| RefNo | MS/547/8/2 |
| Level | Item |
| Title | Extract of a letter from Captain [Robert Falcon] Scott |
| Creator | Scott; Captain; Robert Falcon (1868-1912); Royal Navy officer; Antarctic explorer |
| Date | 17 November [1901] |
| Description | Extract in the hand of Sir Clements Markham, marked confidential. Scott has taken over direction of the scientific work of the expedition. His approach is to give the men 'a maximum amount of freedom' and asks for weekly progress reports to be written. The report books are freely accessible to everyone, to allow scientific staff to correlate results with other departments.
Scott is pleased with 'the genuine feeling of loyalty and good comrade-ship that exists' among the crew, but notes that [Thomas Vere] Hodgson and [Reginald] Koettlitz are worried that they may lose ownership of their work and the associated 'scientific kudos'. Scott knows they are referring to [George Robert Milne] Murray who was unpopular on the ship. Scott's own opinion was that Murray was poorly skilled, and while Murray's intentions may have been good he clearly wanted glory for himself. He was not trained in the use of instruments and knew nothing about the biological work aside from botany. Scott does not want him 'stepping in at the last moment and "bossing the show"'. |
| Extent | 6p |
| Format | Manuscript |
| AccessStatus | Open |
Fellows associated with this archive
| Code | PersonName | Dates |
| NA7951 | Markham; Sir; Clements Robert (1830 - 1916) | 1830 - 1916 |
| NA1021 | Murray; George Robert Milne (1858 - 1911); botanist and algologist | 1858 - 1911 |