The Worst Journey in the World
| Company type | Autobiographical book |
|---|---|
| Industry | Publishing |
| Founded | 1922 |
| Founder | Apsley Cherry-Garrard |
| Products | Memoir |
The Worst Journey in the World is a 1922 autobiographical work by Apsley Cherry-Garrard that chronicles Robert Falcon Scott's Terra Nova expedition to the South Pole from 1910 to 1913. The memoir is celebrated for its unvarnished portrayal of the expedition’s hardships, the factors leading to its tragic end, and insights into human resilience in extreme environments.
Preparations
In 1910, Cherry-Garrard and his fellow explorers embarked on their voyage aboard the departing from Cardiff en route to McMurdo Sound, Antarctica. At first, some questioned Cherry-Garrard’s suitability as assistant zoologist, suspecting his place was secured by a £1,000 donation to the expedition’s limited funds. Nevertheless, his humility, diligent nature, and sharp powers of observation earned him considerable respect. Recognized by novelist and biographer Nancy Mitford as the intellectual standout of the group, Cherry-Garrard became a protégé of second-in-command Edward A. Wilson.
Wilson’s objective was to obtain Emperor penguin eggs for scientific research, hypothesizing they might shed light on evolutionary links between reptiles and birds. Since these penguins breed during the Antarctic winter, a specialized July 1911 journey was organized from Cape Evans to the penguin rookery at Cape Crozier. Wilson chose Cherry-Garrard and Henry R. Bowers to accompany him on this perilous trek across the Ross Ice Shelf amid complete darkness and temperatures plunging below . All three men returned barely alive but successfully preserved the egg specimens.
Cherry-Garrard later identified this winter expedition—not the South Pole attempt—as the "worst journey in the world".
Tragedy
The team readied for their expedition from Cape Evans toward the then-unvisited South Pole during the Antarctic summer of 1911–1912. Scott’s plan involved a large contingent of men, ponies, motor sledges, and dogs transporting supplies southward. As progress advanced, support teams were scheduled to turn back, leaving only a small "Pole party" composed of the strongest men for the final leg.
Cherry-Garrard traveled with the initial party across the Ross Ice Shelf and ascended the Beardmore Glacier. Upon reaching the edge of the polar plateau, Scott instructed him to return northward. Those not selected for the Pole party headed back to Cape Evans; some returned to Britain while others, including Cherry-Garrard, remained behind awaiting Scott’s return. However, due to multiple reasons detailed in The Worst Journey in the World, planned support rendezvous did not occur.
Scott’s team reached the dog team meeting point at 82°30′S three days ahead of schedule but found no assistance awaiting them. By 10 March 1912 it became evident that dog teams had failed to arrive: "The dogs which would have been our salvation have evidently failed." Cherry-Garrard was assigned to deploy dog teams to meet and support Scott’s group but did not proceed beyond One Ton Depot—only away from where Scott and his companions ultimately died.
During 1912–1913, Cherry-Garrard and others retraced their southern route in an effort to find their lost comrades. His depiction of discovering Scott, Bowers, and Wilson’s frozen tent stands as one of the most moving sections of his narrative. While Cherry-Garrard offers extensive justification for his actions, historian Roland Huntford characterizes The Worst Journey as "an immature but persuasive, highly charged apologia". The memoir closes with meditations on heroism and self-sacrifice.
Released nine years after the conclusion of the Terra Nova expedition, The Worst Journey in the World emphasizes how innovations such as caterpillar-tread vehicles—first proposed by Scott in 1908 and utilized during this expedition—and later aircraft would revolutionize Antarctic exploration. By October 1956, travelers were able to reach and depart from the South Pole by plane. The book poses thoughtful questions about whether the suffering endured was in vain or served as motivation for future endeavors.
Epilogue
The expedition to the penguin breeding grounds during winter serves as an example of how a fundamental change in scientific approaches can invalidate earlier research findings. At the time the Terra Nova mission set sail, numerous biologists endorsed the recapitulation theory, expecting that examining the embryonic development of species such as the Emperor penguin would uncover insights into evolutionary processes. Guided by this hypothesis, the lead scientist Wilson gathered various specimens.
However, by the time the remaining members returned to England, recapitulation theory had fallen out of favor. Cherry-Garrard delivered the collected eggs to embryologists at London's Natural History Museum, who showed minimal enthusiasm for the material. He observed that these specimens contributed little to advancing knowledge in penguin embryology or broader scientific understanding. Elspeth Huxley characterized the eggs as producing "negative information."
Legacy
The Worst Journey was reissued in 1994 as the first publication in the Picador Travel Classics series and saw another edition in 2006 through British publisher Penguin Books within their esteemed Penguin Classics collection.
The narrative was dramatized for television by Mark Gatiss, who also played Cherry-Garrard, in the BBC docudrama titled The Worst Journey in the World (2007).
In 2022, artist Sarah Airriess launched the initial volume of an intended four-part graphic novel adaptation.