SCOTT, ROBERT FALCON (1868-191 if; and explorer, was born at Devonport on June 6, 1868. Educated at Stoke Damerel and Stubbington House, Fareham, he passed into H.M.S. "Britannia" in 188o, and in 1882 became a midship man on the "Boadicea." In 1897 he was promoted first lieutenant, and two years later he was recommended as commander of the National Antarctic Expedition. On taking up his duties in the "Discovery," in 1900, he was promoted commander. During the four years which followed, Scott proved both an intrepid and able leader, and a competent scientific investigator; and on his return in 1904 he was promoted to the rank of captain. For the next six years he served in the navy, commanding successively, the "Victorious," the "Essex," and the "Bulwark," until, in 1909, he announced his intention of organizing another Antarctic ex pedition, for the purpose of continuing the work of the "Dis covery" and of reaching the South Pole.
Backed financially by the British and Dominion Governments, Scott set sail in June 1910 in the "Nova Terra," and in Nov. 1911, began his southern sledge journey. Though delayed by bad weather, Scott and his f our companions reached the Pole on Jan. 18, 1912, to find that they had been forestalled by Amundsen. Sickness, insufficiency of food, and the severity of the weather, made travelling very slow on the return journey, and on Feb. 17, Petty Officer Evans broke down under the strain
and died. A month later, Oates, who was too ill to travel further, walked out into a blizzard, hoping, by his sacrifice, to save his companions; but the weather prevented all possibilities of advanc ing, and the remainder of the party perished on or about March 27, 1912. On Nov. 12, 1912, a search party found Scott's tent, containing the bodies of Scott, Dr. E. A. Wilson and Lieut. H. R. Bowers, as well as Scott's records and diaries, in which was given a full account of the journey and the deaths of Capt. Oates and Petty Officer Edgar Evans. A memorial service was held in St Paul's cathedral, London, on Feb. 14, 1913, and a Mansion House fund was subsequently raised to make provision for the surviving relatives of the lost explorers. The rank and precedence of the wife of a K.C.B. were by royal warrant con ferred on Captain Scott's widow.
See R. F. Scott, The Voyage of the "Discovery" (1905) ; L. Huxley, Scott's Last Expedition (1913) ; E. R. G. R. Evans, South with Scott (1921) ; British Antarctic Expedition (Terra Nova) 19io-413: Scien tific Results (1914) Geographical Journal (1902-13) passim.