Scott and Charcot at the col du Lautaret

89 Pages·2014·4.79 MB·English

S. Aubert, J. Skelton, Y. Frenot, A. Bignon+
Scott and Charcot at
the col du Lautaret
1908 Trials of the first motor driven sledges designed for
transport in the Antarctic
Scott et Charcot au col du Lautaret
essais de traîneaux à moteur menés en 1908 pour des expéditions antarctiques
Les cahiers illustrés
du Lautaret
2014 - n° 5
After their first Antarctic expeditions, at the beginning
of the 1900s, Captain Scott and Dr Charcot were well
acquainted with the extreme difficulties of transporting
hundreds of kilos of equipment and supplies through
snow and ice on sledges pulled by animals or men. They
were both seeking alternative methods of traction and were
actively developing motorised sledges. However, before
returning to Antarctica, they needed to find a place to
test their prototypes in severe conditions. The Alps were a
natural choice and they settled on the col du Lautaret, at
about 6,800 ft in altitude but accessible in winter through
a high mountain road, where the trials took place in
March 1908 with engines built by the De Dion-Bouton
Company. Following Scott’s tragic death, Charcot had a
cairn erected in homage to him in the Alpine Garden at the
col du Lautaret in 1913. The cairn was re-erected on a new
site in 1921, to which the garden was also moved shortly
afterwards. Today, the Alpine and polar worlds continue to
be linked through joint research in glaciology and ecology.
Suite à leur première expédition antarctique au début des années
1900, le capitaine Scott et le docteur Charcot mesurent la contrainte
que représente le transport par des animaux ou à dos d’homme de
centaines de kilos de matériel et de vivres sur la glace et la neige. Dans
ce contexte, ils décident d’essayer de nouveaux modes de traction, des
traîneaux automobiles construits par l’entreprise De Dion-Bouton. Ces
nouveaux matériels, dotés d’innovations pour résister aux rigueurs du
climat antarctique, doivent être testés en conditions extrêmes avant le
départ pour le pôle Sud. Le choix se porte naturellement vers les Alpes,
avec un site desservi en hiver par une route de haute montagne, le
col du Lautaret situé à 2 058 m, où les essais ont lieu en mars 1908.
Suite à l’expédition tragique de Scott au pôle Sud, Charcot a décidé de
faire ériger en 1913 un cairn en son hommage. L’installation se fait
au Jardin alpin du Lautaret et le cairn sera déplacé en 1921 vers son
emplacement actuel peu de temps après le déplacement du Jardin alpin.
Aujourd’hui, les liens entre les mondes alpin et polaire se perpétuent à
travers des recherches menées conjointement au col du Lautaret et en
régions polaires, notamment en glaciologie et en écologie.
Front cover: Dr Charcot during the trials at Lautaret
1e de couverture : Charcot durant les essais au Lautaret
Back cover: Scott’s cairn in winter, with ‘La Meije’
4e de couverture : le cairn Scott et la Meije en hiver. Photo S. Aubert
Scott and Charcot
at the col du Lautaret
1908 Trials of the first motor driven sledges designed
for transport in the Antarctic
Scott et Charcot au col du Lautaret

essais de traîneaux à moteur menés en 1908 pour des expéditions antarctiques
The plaque affixed to Scott’s cairn
La plaque apposée sur le cairn Scott. Photo :  T. Syre
This publication is the outcome of a collaboration between the Joseph Fourier Alpine Station
(University of Grenoble I and CNRS), the Paul Emile Victor French Polar Institute (IPEV) and the
Scott Polar Research Institute of Cambridge University (SPRI).
Some illustrations are from the archives of the Alpine Garden and others from an unpublished album
of photographs belonging to Reginald Skelton, Scott’s chief engineer and in-charge of photography
in Discovery. Warm thanks for a number of other illustrations go to several institutions: the French
National Library, the Archives department of the Hautes-Alpes, the Musée Dauphinois and SPRI.
We are also grateful to several private collections: Bernard François, historian from l’Oisans; Serge
Kahn, specialist on French polar exploration and past President of the Friends of Commandant
Charcot and of the Pourquoi-Pas?; Charles Gaston Rouillon (1915-2007), past Assistant Director and
Chief Scientist of polar expeditions of Paul-Émile Victor Missions.
We also thank the Community of Briançon Communes for their financial support to the Cahiers
Illustrés du Lautaret since their creation in 2010.
Many thanks also to Joyce McNeill for her assistance with the English translation. We would
also like to thank Angela Antoina for help with the French translation of technical terms, and
Christophe Perrier and Thibaud Syre for the critical reading of the manuscript.
Print run: 1.500 copies
Ce travail est le fruit d’une collaboration entre la Station alpine Joseph Fourier (Université Grenoble 1 et
CNRS), l’Institut Polaire Français Paul Emile Victor (IPEV) et l’Institut Polaire de Recherche Scott (SPRI,
université de Cambridge).
Certaines illustrations sont issues des archives du Jardin alpin du Lautaret et d’autres d’un carnet de
photographies inédites de Reginald Skelton, l’ingénieur en chef et photographe officiel de Scott. Une
autre partie des illustrations provient de plusieurs institutions qui sont chaleureusement remerciées : la
Bibliothèque Nationale de France, les Archives départementales des Hautes-Alpes, le Musée dauphinois et
l’Institut polaire Scott de l’université de Cambridge (SPRI).
Les propriétaires de plusieurs collections privées sont également remerciées : Bernard François, historien
de l’Oisans, Serge Kahn, spécialiste des explorations polaires françaises et ancien président des Amis du
commandant Charcot et du Pourquoi-Pas ?, Charles Gaston Rouillon (1915-2007), ancien directeur
adjoint et responsable scientifique des Expéditions polaires françaises de Paul-Émile Victor.
La Communauté de Communes du Briançonnais est également remerciée pour le soutien financier apporté
à l’édition des Cahiers illustrés du Lautaret depuis leur création en 2010.
Joyce McNeill est vivement remerciée pour sa participation à la traduction anglaise. De même qu’Angela
Antoina pour son aide dans la traduction française de termes techniques et que Christophe Perrier et
Thibaud Syre pour leur relecture.
Tirage : 1500 exemplaires
Station alpine
Joseph Fourier
UMS 3370 UJF CNRS
Grenoble - Col du Lautaret [ 2100m ]
Scott and Charcot
at the col du Lautaret
1908 Trials of the first motor driven sledges designed
for transport in the Antarctic
Scott et Charcot au col du Lautaret

essais de traîneaux à moteur menés en 1908 pour des expéditions antarctiques
Serge AUBERT*, Judy SKELTON£, Yves FRENOT**, Alain BIGNON+
* Joseph Fourier Alpine Station, UMS 3370 CNRS Université Grenoble 1, Bât D, BP 53, 38041 Grenoble cedex 9, France ;
correspondence : [email protected]
** Institut Polaire Français Paul Emile Victor (IPEV), Technopôle Brest-Iroise CS 60 075, 29280 Plouzané, France
£ volunteer at Scott Polar Research Institute (SPRI) and Treasurer to the Friends of SPRI, University of Cambridge, Lensfield Road,
Cambridge CB2 1ER, England
Enriched with / enrichi de 80 illustrations
and 55 bibliographic references / et 55 références bibliographiques
Contents - sommaire
The Antarctic and its conquest 5
Captain Scott (1868-1912) 9
The Discovery expedition 9
The Terra Nova expedition 10
The controversy surrounding Scott’s tragic expedition 13
Dr Charcot (1867-1936) 17
Motorised sledges for extreme conditions 19
The different types of transport 19
The first motor sledges 19
The trials during winter 1908 22
The motorised sledges in the Antarctic 35
Charcot’s sledges 35
Scott’s sledges 35
The Cairn at the col de Lautaret 43
Construction 43
Inauguration 46
Moving the cairn 48
Treasure in the cairn? 53
The centenary of the motor sledge trials 56
Polar transport today 61
Polar research at Grenoble 69
Glaciology 69
Ecology of cold habitats 69
The Joseph Fourier Alpine Station (SAJF) 71
La version française 79
(avec images en taille réduite)
Bibliography / bibliographie 121
ANTARCTIC
The Lautaret Alpine Garden is associated with the history Fig. 1 (opposite page). Routes
of polar expeditions and the conquest of the south pole in followed by Captain Scott and
Amundsen during their conquest
particular. In 1908, Captain Scott and Dr Charcot chose the
of the South Pole (Modified after
col du Lautaret to run the first trials of the new motorised Wikipedia)
sledges which they were planning to take on their expeditions.
The cairn in the garden is a tribute to Scott. A hundred years
after its inauguration, this booklet tells the story of the trials
and the cairn. The story and many of the photographs are
published here for the first time.
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Robert Falcon SCOTT Ernest SHACKLETON
(1868-1912) (1874-1922)
Roald AMUNDSEN Jean-Baptiste CHARCOT
(1872-1928) (1867-1936)
The Antarctic and its conquest
In ancient Greece, Aristotle postulated the existence of a
large southern continent, to provide a counterbalance to the
continental masses of the northern hemisphere. Called ‘Terra
Australis’, it appears on several 16th century maps, well before
its official discovery. It is possible that the first Antarctic
sighting was of the South Sandwich Islands, at the tip of the
Antarctic peninsula, made as early as 1599 by a Dutch sailor,
Dirck Gerritsz, when his ship was blown south in a storm.
However, it wasn’t until the 18th century that more reliable
records of sightings and landings were made. The French
sea captain Jean-Baptiste Charles Bouvet de Lozier explored
among the ice bergs of the Southern Ocean in search of
‘Southern land’, reaching latitude 55°S in 1739 and discovering
Bouvet Island in the subantarctic. Then, leaving France in
1771 in search of a ‘very large continent’, the French naval
officer Yves Joseph de Kerguelen de Trémarec’s expedition
made a short stop on land he named ‘Southern France’, an
archipelago which James Cook later rebaptised ‘The Island
of Desolation’ and is now known as the ‘Kerguelen Islands’,
part of Terres Antarctiques et Australes Françaises (TAAF).
Captain Cook, commanded by the British Admiralty to
explore the most southern Zones, was the first to cross the
Antarctic polar circle in 1773 reaching the latitude 71° S
before turning back because of the ice.
The first reconnaissance of the Antarctic continent took
place in 1820 and is associated with three people: Captain
Fabian von Bellingshausen of the Russian navy, first to
sight the continent in January 1820; only a few days later,
Captain Edward Bransfield of the British navy sighted the
tip of the Antarctic peninsula; and the American seal hunter
Fig. 2-5 (opposite page). Four great
Nathaniel Palmer, looking for safe harbours, also sighted
figures of Antarctic exploration.
the continent in November that year. In 1823, thanks to Source: Wikipedia and SPRI
good meteorological conditions, the British navigator James (Ernest Shackleton)
Weddell got as far as 74° 15’S in the sea which now bears his
name. King Louis Philippe of France asked Jules Dumont
d’Urville to beat this record, but his voyage was not crowned
with success until his second attempt in 1840 when he
discovered Terre Adelie at a more southerly latitude.
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