The Race to the South Pole: Amundsen and Scott, 1910 to 1912, Date by Date

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The timeline was drafted with AI help from the sources listed under each entry, and I checked every date against them before publishing. Our editorial policy explains what a person reviews. More episodes on the same subject are on the Antarctic history theme page.

Two expeditions with the same goal

Amundsen did not set out to go south. In 1908 he presented a plan to drift across the Arctic Ocean in Fridtjof Nansen’s old ship, the Fram, and hoped to pass over the North Pole. In 1909 both Frederick Cook and Robert Peary announced they had reached the North Pole. Amundsen changed course but kept it to himself. Most of his own crew did not know until the ship reached Madeira.

Scott’s British Antarctic Expedition was already at sea, with ponies, dogs and motor sledges and a scientific programme. Amundsen later explained why he did not feel he was spoiling anything: “The British expedition was designed entirely for scientific research. The Pole was only a side-issue, whereas in my extended plan it was the main object.” Scott’s men did not see it that way. Cherry-Garrard wrote that when the news of the Norwegian base reached them, “for an hour or so we were furiously angry”.

During the march itself, neither party had any news of the other.

Timeline, June 1910 to November 1912

1. 7 June 1910

   The Fram leaves Christiania

   Amundsen’s ship leaves Christiania, now Oslo, for a cruise of about two months in the North Atlantic. Officially the expedition is still bound for the Arctic. The same book also dates a short trip from Christiania to Amundsen’s home on the Bundefjord, to load the prefabricated winter hut, to 3 June.

   Source: Roald Amundsen, The South Pole, translated by A. G. Chater (Project Gutenberg)

2. 15 June 1910

   The Terra Nova leaves Cardiff

   Scott’s ship had sailed from the West India Dock in London on 1 June. From Cardiff she heads for New Zealand, where ponies, dogs and motor sledges come aboard.

   Source: Apsley Cherry-Garrard, The Worst Journey in the World (Project Gutenberg)

3. 6 to 9 September 1910

   At Madeira, the crew learns the ship is going south

   The Fram reaches Madeira on 6 September, having left Christiansand on 9 August with 97 dogs on board. Before she sails again, Amundsen calls all hands on deck. His second in command unrolls a chart of the southern hemisphere, and Amundsen tells them the goal is the South Pole. “Every single man had his ‘Yes’ ready.” The Fram weighs anchor at 9 p.m. on 9 September.

   Source: Roald Amundsen, The South Pole, translated by A. G. Chater (Project Gutenberg)

4. 12 October 1910

   A telegram is waiting for Scott in Melbourne

   The Terra Nova comes up Melbourne harbour on the evening of 12 October, and a telegram from Amundsen is waiting. Cherry-Garrard, who was on board, gives it as “Madeira. Am going South. AMUNDSEN.” Other sources word it differently; see the notes below the timeline.

   Source: Apsley Cherry-Garrard, The Worst Journey in the World (Project Gutenberg)

5. 4 January 1911

   Scott chooses Cape Evans for his hut

   The ice in the Sound is further open than Scott expected. He wants a base that will not easily be cut off from the Barrier, picks a cape he used to call the Skuary and renames it Cape Evans “in honour of our excellent second in command”. The hut goes up on a beach facing north-west.

   Source: Scott’s Last Expedition, Volume I: Scott’s journals (Project Gutenberg)

6. 14 January 1911

   The Fram moors in the Bay of Whales

   Five months after leaving Norway, with one port call on the way, the Fram reaches the Ross Barrier. The Norwegians build their base, Framheim, at the Bay of Whales on the eastern side of the Barrier. It is closer to the Pole than Scott’s base, but the route south from it is unknown.

   Sources: Roald Amundsen, The South Pole, translated by A. G. Chater (Project Gutenberg);Store norske leksikon, “Fram III-ekspedisjonen”, by Susan Barr

7. 4 February 1911

   The Terra Nova finds the Fram

   At half past six in the morning, the Norwegians walking down to their ship see a large barque moored at the ice edge just south of the Fram. It is Scott’s Terra Nova. Amundsen goes on board her the same day.

   Source: Roald Amundsen, The South Pole, translated by A. G. Chater (Project Gutenberg)

8. 22 February 1911

   Scott reads the news

   On the Barrier, Scott gets a mail bag with a letter from Campbell describing “the finding of Amundsen established in the Bay of Whales”. Scott writes that the Norwegian plan is “a very serious menace to ours”. They have 60 miles less to the Pole, and with dogs they can start early in the season, “an impossible condition with ponies”. He decides to carry on “exactly as though this had not happened”.

   Source: Scott’s Last Expedition, Volume I: Scott’s journals (Project Gutenberg)

9. 8 September 1911

   Amundsen starts too early

   Eight men leave Framheim with seven sledges and ninety dogs. The next day the temperature falls to between -58° and -75° F and stays there. At the depot at 80° S they turn back to wait for spring. Store norske leksikon calls this start Amundsen’s only serious mistake. On the way back he hurried ahead of the weakest men. That led to a bitter quarrel with Hjalmar Johansen. Johansen and Kristian Prestrud were both left out of the polar team, and Prestrud was sent to explore King Edward VII Land instead.

   Sources: Roald Amundsen, The South Pole, translated by A. G. Chater (Project Gutenberg);Store norske leksikon, “Fram III-ekspedisjonen”, by Susan Barr

10. 20 October 1911

    The Norwegian polar party leaves Framheim

    Five men with four sledges and 52 dogs, and food for four months: Roald Amundsen, Olav Bjaaland, Helmer Hanssen, Sverre Hassel and Oscar Wisting. They have laid depots at 80°, 81° and 82° S, each marked with a row of flags on both sides.

    Sources: Roald Amundsen, The South Pole, translated by A. G. Chater (Project Gutenberg);Store norske leksikon, “Fram III-ekspedisjonen”, by Susan Barr

11. 1 November 1911

    Scott leaves Cape Evans

    The British set off in detachments, the first ponies at about 11 a.m. Support parties, motor sledges and dogs go with them.

    Sources: Scott’s Last Expedition, Volume I: Scott’s journals (Project Gutenberg);The Gazette, “Terra Nova Expedition, 1910 to 1913”

12. 14 December 1911

    The Norwegians reach the South Pole

    At three in the afternoon, by their reckoning, they halt at their goal. All five plant the Norwegian flag together, and Amundsen names the plateau after King Haakon VII. They stay on to fix the position, and leave a small tent with letters for the King and for Scott. Store norske leksikon notes that Amundsen’s diary gives 15 December, because he had not set the date back after crossing the date line on the voyage south.

    Sources: Roald Amundsen, The South Pole, translated by A. G. Chater (Project Gutenberg);Store norske leksikon, “Fram III-ekspedisjonen”, by Susan Barr

13. 4 January 1912

    Scott’s last support party turns back

    Scott says goodbye to the second party. Five go on: Scott, Wilson, Bowers, Oates and Edgar Evans, with Bowers on foot, pulling between and behind Scott and Wilson. “Teddy Evans is terribly disappointed but has taken it very well,” Scott writes. “Poor old Crean wept.”

    Sources: Scott’s Last Expedition, Volume I: Scott’s journals (Project Gutenberg);The Gazette, “Terra Nova Expedition, 1910 to 1913”

14. 17 January 1912

    Scott reaches the Pole

    The day before, Bowers had spotted a black flag tied to a sledge bearer, with ski and dog tracks all round. “The Norwegians have forestalled us and are first at the Pole,” Scott wrote that day. At the Pole: “Great God! this is an awful place and terrible enough for us to have laboured to it without the reward of priority.” Next morning they find the Norwegian tent, a record of the five names and a note asking Scott to forward a letter to King Haakon.

    Source: Scott’s Last Expedition, Volume I: Scott’s journals (Project Gutenberg)

15. 25 or 26 January 1912

    Amundsen is back at Framheim

    At 4 a.m. the polar party reaches the hut with two sledges and eleven dogs, “men and animals all hale and hearty”. Amundsen’s written plan, worked out at his home in September 1909, had ended: “Thus we shall be back from the Polar journey on January 25.” Store norske leksikon gives 26 January, after 99 days and about 3,000 km of sledging.

    Sources: Roald Amundsen, The South Pole, translated by A. G. Chater (Project Gutenberg);Store norske leksikon, “Fram III-ekspedisjonen”, by Susan Barr

16. 17 February 1912

    Edgar Evans dies

    Evans keeps dropping out of the traces. When the others go back for him he is on his knees, his hands bare and frostbitten. They get him into the tent, and he dies “quietly at 12.30 A.M.”, so strictly in the first hour of 18 February. Wilson thought he had injured his brain in a fall.

    Source: Scott’s Last Expedition, Volume I: Scott’s journals (Project Gutenberg)

17. 7 March 1912

    The Fram anchors in Hobart

    After five weeks at sea from the Bay of Whales, the Fram reaches Hobart in Tasmania. From there the news of the Pole goes out to the world.

    Sources: Roald Amundsen, The South Pole, translated by A. G. Chater (Project Gutenberg);Store norske leksikon, “Fram III-ekspedisjonen”, by Susan Barr

18. 16 or 17 March 1912

    Oates walks out into the blizzard

    Scott has lost track of the date and heads the entry “Friday, March 16 or Saturday 17”. Oates, who had asked the day before to be left behind in his sleeping-bag, wakes in a blizzard and says: “I am just going outside and may be some time.” He is not seen again.

    Source: Scott’s Last Expedition, Volume I: Scott’s journals (Project Gutenberg)

19. 29 March 1912

    Scott’s last diary entry

    A gale has blown since 21 March, and the three men left are in their tent 11 miles from the next depot. On the 20th they had fuel for two cups of tea each and food for two days. The entry ends: “For God’s sake look after our people.” Nobody knows the exact day they died; this is the last date in the diary.

    Source: Scott’s Last Expedition, Volume I: Scott’s journals (Project Gutenberg)

20. 12 November 1912

    The search party finds the tent

    Eleven or twelve miles south of One Ton depot, the search party sees what looks like a cairn. It is the tent, drifted over with snow. Inside are Scott, Wilson and Bowers. The note left on the cairn built over them says they reached the Pole on 17 January 1912, “after the Norwegian expedition had already done so”.

    Source: Apsley Cherry-Garrard, The Worst Journey in the World (Project Gutenberg)

Where the sources disagree

• The telegram. Cherry-Garrard, who was in Melbourne, quotes “Madeira. Am going South. AMUNDSEN.” Store norske leksikon gives a Norwegian text that means “Allow me to inform you that the Fram is going to the Antarctic. Amundsen.” I have not seen the original form, so the page quotes both and picks neither.
• The day at the Pole. Amundsen’s book says 14 December 1911. Store norske leksikon says his diary has 15 December, one day out because of the date line. The record Scott found in the Norwegian tent is dated 16 December 1911. The timeline uses 14 December, the date Amundsen published.
• The return to Framheim. The book says 25 January 1912, exactly the day the plan named. Store norske leksikon says 26 January. The same one-day shift may explain it, but no source I read says so.
• Oates. Scott did not know whether it was 16 or 17 March when he wrote it down, so neither date is certain.
• Scott’s death. No one saw it. The last diary date is 29 March 1912, and Cherry-Garrard, who was with the search party, wrote: “They got to this point on March 21, and on the 29th all was over.”
• Leaving Norway. Amundsen’s book gives 7 June 1910 for leaving Christiania and 3 June for an earlier trip from the city to his home on the Bundefjord. The voyage south began from Christiansand on 9 August.

Why the Norwegians were faster

Scott named the main reasons himself in February 1911, when he heard where Amundsen was: a base 60 miles closer to the Pole, and dogs that could start earlier in the season than ponies. Amundsen had chosen the Bay of Whales after studying earlier expeditions, which put him on an unknown route but gave him that head start in distance.

The Norwegian party was also small and fast. Five men on ski with dog sledges laid depots at 80°, 81° and 82° S and marked them with flags, so they could be found in bad weather. Dogs were part of the food plan on the way. Store norske leksikon sums up the result: the three-month journey to the Pole and back went almost without problems.

Scott took ponies, motor sledges and dogs, but on the last stretch his five men pulled the sledge themselves. His entry for 4 January 1912 describes how they pulled it together. On the way back, Edgar Evans and then Oates died, and the last three stopped 11 miles short of their next depot.

Sources

The dates and quotes on this page come from these texts. The three books are first-hand accounts by men who were there, free to read on Project Gutenberg.

• Roald Amundsen, The South Pole, translated by A. G. Chater (Project Gutenberg)
• Scott’s Last Expedition, Volume I: Scott’s journals (Project Gutenberg)
• Apsley Cherry-Garrard, The Worst Journey in the World (Project Gutenberg)
• Store norske leksikon, “Fram III-ekspedisjonen”, by Susan Barr, in Norwegian
• The Gazette, “Terra Nova Expedition, 1910 to 1913”

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