Record

MS - Manuscripts General
- 547 - Papers relating to the National Antarctic Expedition of 1901-1904
  - 5 - National Antarctic Expedition Correspondence 1901

RefNo	MS/547/5/133
Level	Item
Title	Letter from Sir Clements Markham to A B [Alfred Bray] Kempe
Date	8 November 1901
Description	Written from 21 Ecclestone Square, S.W. Marked 'Confidential' Scott has sent home the meteorological observations from the Cape, he sent them to Dr Mill who reports that the work has been well done and he is surprised to find how good it is . He has written his remarks and observations and sent them to Scott. Captain Creak has had the magnetic observations taken both during the voyage and at the Cape; and he also has sent his remarks to Scott. States that the return of Murray is a very embarrassing business. In a private letter Scott says "Murray leaves us at the Cape. he is dead keen on running the second whip, and this is the sole reason of his going. But my experience of him suggests the most serious doubt as to whether he is the right man to do it. He is a very nice chap, kind hearted to a degree, and a good messmate. But I don't think his best friend could call him a practical man or an organizer, and as director of science in this ship the best that can be said of him is that he has not been in the way. I asked Armitage his opinion, and he entirely agrees with me, The rest of course I have not spoken to, but it is easy to see that they are divided between respect for the man and considerable contempt for his methods and what for want of a softer work I must call pretension. By reputation and his own showing he came with experience in oceanography to teach us the use of our varied apparatus. We find that he knows nothing at all about the greater part of it. Of course we should never have expected it in a man without any training as a mechanic if he had not talked so much. It is curious that he should have courted exposure in this manner for it is patent to everyone that he is not at all what he pretended to be. In matters of business Murray is what the sailor man calls 'all talk'. I am very loth to discredit him, but the issue may be serious; for he goes home with the avowed intention of running the second ship, and in my opinion, and that of Armitage, he is not the right man to do it." Clements was reluctant to tell Kempe this, but it seemed necessary that he should know the position. He cannot see how Murray could ever have assumed that he had anything to do with the second ship. It is not embraced in any way in his appointment, and how can he possibly give this as a reason to the President for coming home so prematurely. The whole thing is most embarrassing. But he ought to write an official letter reporting himself.
Extent	1p
Format	Manuscript
AccessStatus	Open

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