ABSTRACT
As Scott lay dying in his tent, he wrote thirteen letters to his family and coun-
trymen in addition to his last diary entries:
For four days we have been unable to leave the tent – the gale
howling about us. We are weak, writing is difficult, but for my own
sake I do not regret this journey, which has shown that Englishmen
can endure hardships, help one another, and meet death with as great
a fortitude as ever in the past … Had we lived, I should have had a tale
to tell of the hardihood, endurance, and courage of my companions,
which would have stirred the heart of every Englishman. These rough
notes and our dead bodies must tell the tale …1
It was a great adventure. It reaffirmed the enduring romance that the English
have with Englishness. All the evidence suggests that Scott was deeply fulfilled
by his own death. Antarctica marked the last gasp of European expansionist
exploration. It was the good fight: conquest without the subjugation of indige-
nous peoples, exploration without exploitation of the environment, its drives
untainted by the lure of economic gain, development, new markets (Figure
4.1).2
