The Wacky Historiography of Captain Scott’s South Pole Journey

By Krzysztof Sienicki

The limit of truth is not an error, it is meaninglessness.

René Thom (1923-2002, French mathematician)

Recently, Karen May and George Lewis published in the Orwellian tube – Polar Record – an article revising their speculation concerning their search for the culprit of disarray in the role of dogs in the events that could, according to them, have saved Captain Scott. The article consists of all elements (stigmas) of the aesthetic fallacy and/or cargo cult science. It also features the author's cul-de-sac corridors and takes a Bertram Russell’s chicken approach to observational evidence.

May & Lewis' perverse intentions for their article is an apotheosis of Captain Scott’s plot and deceit. This article is a vivid, exemplary, and transcendental proof of Captain Scott's ingenuity and foresight. Here I could go at length to refute (rebut, comment) their lines. However, I will not do it. I have already done that to their previous papers in my book, and I will only point out in list style some crucial points. The reader is kindly requested to consult my book. Here is my stand.

A Good Commentary

"starts with an earthquake and works up to a climax". Toward the end of May and Lewis article, in section Conclusions, the authors painted themselves into a corner with a dreadful summary "…Scott’s Polar Party were denied the possibility of assistance from dog teams (upon which they depended for survival, considering Oates’ incapacitation) because [the]understanding of Scott’s wishes had been corrupted at [the]base." Thus May and Lewis concluded (and proved) that Scott was a liar. Scott was laying to everyone from the first to the last line of his celebrated Message to the Public. May and Lewis conclude and say that survival of Scott's party depended on "dog teams", but Scott clearly told us that:

(a) "The causes of the disaster are not due to faulty organization”

(b) "I maintain that our arrangements for returning were quite adequate."

(c) "Every detail of our food supplies, clothing and depôts made on the interior ice-sheet and over that long stretch of 700 miles to the Pole and back, worked out to perfection”