott
A delirious Evans died. -
Robert Scott
Oates limped out of the tent during a raging blizzard, saying "I'm just going outside and may be some time," He did not return. -
Robert Soctt
The blizzard lasted 8 days and took the lives of the remaining men just 18km from their next supply depot. -
Robert Scott
On March 29, 1912, Scott's second to last diary entry read: "Since the 21st we have had a continuous gale WSW and SW. We had fuel to make two cups of tea apiece and bare food for two days on the 20th. Every day we have been ready to start for our depot 11 miles away, but outside the door of the tent it remains a scene of whirling drift. I do not think we can hope for any better things now. We shall stick it out to the end, but we are getting weaker, of course, and the end cannot be far. -
Robert Scott
Last entry, "FOr god's sake, look after our people." They were not discovered until next summer when the search-party dug out their almost completely buried camp. Among their possessions were 16 kg of rock samples. -
Amundsen
Arrivedin Hobart, to announce victory
