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The discovery of Captain Scott's body in the Antarctic, in November 1912, started a global obsession with him as a man and an explorer. One mystery remains – why did he and his companions spend their last 10 days in a tent 17 kilometres from the relative safety of a large food and fuel depot? Watch author Richard Pierce speak about his own trip to the Antarctic in front of a packed Attenborough Studio at the Natural History Museum, and discover more about the men who inspired his first novel, Dead Men.
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We know what Scott wrote, we don’t know what really happend.
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And that’s why it’s so ideal for writers of fiction to make up what might have happened.
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4:45….WTF…..that dude looks very suspicious holding that bag with a large N on it….why not put it on the floor….hmmm….i dont trust him at all..
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Mr. Pierce says that the tent’s location is known though it must be 30 m. deep.
We know, he also confirms that the bodies were left in the tent. So that means they can also find the bodies today if they want to.
Ofcourse time+technology+money is needed together for sure.
Am I right?
Customer
@moustyish I think the families would need to be consulted. And burying them anywhere on Antarctica would mean they would disappear off into the sea at some point because the ice keeps moving.
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Richard Pierce thank you for the reply. I think we can also respect the bodies after discovering them. They can still be buried somewhere there. Newr the first main camp for example. It would be great such a discovery
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Yes, you’re right, and some people have tried to get such a project going. Personally, I think the grave should be respected.
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I’ll have to have a look for myself. You can’t write about the incident without putting your foot in the beartrap of long-running controversy.
Personally, I come down on the side of Roland Huntford. The man was incapable of learning, even from his OWN mistakes.
I won’t make any assumptions about your work, sight unseen, but historical novelizations always make me nervous. The author inevitably injects his own prejudices and assumptions into the blank spaces of the characters.
Customer
While most agree that Scott and Kathleen really did love each other the impression one gets was that he was as much her project as her husband and she needed to look elsewhere to truly satisfy her bohemian appetites.
As heroic martyr Scott became the perfect husband and (re: Lady Jane Franklin) his legacy became Kathleen’s life’s work from then on…
Customer
Okydoke. Huntford does run wild with conjecture in imagining details of the last days and hours in Scott’s tent. He DID write about Amundsen’s false start boo-boo.
He does write of Sir Clements’ homosexuality and drops hints that there may or may not have been some quid pro quo in his sponsoring the young Scott. It’s been a while but I’d sure like to know the primary source for the charge that Kathleen was boffing Nansen.
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Can’t be worse than the Huntford book.
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Oh, he’s selling a book.
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Gary Mitchell Indeed.
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I’ll need to pick up this book methinks. I’ve read A first rate tragedy which was excellent, and Cpt Scott’s journals which is fascinating. I’m still fascinated by the story of the race to the pole. Amundson is unfairly painted as a bit of a villain in the story of the race (especially by the british press of course) but IMO although he didn’t ‘play the game’ he was more predisposed and organised for the journey than Scott. Scott was soft-hearted and didn’t learn enough from discovery expidition
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I have read as many books as I could lay my hands on. Fascinating. I have also been there. What a fantastic experience. What I would like to know is where are they are now? The ice is moving slowly each year. How far has the tent moved in 100 years?
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+Loren Butt The book tells you 🙂 R
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If they had killed themselves with morphine then the ampules or whatever would still be there. Where did they get this nob from?
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Here’s a link to The Call of Aurora, an opera about Mawson’s 1911 -1914 expedition to Antarctica.
Let me know what you think. Joe
The Call of Aurora by Joe Bugden
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Sounds a good book, I like parallel history :/
so long as it’s not woke, I can’t read woke 🙁
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Whatever woke might be. It recounts it as I think it was, with a modern mystery and love story thrown in.
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Huntford makes good points & bad points (& writes well throughout). Not sure I agree with you re only novelists injecting their prejudices into the blank spaces – historians (specially narrative historians) tend to do this, too (Huntford & the pro-Scott historians being a case in point).
What I would say is that Huntford makes unprovable allegations about Scott’s sexuality & Kathleen’s love life while playing down Amundsen’s false start in Sept 1911 which nearly killed the entire Polar Party.
R
Customer
Hey! Whose the guy who’se got women sussed?. Scott was her project. Well done to her? Or to the guy whose got women sussed?.
The latter. She didn’t die so soon. Though her sculptures are wonderful. A clever female.
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If you’re talking satisfaction for a raging intellect, I agree. If you’re talking physical satisfaction, I’m not so sure. None of us will ever know that, and I don’t think any of us are in a position to judge (nor should we). Very interesting conversation, thank you. R
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I think the book might be very interesting for you to read, based as it is on a lot of original research and my own visit to the Antarctic. R
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For your next one, how about getting a floor mic?
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A sock in the latrine? Doesn’t take too much imagination to figure out how it got there. That’s one artifact I wouldn’t go out of my way to examine.
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What a lovely man! So humble too. Really enjoyed this and am looking forward to getting the novel.
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That’s so kind of you. Thank you very much. Made my day 🙂