Document-Based Questions - Debra J. Housel, M.S. Ed. 2008
The Race to the South Pole
Great Adventures
It was a race! Who would go down in history as the first man to reach the South Pole? Roald Amundsen from Norway? Or Robert Scott from England? The two teams sailed from their homes in summer 1910. By January 1911, both had landed in Antarctica. They set up base camps. Amundsen kept his men busy building cairns. These piles of ice were guideposts. They would keep the men on the shortest route to the Pole. Each cairn had a note inside. It told how to reach the next one.
The seasons in the Southern Hemisphere are the opposite of those in the Northern Hemisphere. While one has winter, the other has summer. And in both the Arctic and Antarctic regions, the sun vanishes for about six months at a time. On August 24, 1911, the long winter’s darkness ended. The sun reappeared. But it was another two months before it was warm enough to head for the Pole. On October 20, Amundsen and four of his men started out. Toward the end of November they were caught in a blizzard. It lasted for four days. Yet they struggled on. At last they reached the most dangerous part. It was a large glacier with a thin snow crust. If they broke through this crust, deep cracks hidden below could swallow them. They managed to travel over it safely.
Amundsen was a master planner. In 1905, he had succeeded where many had failed before when he had found the Northwest Passage through the Arctic Ocean. While he was there, he had learned from the Inuit the secrets to survival in a very cold environment. He learned that two layers of fur, one with the fur toward the body and the other with the fur facing away, keeps a person the warmest. (Fur was lightweight, too, compared to the heavy woolen garments that Scott and his team wore.)
The Inuit taught Amundsen how to use a husky dog team and a sled to carry supplies. They showed him how to make pemmican, a type of dried meat that can be eaten raw or cooked. He took all of this knowledge with him when he went to Antarctica. He also took 97 dogs and enough food to last for two years. His planning worked. He became the first person to reach the South Pole on December 14, 1911. He left a tent with a note inside for Scott. Then he and his men returned to base camp. After 39 days, they arrived in good shape.
Unfortunately Scott and his team were not well prepared. They tried to use ponies. When they died, the men had to pull the sleds. This slowed them down. They reached the South Pole one month after Amundsen. But Scott and his men died coming back. Their tragedy overshadowed Amundsen’s accomplishment. He never received much glory for his achievement.
The Race to the South Pole
A search party found Robert Scott’s body on November 12, 1912. They also found his journal:
1place where supplies are stored
2storm with strong winds
Eyewitness to History. “Doomed Expedition to the South Pole, 1912.”
http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/scott.htm
The Race to the South Pole
1. From the day his team left camp, about how long did it take Roald Amundsen to reach the South Pole?
a. one month
b. two months
c. three months
d. four months
2. Roald Amundsen was the first man to reach the South Pole because
a. he had lived in Antarctica all his life.
b. he found the Northwest Passage.
c. the Inuit had taught him how to survive the conditions.
d. he used ponies to pull his sleds.
3. Think about the seasons in Antarctica. During July in Antarctica, it is
a. spring.
b. summer.
c. fall.
d. winter.
4. Robert Scott and his team failed to reach the South Pole. True or False? Explain.
5. Read Robert Scott’s journal entries. What was the cause of the Scott team’s death? Use facts from the journal.
6. Scott and his men were found dead inside their tent. Should they have braved the blizzard and tried to reach the depot before they began running out of food and fuel? Why or why not?