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Centenary of Scott's final adventure

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Paul Sargeant Paul Sargeant | 15:44 UK time, Tuesday, 15 June 2010

South PoleThe days are long, the World Cup is on, Wimbledon is waiting in the wings and the British summer is about to break into full bloom. What better time to talk about snow, ice and frostbite?

But it was on this day in 1910 that Robert Falcon Scott set off on his ill-fated expedition to Antarctica. That means it's the 100th anniversary of his attempt to be the first man to reach the South Pole. (Well, he was never going to become an accountant with that middle name.)

He left Cardiff on 15 June aboard the SS Terra Nova, and The National Museum Cardiff has put the figurehead from the ship on our website.

Model of the Terra NovaIt's just one of the objects in their new exhibition which looks at how the people and industries of Wales supported Captain Scott's adventure.

It also reminded me that we've had a number of Scott related objects appear on the site. There are a set of Scott's skis from Plymouth Museum and the sleeping bag used by Captain Oates, from the Scott Polar Research Institute.

Both objects bring home to you the huge changes in technology between then and now. The skis are wood and must be much heavier than the modern equivalent, but it's the sleeping bag that's the real eye-opener. A quick look at modern sleeping bags suggests you can expect to snuggle down in one with 'a ripstop nylon top shell... nylon taffeta lining and trapezoidal baffle construction'. Scott and Oates were lying down in a bag made of Reindeer skin, which must be four times as heavy and half as warm. I can't imagine carrying through a field at a festival, let alone to the South Pole and back.

I'm also intrigued by Alfred Watkins' Bee Meter, which I initially thought was to help apiarists count their bees, but is actually a very early light meter that allowed the expedition photographer H. G. Ponting take .

Yesterday there was a of Scott's famous expedition, and today a tall ship is marking the event by recreating the start of the Terra Nova's voyage.

I'm sure there will be more Scott related events later in the year too, though probably none as enjoyable as the that was held in Cardiff over the weekend. It was a recreation of the one Scott and his team were given a few days before they set off - an Edwardian feast comprising 11 courses. I wonder if they served tinned beef?

  • ÌýThe photo of a camp at the South Pole is by and is used .

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