Today's speaker was our very own John Mitchell who gave a presentation on "3 Polar Greats" - Scott, Amundsen and Shackleton. He described his quest at age 14 to learn about these polar greats.
Scott's expeditions in 1893 and 1910 to locate and reach the South Pole for the UK were faced with harsh conditions poor equipment, experience and transport.
However Amundsen from Oslo did reach the pole on the 14th December 1911 utilising his better equipment, use of skis and dogs for transport. His attempts to find the North West passage and then the north east passage ended with his disappearance in the Arctic in 1928.
John ended by describing Ernest Shackleton's attempt to reach the South Pole within 112 miles and his Trans arctic expedition of 1914-17 and the extraordinary return trip when all 28 of his team were saved. He also played a recording of Shackleton's voice.