“I am just going outside and may be some time.”
Famous last words of Captain Lawrence Oates (1880-1912) English Antarctic explorer
In 1911-1912 a British team led by Robert Falcon Scott attempted to be the first humans to reach the South Pole, the most southerly point on Earth situated on the Antarctic continent. They did in fact reach the Pole (on 17 January 1912), but discovered that the Norwegian explorer Amundsen had beaten them to it. The demoralized five-man British team then began the 895-mile (1,440 km) trek back to their base.
They never made it.
Hampered by worsening weather, poor provisioning, injury and frostbite, the team of five was destined to die en route. Edgar Evans was the first to die (17 February 1912), apparently as the result of a blow to his head when falling into a crevasse. The four remaining men struggled on, slowed by fierce blizzard conditions. And Oates' severely frostbitten and gangrenous feet and general weakness (possibly aggravated by an old war wound) began to hold them back further, so that they could not keep up the daily distances needed to reach provisions before their rations were exhausted. On 15 March Oates told the others that he could not continue, suggesting that they leave him in his sleeping-bag and go on without him. They refused. The following night, according to Scott's diary entry, in the early morning of 16 March 1912, Oates said to his colleagues: "I am just going outside and may be some time." Then, without going through the painful exertion of putting on his boots, he stepped outside into a raging blizzard and temperatures of -40.0 °C to face certain death.
Oates' self-sacrifice did not save his colleagues from a similar fate. Scott, Wilson and Bowers died nine days later, eleven miles short of their next pre-laid food depot that could have saved their lives. Whereas the remains of Scott, Wilson, Bowers and Evans were recovered later on, Oates’ remains however remain.
His memorable phrase lives on in the English-speaking world both as among the most famous of last words and as the epitome of heroic understatement and allusion.
This cache is in memory of Robin Falcon Scott and Lawrence Oates, and is located at Falcon (formerly James Street) and Oates (formerly John Street) street in Roslyn. The names were changed in 1913 after the amalgamation of the Kaikorai and Roslyn Boroughs.
- Falcon Street was named after Captain Robert Falcon Scott RN, Commander of the British Antarctic Expedition, 1912, in commemoration of his brave and heroic fortitude. The city already had many Scott Streets, (now reduced to one in St Kilda and another in Waverley) hence the use of Scott's second name, Falcon.
- Oates Street was named after Captain L.E.G. Oates, Iniskilling Dragoons, of the same expedition to commemorate his supreme act of self sacrifice in choosing to heroically leave the team and die of exposure rather than be a burden because he was already badly frost-bitten.
In 1939 a marble plaque was fixed in the clay bank at the junction of the two streets and unveiled with suitable ceremony attended by civic dignitaries and the Kaikorai Bugle Band.
Cache is a small pill container, hidden not at GL.
Please bring your own pen, tweezers might come in handy to extract the logbook.