Captain Robert Falcon Scott:

[Administrator]

Amid the dramas and documentaries inspired by the centenary of the sinking of the Titanic, it could be easy to forget that this year also marked another significant anniversary - it's 100 years since Captain Robert Falcon Scott and his companions lost their life during their journey to the South Pole.

It was an epic expedition, which would push them beyond the limits of human endurance, and it's hard to imagine what they went through.


The Terra Nova expedition ship moved from London to Cardiff before leaving for the Antarctic, to load provisions and coal for her journey south. Cardiff businessmen and citizens were so generous that Scott decided that the 'Terra Nova' should set sail from there to reward Cardiff for the generosity of these expedition supporters and had hopes for a safe and triumphant return. On the 15th June 1910, Captain Robert Falcon Scott set sail from Cardiff in the S.S. Terra Nova, to conquer the South Pole. Before leaving Scott pledged - "I will reach the South Pole or I will never come back again." The rest is history or should be:

Scott and his party fought ferocious weather to return to their supply depot but died in their tent just a few miles from fresh supplies on, or shortly after, 29 March, 1912.

There is a Scott Society in Cardiff, it promotes the "Spirit of Adventure" and holds an Annual Memorial Dinner in honour of Scott and his fellow companions. The society met in same room that Scott dined, in the Royal Hotel, Cardiff. Though the room would appear little different today, it was actually, carefully, totally stripped and re-assembled one floor above recently as part of a major refurbishment:

The lighthouse at Roath Park lake in Cardiff remains a tribute to Scott and a more recent tribute to Scott and his history with Cardiff including the generosity of the local population, is at Cardiff (Tiger) Bay.

LINK 1: www.royalhotelcardiff.com/the-captain-scott-room.html

LINK 2: www.captainscottsociety.com/royalhotel.html

K.

[KG]

Terra nova:

The ship which transported Captain Scott’s ill-fated expedition to the South Pole has been discovered off the coast of Greenland by a team of researchers.

Captain Scott and his team sailed the Terra Nova from Cardiff on June 15 1910 in their quest to be the first people to reach the south pole. They arrived in the Antarctic in November 1911 and started the 167-mile trek that would eventually claim the lives of the five men.

After the ill-fated expedition, the Terra Nova was bought by her previous owners, the Bowring Brothers, and in 1913 she returned to the Antarctic to work in the Newfoundland seal fishery.

During the First World War she was used for coastal trading. In 1942 the ship was chartered by Newfoundland Base Contractors to carry supplies to Greenland, but on September 13, 1943, she was damaged by ice.

The US Coastguard rescued all 24 crew then fired into her side, sinking the ship off the south-west tip of Greenland.

LINK: uk.news.yahoo.com/great-scott-video-captains-wreck-emerges-040310934.html

K.