Book tickets now for A Festival of Shackleton.

Scott, Shackleton and Thomas Robertson of the Scotia were all present at this glittering event, held 120 years ago.

Ticket to RSGS’s 20th anniversary banquet (RSGS Collections)

It was 12th November, 1904, and RSGS was celebrating its 20th anniversary. At a dinner for 150 guests in Edinburgh’s North British Station Hotel, two newly-returned Antarctic explorers were indulging in a good-humoured contest about whose expedition was the most successful. One of them was Thomas Robertson, captain of William Speirs Bruce’s ship, Scotia. The other was Captain Robert Falcon Scott.

Prompted by after-dinner toasts, the exchange was earnest but good-humoured; each wanted to lay the metaphorical wreath of laurels on the head of the other. Robertson, who was deputising for the absent Bruce, got up to speak first.

Born in Peterhead, Robertson was a veteran of many voyages into the polar regions. It was largely thanks to his skill as an ice-master that the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition had escaped the crushing grip of pack ice in the Weddell Sea. Calm and plain-spoken, he made it quite clear who he thought deserved the most praise.

‘The results from Captain Scott’s expedition,’ said Robertson, ‘must overshadow those of the Scottish expedition.’ His reasoning was quite simple: Scott’s expedition had been blessed with advantages from the outset.

It was true that the British National Antarctic Expedition, as it was formally known, had been backed by the Admiralty, and its ship, RRS Discovery, was purpose-built. ’We must all acknowledge,’ said Robertson, ‘that… naval discipline and naval officers are the best means for the accomplishment of great results.’ Sir Clements Markham, who’d been instrumental in setting up Scott’s expedition and who was also present that night as a guest of honour, could not have put it better himself.

Mr Bruce’s expedition, continued Robertson, had, by contrast, been ‘handicapped in every way as regarded establishment and funds.’ Nevertheless, they had done their best. (Bruce had, in fact, won the financial support of the wealthy Coats brothers of Paisley, among many others, for his privately funded venture; handicapped he might have been, but he made up for it in resilience.) In closing, Robertson acknowledged Bruce’s qualities as a leader, describing his readiness to work ‘with his hands as well as his head.’

Scotia in the Antarctic ice (RSGS Collections)

After the applause had died away, Scott stood up to respond. ‘When expeditions start forth,’ he said, ‘there is always an idea of the comparison of results. People say that comparisons are odious, and immediately proceed to make them.’ Amid the resulting laughter, Scott insisted that he must take polite issue with Mr Robertson’s remarks. Both expeditions, he explained, had started out with different objectives. The naval expedition ‘went out with the main object of discovering lands, and carried paraphernalia for the purpose; whereas the Scottish expedition went out not to discover lands*, and I believe that they did not carry any paraphernalia for sledging…’

Scott was referring, of course, to the fact that the purpose of Bruce’s expedition was primarily scientific, with an emphasis on oceanography, geology and meteorology. It was, he said, ‘a very important thing that Mr Bruce should explore the sea and find out its great depths, and get up the fauna from the sea which he has succeeded in doing.’ Oceanographical research, he continued, was something that his own expedition had carried out, but on a smaller scale.

‘Speaking from experience,’ Scott concluded, ‘I can say that Mr Bruce has done splendid work.’ His listeners applauded in agreement. And there the contest was laid to rest.

RRS Discovery in McMurdo Sound, 1902, by Harold Whitehead

Scott was still on his feet, however, and he had a few more observations to make. He was, after all, among friends: he had received a warm welcome from a packed audience at the Synod Hall the previous evening, when he’d been awarded the Livingstone Medal. Afterwards, the Earl of Camperdown, RSGS Vice-President, had remarked that ‘nobody would convince him that a man whose name was Scott was not connected in some way, more or less remote, with Scotland.’ Perhaps inspired by this observation, Scott now presented some more Scottish links.

‘The Scottish Antarctic Expedition,’ he began, ‘took all the credit of being Scottish, but there was a good deal of Scotland about the naval expedition. The Discovery, for instance, was built in Scotland - of Scottish oak, I believe - and a gentleman told me yesterday evening that some of the oak was grown on his estate. I asked the gentleman if he could recognise it!’

There were many Scotsmen on the Discovery, continued Scott, warming to his theme, ’and excellently they did their work.’ He made a humorous reference to an unnamed man who’d sung a song in their makeshift theatre ‘about McPherson swearing a feud.’ And then, he added, maybe glancing recklessly down the table at the RSGS Secretary who’d served as his Third Lieutenant, ‘there was Mr Shackleton, whose Scottish brogue is quite apparent. At any rate, if he is not a Scotsman, he is rapidly becoming one.’

While Ernest Shackleton, of Irish descent and proud of it, considered a repartee that he would be unable to voice, Scott thanked his hosts for their generous hospitality, assured them that the RSGS was deserving of a great future, and sat down amid rapturous applause.

The toasts weren’t yet over. Sir William Turner, Principal of Edinburgh University, proposed ‘The Royal Scottish Geographical Society and its President’ (who at that time was Professor James Geikie). While extolling the achievements of Scottish explorers, Sir William declared that ‘science and discovery are not confined to any single nationality; wherever the discoverer comes from, if his work is of sufficient striking merit, [the Society’s] medal is awarded to him.’

All in all, it was an illustrious and hugely convivial occasion. The proceedings, reported The Scotsman, concluded with the company singing ‘Auld Lang Syne.’

The banquet menu card was designed by W G Burn Murdoch, who had been to the Antarctic with Speirs Bruce in 1892. The fanciful illustration shows Bruce and Scott raising a glass to each other at the Pole, watched by seals and penguins. Among other delicacies, diners enjoyed Consommé à la Discovery, Filets de Sole à l’Antarctique, and Glaces Polaires. Musical accompaniment was provided by Paterson & Sons’ salon orchestra and Gilbert Kerr, piper of the Scotia. (RSGS Collections)

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Footnotes

*Although the focus of Bruce’s expedition was primarily oceanographical research, they did discover Coats Land on the Antarctic continent, which was named in honour of Bruce’s chief sponsors.

Guests also included Reginald Skelton, chief engineer and photographer of the Discovery; and a number of scientific staff from the Scotia: James H Harvey Pirie, Alastair Ross, William Cuthbertson, Robert Rudmose Brown and David Wilton.

On their return from the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition in July 1904, William Speirs Bruce received the RSGS Gold Medal, and Thomas Robertson was awarded the Silver Medal. Other members of Bruce’s staff received the Bronze Medal.

Sources

Peter Speak, William Speirs Bruce (2003)

The Scotsman, 12th and 14th November 1904

Edinburgh Evening News, 14th November 1904

RSGS archives and collections