Robert Falcon Scott

Hello! My name is Robert Falcon Scott, but many people call me Captain Scott. I was born a very long time ago, on June 6th, 1868, in a town in England called Plymouth. When I was a little boy, I loved to stand by the water and watch the big ships sail into the harbor. I dreamed that one day, I would have my own adventures on the great, wide ocean.

When I grew up, I did just what I always wanted to do and joined the Royal Navy. My first really big adventure began in 1901, when I led a team to a faraway, frozen land called Antarctica. We sailed on a strong ship named the Discovery. It was an amazing trip! We learned so much about the ice and snow. We also saw many special animals that live there, like fluffy penguins and sleek seals.

In 1910, I set off on an even bigger adventure on a ship called the Terra Nova. This journey was part of the Terra Nova Expedition, and I had a very important goal. I wanted to be the first person in the whole world to reach the South Pole, which is at the very bottom of the Earth. It was a very long and difficult journey. My brave team and I had to walk across miles of ice, pulling heavy sleds filled with all of our food and supplies.

After walking for many, many months, we finally did it! On January 17th, 1912, my team and I stood at the South Pole. We felt so proud of our hard work. But we also found something else there—a flag from another explorer named Roald Amundsen. He had arrived just a little bit before us. Even though we were not the very first people to get there, we knew we had still done something incredible.

The journey back from the pole was the hardest part of our adventure, and sadly, my team and I did not make it home. I lived to be 43 years old. But our story did not end there. The rocks we collected and the notes I wrote helped scientists learn more about the mysterious continent of Antarctica. Today, people remember me and my crew for our great courage and our love for exploration.