A Very Gallant Gentleman: Captain Lawrence Oates

Captain Lawrence Edward Grace Titus Oates was an English cavalry officer and Antarctic explorer, who perished during Captain Scott’s infamous Terra Nova Expedition. During the doomed expedition’s escape from Antartica, Oates was severely afflicted with gangrene and frostbite and his condition slowed his parties progress back to the coast. Upon realising the detrimental effect he was having on his companions' chances of survival, Oates walked from his tent alone into a blizzard and chose certain death so that his companions might live. 

Lawrence Oates was born in London in 1880 to a wealthy family who held land at Gestingthorpe, Essex, for many centuries.  As a boy, Oates lived in Putney and was one of the first pupils to attend the Willington prep School. He was further educated at Eton College for two years but was forced to leave due to ill health. He then attended the South Lynn Army "crammer” school at Eastbourne. Oates' father died of typhoid fever in Madeira in 1896 when he was aged just 16.

In 1898, Oates was commissioned into the 3rd Militia Battalion of the West Yorkshire Regiment. He saw action during the Second Boer War as a junior officer in the 6th (Inniskilling) Dragoons. During his time with this Regiment, he took part in operations in the Transvaal, the Orange River Colony, and Cape Colony. In March 1901, Oates was wounded by gunshot in his left thigh, the bullet shattered his leg and left it an inch shorter than his right when it eventually healed. In the preceeding skirmish he was twice called upon to surrender, and replied "We came to fight, not to surrender.” As a result of his gallantry during the aforementioned campaigns, Oates was recommended for the Victoria Cross. He was promoted to Lieutenant in 1902, then to Captain in 1906. He later served in Ireland, Egypt, and India and was often referred to by the nickname "Titus Oates", after the historical figure.

In 1910, Oates applied to join Robert Falcon Scott's expedition to the South Pole. He was accepted on the strength of his experience with horses and his ability to make a financial contribution of £1,000 (modern day approximation £50,000) towards the expedition. Oates was nicknamed "the soldier" by his fellow crew members and Scott eventually selected him as one of the five-man party who would travel the final distance to the Pole. Nevertheless, throughout the expedition, Oates disagreed with Scott on a number of issues. As a former cavalry officer, Oats was tasked with looking after the nineteen ponies Scott had brought for sledge hauling, but was horrified when he saw the state they were in. Claiming the animals were too old for the job, he later exclaimed that 'Scott's ignorance about marching with animals is colossal.'

"MYSELF, I DISLIKE SCOTT INTENSELY AND WOULD CHUCK THE WHOLE THING IF IT WERE NOT THAT WE ARE A BRITISH EXPEDITION....HE IS NOT STRAIGHT, IT IS HIMSELF FIRST, THE REST NOWHERE..."

- Captain Oates' Journal

Captain Scott, Captain Oates and 14 other men departed for the South Pole from their base at Camp Evans on 1 November 1911. At various pre-determined  points during the 895-mile journey, the support members of the expedition were returned by Scott in teams until on 4 January 1912, at latitude 87° 32' S, only the five-man polar party of Scott, Edward A. Wilson, Henry R. Bowers, Edgar Evans and Oates remained to walk the last 167 miles. On 18 January 1912, 79 days after their race to the Pole had commenced, the expedition finally reached its goal only to discover a tent that Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen had left behind. Inside the tent was a note from Amundsen informing them that his party had reached the South Pole on 14 December 1911, beating Scott's party by 35 days.

Dejected, Scott's party began the journey back to camp, but as they pressed on they faced extremely arduous conditions. The return journey was hampered by exceptionally adverse weather, poor food supplies, injuries and the effects of scurvy and frostbite, slowing their progress considerably. On 17 February, at the base of the Beardmore glacier, Edgar Evans died, supposedly of a blow to the head suffered during a fall into a crevasse a few days earlier. At this point Oates' feet had become severely frostbitten and his war wound had begun to re-open due to the effects of scurvy, and he began to weaken much faster than the others.
 

"OATES' FEET ARE IN A WRETCHED CONDITION... THE POOR SOLDIER IS VERY NEARLY DONE.”

- Captain Scott’s Journal

Oates' slower progress and the unwillingness of his three remaining companions to leave him was causing the party to fall far behind schedule. There was an average of 65 miles between the pre-laid food depots and each one provided only a week's worth of food and fuel. The party needed to maintain a march of over 9 miles a day to have full rations for the final 400 miles of their return journey across the Ross Ice Shelf. Their progress had reduced to only 3 miles a day due to Oates' worsening condition. On 15 March, Oates told his companions that he could not go on and proposed that they leave him in his sleeping-bag, which they refused to do. He managed a few more miles that day but his condition worsened that night. On the morning of 16 March, Oates walked out of the tent into a blizzard and  −40 °C temperatures. According to Scott's diary, before Oates exited the tent and walked to his death, he uttered the words "I am just going outside and may be some time".

 "WE KNEW THAT POOR OATES WAS WALKING TO HIS DEATH, BUT THOUGH WE TRIED TO DISSUADE HIM, WE KNEW IT WAS THE ACT OF A BRAVE MAN AND AN ENGLISH GENTLEMAN.”

- Captain Scott's Journal

 

Oates’ gallant sacrifice made little difference to the eventual outcome of the return Journey. The remaining party continued onwards for a further 20 miles towards the 'One Ton' food depot that could save them but were halted at latitude by a furious blizzard on 20 March. Trapped in their tent by the weather and too weak, cold and malnourished to continue, they eventually died one by one nine days later. They were only eleven miles short of their objective. Their frozen bodies were discovered by a search party on 12 November 1912. Oates' body was never found.

"HEREABOUTS DIED A VERY GALLANT GENTLEMAN, CAPTAIN L. E. G. OATES, OF THE INNISKILLING DRAGOONS. IN MARCH 1912, RETURNING FROM THE POLE, HE WALKED WILLINGLY TO HIS DEATH IN A BLIZZARD, TO TRY AND SAVE HIS COMRADES, BESET BY HARDSHIPS".

- Inscription on the cross left by the search party at the point where Oates was presumed to have died.

Courage & Progress have designed a notebook to pay tribute to the memory of Captain Oates. The notebook is constructed of the finest materials and is delivers 95 pages of high quality dotted paper for the explorer in you.