XVI.—The Schizopoda, Stomatopoda, and non-Antarctic Isopoda of the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition

1914 ◽  
Vol 49 (4) ◽  
pp. 865-894 ◽  
Author(s):  
Walter M. Tattersall

The present report deals with the whole of the Schizopoda and Stomatopoda in the Scotia collections, and with those Isopoda which were taken in localities outside the limits of Antarctica. I am indebted to the courtesy of Dr W. S. Bruce for the opportunity of examining and reporting on these collections. The report on the Antarctic Isopoda is being prepared by Mr T. V. Hodgson.I also include a few notes on a small collection of Schizopoda which were taken by the Discovery on its outward journey to the South Pole, for the opportunity of examining which I am indebted to the kindness of Dr W. T. Calman, of the British Museum. These latter records are most appropriately included here along with those of the species which the Scotia captured on her outward journey, over very nearly the same ground.

Author(s):  
Nicoletta Brazzelli

The centenary of Scott’s arrival at the South Pole in 1912 and of his tragic death during the return journey has been celebrated through exhibitions and conferences, while a general reassessment of Scott’s figure has been provided by several scholars. In particular, the scientific role of the 1910-12 British Antarctic expedition is now emphasized: Scott’s aim was not only to reach the Pole but especially to collect data and geological specimens of a completely unknown continent. This introduction focuses on the scientific dimension of Scott’s enterprise, giving special attention to the role of photography, employed during the expedition as a tool of scientific exploration, and to the crucial impact of photographs on the modern perception of the Antarctic. Another important point concerns the Scott Polar Research Institute (Cambridge, UK), founded in 1920 to commemorate Scott, that laid the foundations of Polar studies and pioneered scientific research throughout the twentieth century.


Author(s):  
Paolo Bernat

100 years ago, Antarctica was still mostly unknown and unexplored. The first landings on the Antarctic coast took place in the early decades of the nineteenth century and were made by whalers and sealers. In the following years the first scientific expeditions began and European and US expeditions started the geographical discovery and the mapping of the Antarctic coasts. But it was only in the years 1911-1912 that two expeditions, very different but equally well prepared, arrived almost simultaneously at the South Pole. The events that happened in the Antarctic together with the different nature of the two leaders Roald Amundsen and Robert Scott determined the outcome of these expeditions and the fate of their teams. The centenary of the conquest of the South Pole (December 14, 1911) is an opportunity to remember the passion for science, the spirit of adventure and the fierce perseverance that characterized those extraordinary men and that even now form the basis of scientific research and of human progress, not only in Antarctica but in all areas of knowledge and life.


Author(s):  
David Beerling

By arriving at the South Pole on 14 December 1911, the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen (1872–1928) reached his destination over a month ahead of the British effort led by Captain Robert Falcon Scott (1868–1912). As Scott’s party approached the South Pole on 17 January 1912, they were devastated to see from afar the Norwegian’s black flag. On arrival, they discovered the remains of his camp with ski and sledge tracks, and numerous dog footprints. Amundsen, it turned out, had used dogs and diversionary tactics to secure victory while the British team had man-hauled their sledges. These differences were not lost on The Times in London, which marked the achievement with muted praise, declaring it ‘not quite in accordance with the spirit of fair and open competition which hitherto marked Antarctic exploration’. Exhausted, Scott and his men spent time the following day making scientific observations around the Pole, erected ‘our poor slighted Union Jack’, and photographed themselves in front of it (Plate 11). Lieutenant Bowers took the picture by pulling a string to activate the shutter. It is perhaps the most well known, and at the same time the saddest picture, of the entire expedition—a poignant image of the doomed party, all of whom look utterly fed up as if somehow sensing the fate awaiting them. The cold weather, icy wind, and dismal circumstances led Scott to acerbically remark in his diary: ‘Great god! This is an awful place and terrible enough to have laboured to it without the reward of priority.’ By this time, the party had been hauling their sledges for weeks, and all the men were suffering from dehydration, owing to fatigue and altitude sickness from being on the Antarctic plateau that sits nearly 3000m above sea level. Three of them, Captain Oates, Seaman Evans, and Bowers, were badly afflicted with frostbitten noses and cheeks. Ahead lay the return leg, made all the more unbearable by the crippling psychological blow of knowing they had been second to the Pole. After a gruelling 21-day trek in bitterly cold summit winds, the team reached their first cache of food and fuel, covering the distance six days faster than it had taken them to do the leg in the other direction.


1879 ◽  
Vol 168 ◽  
pp. 200-214 ◽  

The species of Crustacea hitherto obtained at Kerguelen Island are so few in number that they cannot be supposed to represent in an adequate manner this department of the Fauna. The Antarctic Expedition under Capt. Sir James Ross visited the island in the winter (May and June 1840), and of the species of Crustacea in the British Museum, apparently brought back by officers of that expedition from “Kerguelen Land,” two are new to science.


1928 ◽  
Vol 65 (7) ◽  
pp. 323-327 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. N. Edwards

The presence of members of the Glossopteris flora in Antarctica was first attested by the material collected from Mount Buckley by Dr. Wilson and Lieut. Bowers on Capt. Scott's last expedition to the South Pole. and the now famous specimens were described by Professor A. C. Seward (1914). Traces of fossil plants in Antarctica, were, however, first discovered by Mr. H. T. Ferrar, a member of the National Antarctic Expedition, 1901–1904, and were briefly described by Arber (1907), who reported, on some specimens from the Ferrar Glacier, that “several of these show fair-sized carbonaceous impressions or markings, which in all probability are of vegetable origin”. The evidence presented by this unpromising material did not “permit of any opinion as to the botanical nature or affinities of the fossils themselves, nor of the geological age of the beds in which they occur” (Arber, 1907, p. 48). Professor Seward examined the specimens and agreed with this conclusion (1914, p. 2).


2002 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 328-336 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. S. Lawrence ◽  
M. C. B. Ashley ◽  
M. G. Burton ◽  
P. G. Calisse ◽  
J. R. Everett ◽  
...  

AbstractThe near infrared sky spectral brightness has been measured at the South Pole with the Near Infrared Sky Monitor (NISM) throughout the 2001 winter season. The sky is found to be typically more than an order of magnitude darker than at temperate latitude sites, consistent with previous South Pole observations. Reliable robotic operation of the NISM, a low power, autonomous instrument, has been demonstrated throughout the Antarctic winter. Data analysis yields a median winter value of the 2.4μm (Kdark) sky spectral brightness of ˜120μJy arcsec−2 and an average of 210 ± 80μJy arcsec−2. The 75%, 50%, and 25% quartile values are 270 ± 100, 155 ± 60, and 80 ± 30μJy arcsec−2, respectively.


Polar Record ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 128-137 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beau Riffenburgh

ABSTRACTFifty dogs were ordered from Greenland for use on Douglas Mawson's Australasian Antarctic Expedition (1911–1914). Twenty-one more were later donated to the expedition by Roald Amundsen, when he reached Hobart after his successful attainment of the South Pole. Numerous pups were born during the expedition. This note gives the details of the individual dogs during the expedition, including their names (and why they were so named), descriptions (when known), and fates.


Polar Record ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 54 (2) ◽  
pp. 178-180 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris S.M. Turney

In ’Why didn't they ask Evans?’ (Turney, 2017), I draw together previously unpublished sources and new analyses of published material to cast further light on the circumstances that led to the fatal events surrounding the return of Captain Robert Falcon Scott's Polar Party on the British Antarctic Expedition (BAE, 1911–1913). Of particular importance are the notes on the meeting between the Royal Geographical Society's President Lord Curzon and the widows Kathleen Scott and Oriana Wilson in April 1913, which explicitly identify Lieutenant Edward ‘Teddy’ Evans as having removed food that exceeded his allocation as a member of the Last Supporting Party (Curzon, 1913), the establishment and almost immediate closure of a ‘Committee of Enquiry’ chaired by Lord Curzon (Beaumont, 1913a, b, c; Cherry-Garrard, 1913a; Darwin, 1913; Goldie, 1913), the recognition of missing food at key depots by the returning Polar Party on the 7, 24 and 27 February 1912 (Scott, 1913a; Wilson, 1912), Evans’ anger at not being selected as a member of the Polar Party and his early departure home (Evans, 1912), the revised timeline of when Evans fell down with scurvy on the Ross Ice Shelf to apparently align with when and where the food was removed (The Advertiser, 3 April 1912, Adelaide: 10) (Cherry-Garrard, 1922; Ellis, 1969; Evans, 1912, 1913a, 1943; Lashly, 1912; Scott, 1913a, 1913b), Evans’ failure to ensure Scott's orders regarding the return of the dog sledging teams had been acted on (Cherry-Garrard, 1922; Gran, 1961; Hattersley-Smith & McGhie, 1984) and the misunderstanding amongst senior Royal Geographical Society members during Evans’ recuperation in the UK that Apsley Cherry-Garrard ‘was to meet the South Pole party, with two teams of dogs, at the foot of the [Beardmore] glacier’ (Markham, 1913). I would like to thank May (2018) for her comment and acknowledge that Edward Wilson's sketchbooks of the expedition's logistics, scientific priorities, sketches and notes on the BAE comprise entries from 1911–1912 and not solely from 1912, which Turney (2017) used to denote the year of the last entry.


2012 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 169-172 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin Brown

Dr Edward Wilson was a polar explorer who accompanied Robert Falcon Scott (1868–1912) on his expeditions to Antarctica in 1900 and 1910. He went with Scott to the South Pole and died with him on the return journey in 1912. Although medically qualified, he is now remembered more as a naturalist and as a talented artist recording the Antarctic expeditions.


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