My Stay Through Life

After successfully reaching the South Pole (the second group to have ever accomplished this feat and the first to do so without the aid of dog's or horses), Captain Robert Scott's team ran into terrible weather on their trip back to their home base. After several members became incapable of continuing on due to health reasons, it became apparent that the group's chances of survival was quickly fading due to the lack of food and fuel, which lay 11 miles away on the frozen plains of Antarctica. The following quote was written on March 22, 1912 by Lieutenant Henry R. Bowers in a letter to his mother. The letter was found in the tent next to his body, where he had died a few days after writing it.

"I am still strong and hope to reach this one (the depot) with Dr. Wilson and get the food and fuel necessary for our lives. God only knows what will be the outcome of the 22 miles march...but my trust is still in Him and in the abounding Grace of my Lord and Savior whom you brought me up to trust in and who has been my stay through life... There will be no shame however and you will know that I have struggled until the end."
- as quoted on page 332 in Race to the Pole by Sir Ranulph Fiennes