Robert Falcon Scott
Captain Scott. By Stephen Gwynn. (Bodley Head. 12s. 6d.)
" Ncrrinsio could be more superfluous than simply to tell again the story of Captain Scott's Antarctic explorations . . . we have his own journal, containing pages that are likely to be remembered as long as the English language is spoken." Thus Mr. Gwynn, who continues (and we apologize for some abbreviation of a fine passage) :-
" His supreme achievement is that he touched the imagination of the country as no other man has done in the course of this century.. . . He taught the world how little in comparison with other values success matters ; he made England feel that heroic deeds were none the less heroic because the heroes brought back no spoils of victory. . . . With his dying message he challenged whatever was finest in the English temper. and he had his response. . . . It was not the deed which so moved mankind, but the man. Amundsen by an amazing exploit reached the Pole and came back in triumph. . . . Scott's arrival on that grim scene a month later *eve to the episode a dramatic quality without precedent, which the tragic sequel heightened ; yet in that tragedy Scott and not Amundsen dominates. The victor slips away, having vanquished not only the Antarctic barriers, but his rival in the attempt ; it is left for Scott to make mankind feel and understand and see what the approach to that goal meant. Nothing that Amundsen has written, or could have written, makes us aware of his achieve. ment as do the pages of Scott's journal, which tell how, having struggled through those solitudes where no sign of life existed, where no living thing had trodden, where the very air knew no passage of wings, they came on the trampled snow, the bamboo sticks planted, the flags, the written names, and the message to be read at that ultimate tryst."
Mr. Gwynn says that " Scott commanded a style that seemed colourless because it was so transparent a medium." Colourless ? Purple passages are not wanted for the white Wastes of the Antarctic, but how is this for a description of a storm at sea ? :— " As the day wore on, the elements of risk crept into our position, and soon after five the wind suddenly shifted and came with terrific force from the open sea. The risk suddenly glared ; the ship Straining heavily at her cable, the sea dashing past and breaking in mountains of foam on the rocks a few hundred yards behind, and the wind roaring through the rigging. Stearn ordered on the instant ; but an hour and a half to wait. Meanwhile, two 'team boats to be hoisted in. As darkness fell, the ship showed a glare of lights, steam was reported ready and with infinite care we slipped our cable and clawed clear of the mooring buoys."
This is no prepared account, but a hurried letter to his wife : the words are those of a born writer. " A ship is a curiously exacting possession," he tells the same correspondent, " and I have only a few minutes to devote to a far dearer one."
" Anything that anybody could write to explain Scott's greatness would be poor stuff after what he has written himself on his last journey," said Admiral Skelton in a private letter. " —and I am not sure I like the word ' greatness.' He was betterthan that." This, of course, is the reason why Mr. Gwynn has not given us more extracts from that tragic story of Evans' accident, and insanity and death ; of Oates who went out into the blizzard to die, that the others might save themselves ; and of the last great scene, when the three comrades, only eleven miles from safety, waited and waited, with the gale howling outside, until cold and starvation stilled their hearts. " We are weak, writing is difficult, but for my own sake I do not regret this journey, which has shown that Englishmen can endure hardships, help one another, and meet death with as great fortitude as ever in the past. We took risks, we knew we took them ; things have come out against us, and therefore we have no cause for complaint, but bow to the will of Providence, determined still to do our best to the last."
These are fadeless words. Scott's biographer might have given us more of that last story, whose courage stands like stone, even against the background of the War, but perhaps we ask too much, when already much is given. There arc new letters here, and there is new material to enable us to judge how Scott struggled against certain traits in his character, and overcame them. By virtue of his tactful sympathy and his clear and buoyant narrative style, Mr. Gwynn has written a book worthy of Scott and his imperishable record of adventure.
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