Captain Scott - The Lying Cunt

Lawrence Oates, part of the unsuccessful five man team led by Captain Robert.F.Scott to be the first humans to reach the South Pole.

For those not in the know, the expedition hit upon some remarkably tough times. Some unbelievably stupid decisions were made by Scott himself and on the return journey, after finding that they were beaten by Amundsen by a mere 35 days, the party found themselves in grave difficulties. Food shortages were of course paramount among these. On 5th March 1912, it is recorded in the journals of Captain Scott that Lawrence Oates made this now famous statement "I am just going outside and may be some time". With that he left the tent, emerging into the -40c blizzard in naught but his socks and underpants. The ultimate sacrifice and very British in its understatement.

I was always fascinated with that little story as a child, but was also puzzled as well. While it is (as i said before) a rather British sounding statement, it should also be remembered that at that time Britain was in the full throes of Empire and had a remarkable predilection for undeniable cold hearted cruelty. The fact that it became universally accepted that Oates had indeed "taken a hit for the team" speaks volumes for the accepted word of a true gentleman in those times. Oates himself commented in his own journal "Myself, I dislike Scott intensely and would chuck the whole thing if it were not that we are a British expedition. Scott is not straight, it is himself first, the rest nowhere...". Given that Scott was stupid enough to choose ponies as pack animals in sub zero temperatures in uncharted territory, and that Oates states quite clearly that Scott was in fact a cold hearted cunt, why is it that no one questions the official line taken here?

Scott was running out of food so tossed Oates out into the snow and left him to die, all the time making sure that the poor mans eulogy would be one of the more fantastic examples of comradeship still to this day.