Search This Blog

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Robert Scott's farewell letter to be auctioned


They made a pledge to "die like gentlemen"




Farewell Letter by Explorer Robert Falcon Scott to be Auctioned at Bonhams

By Monami Thakur

A goodbye letter, which Royal Navy officer and explorer Robert Falcon Scott wrote when he realized that he would not be able to survive his ill-fated expedition to the South Pole, will be sold at Bonhams.

The letter was found in November 1912 on his body and was written to Sir Edgar Speyer, American-born financier and philanthropist.

In the letter, Scott expressed concerns for his family and the family of his companions. He wrote that they "must go...but we have been to the Pole and we shall die like gentlemen - I regret only for the women we leave behind.

If this diary is found, it will show how we stuck by our dying companions and fought this thing out to the end."

He further wrote that they very nearly "came through and it's a pity to have missed it but lately I have felt that we have overshot our mark - no-one is to blame and I hope no attempt will be made to suggest that we lacked support."


Read the full story

No comments: