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Roald Amundsen
By August of 1910,
Amundsen was ready to make his own attempt to reach the
South Pole, although all the world thought he was headed
in the complete opposite direction. He had secretly ruled
out attempting to reach the North Pole, because Americans
Robert Peary and Frederick Cook had already laid claim to
that feat.
Amundsen even kept
his plans for a South Pole expedition a secret from officials
within the Norwegian government. He feared that government
officials would be hesitant to challenge Great Britain,
upon whom they were highly dependent, in a race to the Pole.
It was not until
Amundsen's ship, "Fram", was well off the coast
of Morocco that he announced to his crew that they were
headed for the South, not the North, Pole.
- Complete Expedition -
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Robert F. Scott
Despite Scott's
efforts to find financial support for the mission, there
was barely enough money to pay the crew and fuel the ship
when the time came to get underway. The biggest discouragement
of all, however, was a telegram that awaited him when Terra
Nova stopped in Melbourne. It was sent by Roald Amundsen
to inform Scott that the Norwegian had changed his plans
and was heading south. The expedition had become a
race, and Terra Nova got off to a slow start.
When Amundsen's
startling cable reached him, Scott became deeply distressed,
though he worked hard not to show it. He had watched Shackleton
come close to snatching what he regarded as his prize, and
now a dangerous new threat had arisen
- Complete Expedition -
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