The most famous parting words in history? (Reposted)
On this day in 1912, the seriously ill Captain Lawrence Edward Grace Oates of the Royal Inniskilling Dragoons, sacrificed himself in the Antarctic in the hope that, without the burden he represented, the expedition led by Captain Robert Falcon Scott RN, might reach safety.
Oates had reached a pinnacle of suffering by the time death beckoned. He could barely walk, his feet blackened and swollen by the merciless combination of frostbite and gangrene. He was starving and half incoherent from the cold. The side effects of scurvy had re-opened an old war wound as a festering mess. He walked out into the night with the immortal parting words
"I am just going outside and may be some time."
He died on his 32nd birthday.
Comments
I linked to your story.
http://brentanderson.blogspot.com/2005/03/what-kind-of-harmonious-culture-does.html
Posted by: Brent Anderson | March 29, 2005 2:18 PM
I must be an old softie, but that brings moisture to the old oculars.
Posted by: Oubaas | March 17, 2006 12:41 PM
We all knew that quote as children. And, even as a child, I had begun to suspect that Captain Scott was a reckless fool.
Posted by: dearieme | March 17, 2007 10:22 PM
Good looking fellow.
Wow.
My grandpa, who is still alive, was born in 1912. He was first off the boat English. His own family photos look similar. Kinda brings things home.
Oh, yeah, I'm American.
Good man Oates.
Posted by: anonymous | March 18, 2007 6:58 AM
this always gets to me...I wonder if anybody in school is taught this story nowadays?
Posted by: thud | March 17, 2008 12:00 PM
I somehow doubt it thud, after all he probably didn't carry out a proper risk assessment first. Joking aside, they damn well should be. Captain Oates well deserves his place in the history books in my opinion.
Posted by: Bruce | March 17, 2008 5:15 PM
A brave, brave man...
Posted by: Ratty | March 17, 2008 7:57 PM
Do you see the shoes this guy is wearing?
Not even boots, how did he last as long as he did?
Posted by: Mark | April 4, 2008 5:01 AM
For an excellent first-hand account of the Scott Expedition, try "The Worst Journey in the World" by Apsley Cherry-Garrard. His harrowing account of the Winter Journey, where he, the Doctor and Bowers ventured out to an Emperor penguin rookery in the middle of winter is some of the most gripping adventure writing you can find...
Posted by: Brian Swisher | March 17, 2009 1:53 PM
"My God, this is an awful place."
Posted by: comatus | March 17, 2009 6:10 PM
Happy Birthday!
Posted by: TimC | March 17, 2009 7:16 PM
Talk about fairy tales:
The Robert Falcon Scott expedition exemplifies the slightly modified adage "if you can't be a good example, you can at serve as a horrifying warning". Whatever they had in guts and determination was more than made up for with Scott's incredible ignorance and arrogance. Amundsen and his team faces a journey that was longer and yet returned having gained a few pounds. The difference? dogs and skis...Scott wouldnt utilze (or eat) the former or learn how to use the latter, having given it a "good try" and decided that skis just can't work for him and therfore they couldn't work for anyone. Hilarious if it hadn't ended up so tragically for his subordinates.
Posted by: doug l | March 17, 2009 9:43 PM
There is nothing hilarious in Captain Oates' fate, or in the insane blizzard that snowbound the four men in that tent, which Amundsen did not face. Amundsen had plenty of extra food, which he considered leaving at the Pole for Scott & his men; when he did not, and realized later that doing so would very probably have saved their lives, he was not greatly bothered by this fact. How typical that reaction is of his compassion-free, ice-hearted nature! Yes, Amundsen planned ahead of time on which days to eat which dogs on his return journey, a fact which horrified many civilized people at the time and horrifies many of us still. If one has to be inhuman to be the victor in such environments, I would rather have perished beside Scott, a dreamer with a poet's heart, a man who did his best, and who has more class in his little finger than Amundsen possessed in his entire soul.
Posted by: candy o | March 20, 2009 1:40 AM
Candy,
If killing your men for the sake of sentimentalising the puppies that you didn't bring in the first place is "inhuman", then I'm glad I don't count as "human".
Oates was a hero. Scott was a homicidal idiot.
Posted by: Simon Jester | March 23, 2009 4:12 AM
Simon,
Oates IS a hero by any definition of the word. That he despised Scott is his business and his right; that I don't agree myself with his opinion of the man doesn't mean I see Oates as anything other than superhumanly brave and full of grace and true class. I hope that when my turn comes to leave this world I can do so with a fraction of his astounding courage. Good man, Oates.
It's pretty easy to be an armchair critic, calling the dead vulgar names there in your warm, safe home. Scott was a human being who did the best he could in the face of supreme horror, and he did it with supreme courage and a complete lack of the sentimentality that so offends you. I marvel over that stoicism in the face of great sorrow and one's own certain death. Unlike Oates, Wilson and Bowers, who died by his side as well, hugely admired & respected & loved him until their final breaths. Take the blizzard away, and despite the lack of dogs & skis they all come home in second place, and we wouldn't be having this discussion. That Scott couldn't defeat a blizzard makes him 'human', and I'm proud to be the same type of 'human' that he was, an ordinary person with both flaws and good qualities, who doesn't pretend to be anything else.
Oates is a hero. Scott is a hero to a GREAT many of us, and nothing will ever change that. Amundsen is a soulless robot.
Posted by: candy o | March 25, 2009 2:30 PM