# R.F. Scott's antarctic grave **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 22, 2004, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-f-scotts-antarctic-grave/225631 "2004-01-22T14:57:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Labor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/74df32/32.png) [@Labor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labor)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2004, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-f-scotts-antarctic-grave/225631/1 "2004-01-22T14:57:19Z")
I have been immersed in reading Antarctic exploration books. I have also been watching “The Last Place on Earth”(TLPOE), the BBC movie about Amundson v. Scott and the race to the South Pole. In the book “The Worst Journey in the World” the author goes to great length to describe the cairn of ice that was built on the tent that contains the bodies of Scott, Wilson and Bowers. The movie TLPOE shows the party that discovered the bodies around a large ice cairn. Does the cairn still exist? I assume that the motion of the ice shelf has shifted the position of the cairn, and that storms have drifted it in quite a bit. Could I go to the antarctic and view the cairn? ---
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2004, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-f-scotts-antarctic-grave/225631/2 "2004-01-22T15:17:13Z")
Well if the cairn is on the mainland, a storm would not affect it per se. IIRC it never snows in Antarctica. The snow only blows around like in a desert. So it may be covered up, or knocked over…but I’m sure the exact location is documented somewhere, as in Longitude and latitude. Was it on an ice flow? or ice shelf? Big diff? I see no reason why you couldn’t get down there and see it. ---
**Author:** ![Labor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/74df32/32.png) [@Labor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labor)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2004, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-f-scotts-antarctic-grave/225631/3 "2004-01-22T15:23:32Z")
The cairn was approximately 11 miles south of one ton depot. This depot was laid on the Ross Ice shelf. I would guess that the original location was plotted although I do not know the long & Lat. The Ice shelf would move since it is floating on the Roos Sea. Since they died in 1911 there would be plenty of drift and movement. ---
**Author:** ![Phlosphr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Phlosphr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlosphr)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2004, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-f-scotts-antarctic-grave/225631/4 "2004-01-22T16:45:21Z")
Very true, there would be plenty of drift and movement. Are you seriously considering this trip? If so I would contact antarctic exploration and conservation, an American Alliance working down there. Not sure if that is the exact name though. ---
**Author:** ![SandyHook](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dec6dc/32.png) [@SandyHook](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SandyHook)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2004, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-f-scotts-antarctic-grave/225631/5 "2004-01-22T16:56:28Z")
After Scott, Bowers, and Evans (I think that was the doctor’s name) bodies were found they were never seen again. The party sent out looking for them in Oct/Nov 1912 returned to their base after finding them (and recovering the diarys and letters to familes) and along with the rest of the expedition boarded the ship sent to take them home. By the time another expedition happened along the cairn built over their bodies had probably eroded away because of the wind. The bodies, tent, equipment, etc left exposed to the sun would probably have warmed enough to sink into the ice where, one supposes, the movement has either ground them into bits or they have been dumped into the sea. ---
**Author:** ![venterap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a9a28c/32.png) [@venterap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/venterap)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2004, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-f-scotts-antarctic-grave/225631/6 "2004-01-22T22:07:11Z")
> [@Phlosphr](#): > > Well if the cairn is on the mainland, a storm would not affect it per se. IIRC it never snows in Antarctica. The snow only blows around like in a desert. Do you have a cite for this statement? 😕 I know Antarctica is very much a desert, but it _never snows_?! Can’t believe that! ---
**Author:** ![AtomicBanana](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/df705f/32.png) [@AtomicBanana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AtomicBanana)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2004, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/r-f-scotts-antarctic-grave/225631/7 "2004-01-22T23:43:54Z")
> [@venterap](#): > > Do you have a cite for this statement? 😕 I know Antarctica is very much a desert, but it _never snows_?! Can’t believe that! It does snow, just not a lot depending on where you are. From this cite [http://students.washington.edu/srh13/SPole/Climate.html](http://students.washington.edu/srh13/SPole/Climate.html) > [@](#): > > Because the air in Antarctica is so cold it cannot hold much water vapor. As a result, the precipitation around the continent is generally light. This is especially true on the plateau, where the air is colder and the ocean is farther away. Most coastal areas receive between 300 and 700mm (12 and 27 inches) of liquid-equivilent precipitation each year. The wettest area of the continent is along the coast near 90°W longitude, where some places receive up to 1100mm (43 inches) of precipitation a year. Areas on the plateau are much drier. Much of the East Antarctic Plateau receives less than 70mm (2.8 inches) of liquid-equivilent precipitation a year, making it possibly the largest desert in the world, rivaled only by the Sahara