Ed Ranks the Deaths of the Terra Nova Expedition Final Polar Party

This one had a higher death count than Infinity War. SPOILER ALERT?

Although sixty-five men formed the shore and ship's parties of the Terra Nova Expedition of Antarctica (1911-1913), only five of those men were... ermm... "lucky enough" to be selected on January 3, 1912 to be in the "final" party that made its push to the South Pole. This British expedition, led by Captain Robert Falcon Scott, was in a race to reach the Pole against a Norwegian expedition led by Roald Amundsen.

Captain Scott's January 3 party decision was largely a moot point, as Amundsen's Norwegian team has already reached the South Pole several weeks before on December 14, 1911. Of course, Scott didn't know that because Instagram didn't exist back then, so Scott wouldn't have been able to have see a picture posted by Amundsen that was like, "FIRST! Suck it, Scott!" Also, even if Instagram had existed back then data coverage would have probably been pretty sketch in Antartica anyway.

Look, that's all besides the point of this ranking. The point is, the British expedition was an ill-prepared comedy of errors that brought along the wrong equipment, supplies and animals (if you consider everyone dying to be "comedy," which I do). Scott was a damn fool to think they he could beat a bunch of Norwegians at cold weather activities. And so his dumb ass died, along with the four other people.

From left: Dead, Dead, Dead, Dead and Dead.

5. Edward Adrian Wilson (Hypothermia/Starvation; ~March 29, 1912) - Wilson was the expedition's physician, which is a sensible type of person to bring along. Not only that, but Wilson had previously traveled with Scott before on Scott's first Antarctic expedition (the Discovery Expedition) in 1901–1904. So you'd think this would be a good pick. It probably was, but it wasn't enough to save them. The party of five made it to the South Pole on January 17, only to discover that Amundsen had been there first. Defeated, the five began their journey back. And that's when shit started to go sour.  For his part, Wilson at least survived until the very end. On March 20, just 11 miles away from the "One Ton" food depot that would provide them nourishing supplies and food to keep going, the final three survivors (Wilson, with Scott and Bowers) were caught in a blizzard that would not end. On March 29, Scott wrote his final journal entry (the main records we have of how the final days of the expedition went down). It was essentially a goodbye letter. The three died together and their tent collapsed on them. Months later, their bodies were found on November 12.

4. Henry Robertson "Birdie" Bowers (Hypothermia/Starvation; ~March 29, 1912) - Birdie Bowers wasn't even supposed to be in the Final Polar Party. He had been a member of the sledge team led by Scott's second-in-command, Lieutenant Edward Evans, and it was really only supposed to be four people going down instead of five. For that reason, five people had to share a tent for four and eat the resources originally meant for four. This was obviously a HUGE MISTAKE. Bowers made it to the end, along with Wilson and Scott, dying somewhere around March 29 with the others from the extreme cold and lack of food. And while there were a TON of reasons this expedition was doomed, you gotta think that the last minute addition of Bowers played some part in that. So, for that reason - even though Wilson and Bowers (as well as Scott below) technically had the same "cause" of death (hypothermia and starvation) - I'll rank Birdie's death as slightly more interesting because, you know, its a little bit his fault. But you know whose fault this entire stupid thing is even more-so? Well...

3. Robert Falcon Scott (Hypothermia/Starvation; ~March 29, 1912) - The expedition leader (with arguably the most epic name) really went and did some piss-poor planning and execution for this trip. He provided his final polar party with inadequate rations. He decided that the Terra Nova Expedition would use ponies, which weren't at all suited for cold weather. He didn't properly train the men in his expedition how to ski. He placed his "One Ton" replenishment depot 35 miles north of its planned location (on the return trip, he would wind up dying 11 miles south of it, meaning that if it had been put where it was supposed to be put... he and his colleagues likely would have survived).  Scott made it to the end with Wilson and Bowers, and as noted above his own journal is our best record for what happened in these final days. He had pretty much given up on his journal by March 23 until his final entry on March 29, which began with the entirely pessimistic (but also completely accurate), "Last Entry." While Wilson and Bowers died huddled up in their sleeping bags, Scott died slightly outside of his bag with an arm wrapped around Wilson. This placement indicates that he was likely the very last one to die. Which is pretty fucking horrific. 

Here. Will a picture of penguins cheer you up?
This ranking is pretty depressing.

2. Edgar Evans (Catastrophic Brain Trauma; February 17, 1912) - Evans was an Antarctic veteran by the time he joined the Terra Nova expedition, as he had (like Wilson) served on Scott's first Antarctic expedition, the Discovery. He must have been pretty psyched when he reached the South Pole on January 17... and then pretty depressed after he saw the big middle finger left behind by Amundsen, indicating they had been beaten by five weeks. On the trek back on February 4, Evans slipped on the Beardmore Glacier and crashed his head into the side of a crevasse. He got a severe concussion, which surely would be treatable by modern medical science and having a nice hospital facility around. Alas, Evans had neither of those things because he was on an Antarctic expedition in 1912. All he had was expedition physician, Edward Wilson, who couldn't really do jack shit for him. By February 12, Evans collapsed and could go no further. The rest went ahead to the next supply depot and came back for him. When they found him, he was pretty much done-zo. He died the morning of February 17, exactly one month after reaching the South Pole. The remaining survivors never wrote down what happened to his body in their notes - and since they all died, nobody was ever able to ask them.

1. Lawrence "Titus" Oates (Suicide by Blizzard; ~March 17, 1912) - Captain Lawrence Edward Grace "Titus" Oates (Grace? Really?) went out like a boss. By March, he was hurting pretty badly. His feet were severely frostbitten and he was suffering from scurvy. He had an old war wound in his left thigh from the Second Boer War in South Africa, which was reopened during the arduous journey. By this time, the remaining survivors of the party were slowed down by Oates, and he knew it. The amount of provisions (like oil) the team had left was not enough to survive the slow pace that Oates had forced everyone else to go. On March 15, he requested everyone leave him behind but they refused. So on March 17 (or maybe the 16th, Scott wasn't sure in his journal), during the middle of a blizzard, Oates walked out of their tent and told the rest of the party, "I am just going outside and may be some time." And then he just walked out into the snow to die alone. It was an attempt at a heroic self-sacrifice to save the others. It didn't work, because the others all died anyway, but it's the thought that counts.  His body has never been found.