Exploring Shackleton’s ‘rivalry’ with Captain Scott

South Georgia the place where explorer Ernest Shackleton died.

When the Discovery ship set sail from Cardiff in August 1901 it had on board two men who would come to define the heroic age of Antarctic exploration for British Historians.

The lives of Ernest Shackleton and Robert Falcon Scott would become inextricably linked with the Discovery’s intended destination – Antarctica – as would their deaths.

That the Discovery Expedition, which both Shackleton and Scott were key figures in, was the first official British exploration of the Antarctic regions for over 60 years had much to do with the fact that other countries were taking a sudden interest in the continent of Antarctica.

Ships from Germany, Sweden, France and Scotland were all departing to explore this neglected part of the world just as Discovery’s crew waved goodbye to their loved ones from the deck of the ship.

So, while the Discovery mission ostensibly has scientific and geographical objectives, there was also a sense of one-upmanship about the task – could British explorers step on ground on which no man had stepped on before?

Accounts of the expedition also hint at a sense of one-upmanship between Scott, the ship’s captain, – and Shackleton, the third officer. The two men possibly discovered rather more about their ambitions (and limitations) than they did about science and geography by the time they (separately) returned to England several years later…

August 1901 – Discovery sets sail

As the ship raised its blue flag and hit the open ocean, Scott was in his 33^rd year. Shackleton, whose duties on board would include sea-water analysis, provision ordering and organising entertainment, was 27.

Scott soon made it clear that he wanted to run a tight ship –Discovery was not a Royal Navy ship but the captain still imposed a strict code of discipline in his dealings with the crew. It can only be guessed whether Shackleton felt a little shackled by this style of regime – he certainly favoured a more relaxed approach to dealing with his juniors when he later became a captain.

Ship steward Clarence Hare was to note that Shackleton was “the most popular of the officers among the crew, being a good mixer”. Scott, as the most senior officer, understandably had to keep more distance from other members of the crew as for a year they explored parts of a continent no human eyes had ever seen before.

November 1902

Another type of distance was certainly on the restless Scott’s mind as, on November 2^nd 1902, he attempted a march southwards to achieve the highest-possible latitude in the direction of the South Pole.

Shackleton, although only fourth-in-command, made the three-man team which Scott selected for the arduous trek. Multi-tasking junior doctor and zoologist Edward Wilson was the other man chosen for the arduous trek. Wilson’s ice-cool calmness and patience made him the ideal companion for the sometimes-fiery Scott.

Shackleton’s inclusion in the three-man team suggests that there was no particular resentment existing between him and Scott at this stage of the journey. Or perhaps Scott just wanted to pick the best men for the task.

Although not a serious attempt to reach the South Pole, the trek did come further south than any previous expedition. But the journey took its toll, not least on Shackleton’s health.

Wilson hinted at how Shackleton’s woes might have been regarded as an unwelcome burden on the small team. Wilson’s journal entry for 14th January reads: “Shackleton has been anything but up to the mark, and today he is decidedly worse, very short-winded and coughing constantly, with more serious symptoms that need not be detailed here but which are of no small consequence one hundred and sixty miles from the ship”.

To be fair to Shackleton, conditions had been perilous – all 22 sledge dogs accompanying the three-man expedition team died before the end of the return journey. The three men were all affected by snow-blindness before they reached the safety of The Discovery. Was it possible that they suffered from memory-blindness too – Scott indiscreetly claimed that an incapacitated Shackleton had to be carried on his sledge; so badly had his condition declined on the lonely return journey. Shackleton would insist this was not the case.

What is indisputable is the fact that the three men had heroically covered 960 miles during the southern trek’s 93 days. If Shackleton expected a hero’s welcome from The Discovery, he would have been disappointed – Scott unceremoniously sent him home on a relief ship and he took no further part in the expedition.

Many years later, Albert Armitage, the Discovery’s second-in-command, insisted that there had been a falling-out between the pair on the southern journey. Scott, Armitage claimed, had informed the ship’s doctor that “if he does not go back sick he will go back in disgrace”.

Certainly the publication of Scott’s account of Shackleton’s struggle in his book The Voyage of the Discovery, could not, have been viewed as a happy souvenir of the trip by Shackleton. According to biographer Roland Huntford, Shackleton’s attitude to Scott soon became one of “smouldering scorn and dislike”.

His captain might have sent him home from the expedition but, Huntford wrote, “a salvage of wounded pride required that Shackleton should return to the Antarctic in an attempt to outdo Scott”.

Post-script

In 1908 Shackleton made a successful return journey to the Antarctic – this time as leader of his own expedition – and came within 112 miles of the South Pole; considerably further than he and Scott had reached in 1903.

Norwegian explorer Roald Amudsen wrote a congratulatory telegram praising Shackleton for “a deed that cannot be surpassed”.

In 1911; the record was surpassed. By Amudsen. While Shackleton basked in the glory of a knighthood in his native Scotland, Scott died in the attempt to reach the South Pole before the great Norwegian.

A third Shackleton expedition to the Antarctic in 1914 and 1915 is documented in South; the explorer’s account of the heroic journey which sealed his reputation.

Still Shackleton’s ambitions were not satisfied and he launched an audacious effort to circumnavigate the Antarctic continent – a feat which even Scott had not attempted.

On 4^th January 1922, Shackleton’s ship The Quest arrived in South Georgia. The next morning Shackleton complained to the ship’s physician Macklin of back pains and other discomfort. Macklin told his charge that he had been overdoing things and should attempt to lead “a more regular life”.

It was a command which the extraordinary Shackleton, had he not suffered a heart attack moments later, was never likely to comply with.

Sources: http://www.noble-caledonia.co.uk/nc/press_article_detail.asp?id=25&from=tour&reference=1407

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/shackleton_ernest.shtml

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Shackleton

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Falcon_Scott