A Peculiar thing to stir a man

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   These photos were taken by British explorer Robert Scott on his ill-fated Terra Nova expedition to Antarctica. Scott had hoped to be the first man to reach the south pole but was beat out by Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen, who had planted his flag at 90 degrees 0' S a good four weeks prior (god to see that thin strip of foreign fabric emerge from the blankness, after months of inescapable white walled snow blindness, there in the distance, a speck of red and blue, flittering). On their return trip, Scott and the four men of his team all died from exposure, exhaustion, and, one can only guess, unfathomable disappointment.

   Their bodies were discovered by a rescue team four and a half months later.