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“The owner of these volumes will possess an exact reproduction of the original “South Polar Times” which appeared month by month during the winters of 1902-3, produced as they were for the sole edification of our small company of explorers in the Discovery, then held fast in the Antarctic Ice.” Thus begins Captain Scott’s preface to the South Polar Times, which became a major diversion for the men on board the Discovery during the long sunless winter from 23rd April until 21st August.

Scott wrote of it more fully in the official account: “The scheme for publication was discussed long before the sun left us, and by general consent Shackleton was appointed editor. It was decided that each number should contain besides the editorial, a summary of the events and meteorological conditions of the past month, certain scientifically instructive articles dealing with our work and our surroundings, and certain others written in a lighter vein. As the scheme developed it was found that other features, such as full-page caricatures, acrostics, and puzzles could be added; and now each month sees the production of a stout volume which is read with much interest and amusement by everyone.”

Shackleton “was responsible for the most famous examples of printing in the Antarctic. In addition to the first book printed in Antarctica, Aurora Australia (1907), Shackleton oversaw and contributed to the South Polar Times, first published on Scott’s expedition to Antarctica on the Discovery, and again on Scott’s fatal Terra Nova expedition of 1911-1914. Shackleton was also a contributor to the Antarctic Petrel, printed during his Nimrod expedition of 1907-09” (Stam & Stam).

Rosove, 287.A1; Spence, 1094; Scott, R.F. The Voyage of the Discovery (London, 1905), vol. I, p.362; Stam, David & Deidre, “Bending Time: The Function of Periodicals in Nineteenth-Century Polar Naval Expeditions” in Victorian Periodicals Review, Vol. 41, No. 4 (Winter, 2008), p.312.