“Wednesday, January 17. – Camp 69.
T. -22º at start. Night -21º. The Pole. Yes, but under very
different circumstances from those expected. We have had a horrible day –add to
our disappointment a head wind 4 to 5,
with a temperature -22º, and companions labouring on with cold feet and hands.
We started at 7.30, none of us having slept
much after the shock of our discovery. We followed the Norwegian sledge tracks
for some way; as fas as we make out there are only two men. In about three
miles we passed two small cairns
Y es que a media tarde
del día anterior “[Bowers] detected a
black speck ahead. Soon we knew that this could not be
a natural snow feature. We marched on, found that it was a black flag tied to a
sledge bearer; near by the remains of a camp; sledge tracks and ski tracks
going and coming and the clear trace of dogs’ paws –many dogs. This told us the
whole story.The Norwegians have forestalled us and are the first at the Pole.
It’s a terrible disappointment, and I am very sorry for my loyal companions.”
Y así, aunque, ya en 1912,
la expedición de Scott también alcanzara el Polo Sur, no hubo alegría:
“Great God! This is an awful place and
terrible enough for us to have laboured to it without the reward of priority.”
Ahora ya, sólo quedaba
regresar:
“Now for the run home and a desperate
struggle. I wonder if we can do it.”
Créditos:
Extractos de las anotaciones
correspondientes a los días 17 y 16 de enero de 1912, de los Diarios del Capitán Robert Falcon Scott,
tomados de la edición realizada en 2005 por Max Jones de Journals. Captain Scott’s Last Expedition, y publicada por Oxford
University Press en su colección Oxford
World’s Classicss, en 2006 y reimpresa en 2008 (pp. 376-377).
Fotografía de los cinco
integrantes de la expedición, realizada por el Teniente Bowers, tomada del
antedicho libro, donde está publicada con permiso del Scott Polar Research Institute de la Universidad de Cambridge.
