BOOK REVIEW: Robert Falcon Scott has played many roles in life and death: the great British hero, the enduring symbol of imperial “Britishness”, the flawed disciplinarian who sentenced the final doomed expedition to death through a lethal mixture of personal hubris and stiff-necked incompetence.
NZ author Harrison Christian now enters the debate with a carefully drawn, eminently readable portrait of a focused, conscientious and efficient leader whose virtues as a naval officer hid, as he writes, “an inner turmoil which sent beyond the angst of youth”.
There were the periods of depression and anxiety; in Scott’s own words, the sickness of heart. But the book is dominated by Scott the visionary who became mesmerised by the concept of Britain leading the charge across Antarctica towards the South Pole while fighting his inner demons and betrayal by a fellow officer.
Perceived through Christian’s eye, the 1901-1904 British expedition also under Scott’s leadership was, in many respects, a harsh prelude to the 1910-1913 expedition. But it was significant for another reason. It marked the first meeting between Scott and a young officer called Edward Evans, the man whose ambition and ego could have led directly to the deaths of Scott and three fellow expedition members, Christian suggests. If Harrison’s book has a villain, it is Evans. The case against him may remain unproven but his antagonism towards Scott clearly is not.
If Scott was the orderly and disciplined product of a poor gentry family, Evans’ middle class childhood was marked by a sense of rebellion and hooliganism which led to his entering the Royal Navy via an establishment for troublesome boys. Most significantly, a burgeoning ego and ambition sparked abiding resentments against anyone he perceived as ignoring his abilities. They included, fatally, Robert Scott. In hindsight, Evans’ appointment as second-in-command to the second Antarctic expedition was ill-judged. The clash of personalities was inevitable. In a footnote, Christian reports even their wives loathed each other.
The final blow came with Scott’s decision not to include Evans on that final doomed push towards the Pole. Despite reporting to be suffering from scurvy, Evans was furious to be sent back, and attacked Scott’s leadership in letters to friends and fellow officers.
TERRA NOVA: Ambition, Jealousy and Simmering Rivalry in the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration sets a cracking pace from the start, detailing the 1910 expedition and its members from its start to its final days. But it ultimately pivots around correspondence and notes by the president of the Royal Geographic Society, Lord George Curzon, into the deaths of Scott’s team. Curzon had become deeply concerned about Scott’s references to an apparent shortage of food and fuel stored in the various depots along their route. It was suggested that this was directly caused by Evans removing more than their carefully allocated share of supplies from the stores on their own return journey. Evans was already known for “cadging” more than his share of food and supplies from other team members.
Scott had also reportedly ordered dog teams to meet his party at an appointed date and latitude, orders which Evans, consumed by resentment, apparently forgot or ignored. Curzon privately reported these issues to the society, which was already aware of Evans’ flaws, but his concerns were never made public. Evans was never questioned. Scott’s and Edward Wilson’s diaries and records were also carefully edited to remove any hint of controversy. Curzon’s report and notes were only discovered in the British Library in 2017.
“Edwardian sensibilities about honour and discretion had ensured that Scott’s problems with Evans never left the sphere of rumour,” Christian writes. Evans received a peerage and lived on as a distinguished officer. Appearances had been maintained.
TERRA NOVA: Ambition, Jealousy and Simmering Rivalry in the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration by Harrison Christian (Ultimo Press, $36.99) is out now.
