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Pilgrims on the Ice: Robert Falcon Scott's First Antarctic Expedition | 
 enlarge | Creator: T. H. Baughman
Publisher: Bison Books
Category: Book
List Price: $18.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  2 reviews
Sales Rank: 2130005
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 360
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.8
ISBN: 0803216394
Dewey Decimal Number: 998
EAN: 9780803216396
ASIN: 0803216394
Publication Date: May 1, 2008
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Shipping: International shipping available
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
By 1900, the great Victorian explorers had opened up vast areas of the Globe. As one of the world's few remaining uncharted tracts, Antarctica fired contemporaries' imaginations. To lead its Antarctic expedition of 1901, the Royal Geographical Society of London chose Robert Scott, a naval officer who was to die a decade later attempting to reach the South Pole. T. H. Baughman, Chair of History at Benedictine College, makes it clear that, in the 19th-century tradition, adventure rather than science was the overriding motivation for the 1901 expedition. With academic thoroughness he follows the venture's funding, the construction of a custom-built ship, and the vessel's slow journey south. For two years its crew explored new latitudes, enduring with basic equipment some of the most extreme weather on earth. Scurvy was a problem, clothing was primitive, and candles were insufficient for the long Antarctic winters. The enterprise was typical of the qualities that won the British Empire, a combination of amateurish blundering and stiff-upper-lip determination. Filled with human drama, the book offers a fascinating picture of Victorian social mores, the class distinctions between officers and men highlighted with telling (often food-related) vignettes. Besides its geographical discoveries, the expedition was important in providing experience for several of the later Antarctic explorers, including Shackleton and Scott himself. Since the discovery of extraordinary photographs taken on Shackleton's ill-fated expedition (see Caroline Alexander's The Endurance), interest in early polar exploration has surged. Pilgrims On The Ice is a major addition to the field. --John Stevenson
Product Description
Robert Falcon Scott’s 1901–4 expedition to the Antarctic was a landmark event in the history of Antarctic exploration, creating a sensation comparable to the Arctic efforts of the American Robert E. Peary. Scott’s initial expedition was also the first step toward the dramatic race to the South Pole in 1912, which resulted in the tragic deaths of Scott and his companions. Since then Scott’s reputation has vacillated between two extremes: Was he a martyred hero, the beau ideal of a brave and selfless explorer, or a bumbling fool whose mistakes killed him and his entire party? Pilgrims on the Ice goes beyond the personality of Scott to remove the first expedition from the shadow of the second, to study objectively its purpose, its composition, and its real accomplishments. This Bison Books edition includes a new preface by the author.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Scott and Shackleton's First Antartic Expedition December 28, 1999
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
Dr. Baughman continues to build on his reputation as America's preeminent polar historian in this book: Pilgrims on Ice (his first book on early Antartic exploration was Before the Heroes Came). This book focues on Robert Scott and the Discovery Expedition 1901 to 1904. By reading Dr. Baughman's work - one can see that this initial expedition laid the groundwork for the British expeditions of the following 21 years. In fact, the major players all played a part in this initial expedition. This voyage was Shackleton's first expedition to the South (serving as Scott's third officer). And I enjoyed the new insights Baughman provided into the young Shackleton, as well as the human details on expedition leader Scott and the rest of band. In its 250-odd pages of text, this becomes the first exhaustive account of the Discovery expedition 1901 to 1904 by a late 20th century polar historian. Baughman's extensive use of original documents in British and European archives brings fresh insight and more details on this heroic group then ever before available. I recommend this for lovers of travel, adventure, and biography.
 Fresh and reasoned assessment December 27, 1999
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This book presents a fresh and reasoned assessment of Scott's first Antarctic expedition in its historical context. Engagingly written and well researched, its perspective casts an interesting light on aspects of Scott's first Antarctic expedition that have been passed over in general works on Scott in favor of the drama of the second expedition. The first expedition had ample drama of its own, and the author's take on such personalities as Clements Markham, Shackleton, and Scott himself is different enough from "standard received" to merit reading. I was particularly interested in the author's description of the interplay between Scott's orders as he received them and perceived them and subsequent criticism of the expedition for its failure to maximize the results obtained for the resources invested. All in all, readable, informative, interesting, and well worth a read. You will find the point of view rather different from that so persuasively presented by Roland Huntford in his recently re-released "Scott and Amundsen," but partisanship -- if so strong a term may be used -- intrudes only occasionally, and then only in instances in which the author feels unfair misrepresentation may have done violence to the historical record. I enjoyed this book!
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