Roger Cox: Scotland's own mission to Antarctica has never had the attention it deserves
The Scotsman Sunday 13th March, 2011
13th, 1911. We have had some trouble with our blubber stove and got the hut very full of smoke... As a result we are all as black as sweeps and our various garments are covered with oily soot. We look a fearful gang of ruffians..."It's humorous, human entries like this that make Scott's diaries worth reading. Most people nowadays think of him as a caricature - a bloody-minded stoic who somehow managed to maintain a stiff upper lip in the face of certain death while carrying out his patriotic flag-planting duty. Yet here he is, chuckling away to himself at the failure of his team of crack polar adventurers to get a fire going without gassing themselves in the process. First published in 1913, shortly after the announcement of his death, Scott's diaries have long been available; but to mark ...
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