Captain Scott rewrote his story: January–June 1911

Abstract This article reveals that Captain Robert Falcon Scott rewrote his Terra Nova journals for the period 24 January to 18 June 1911, making extensive changes, in places. He made carbon copies of his journal from then until 31 October 1911. The Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) holds the combined manuscript as Carbon copy of diary as leader of British Antarctic Expedition, Jan. to Oct. 1911 with reference number RFS/1. This little-known version of Scott’s journals has apparently been overlooked by many researchers and scholars. The main research question addressed by the article is: “What was the significance of Captain Scott rewriting his story?” The article reviews two versions of Scott’s story – the published narrative Scott’s Last Expedition, and RFS/1. It investigates the provenance of each version and then reviews differences between the two texts. Three key differences stand out, suggesting the underlying pressures that drove Scott to rewrite his story in mid-1911. The article touches upon editorial changes made by Leonard Huxley in compiling Scott’s Last Expedition and contrasts those changes with changes made by Scott when rewriting the same passages. It also investigates the provenance of a typescript version of RFS/1 held by Canterbury Museum.