Where should Captain Scott's support parties have turned back?

• Published in: Polar Record
• Main Author: Lantz, Björn
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 2018
• Subjects: General Earth and Planetary Sciences; Ecology; Geography, Planning and Development; Ross Ice Shelf; South Pole; Beardmore; Beardmore Glacier; Ice Shelf; Polar Record; South pole
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0032247418000098; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0032247418000098

ABSTRACT Captain Robert Falcon Scott's plan for the attempt to reach the South Pole during the Terra Nova Expedition was to use horses, motorised sledges and dog teams to lay depots on the Ross Ice Shelf to advance the effective starting point for the three man-hauling groups to the foot of the Beardmore Glacier. His idea was that two of the groups would turn back after two and four weeks, after depositing supplies for the final polar party to rely on during the return journey. In this paper, the logic of the mathematical ‘jeep problem’ is applied to derive the theoretically optimal points at which the support parties should have turned back in order to optimise the relationship between distance and consumption of supplies. The results show that, according to this model, Scott took both his support parties along too far, especially the last support party under Lieutenant E.R.G.R. ‘Teddy’ Evans.