Salty Sam’s Fun Blog for Children
Number 382
Captain Scott
Hello Everyone
Last week, l told you the sad and tragic story of Anne Frank who wrote a diary which recalls her life as a young teenager.
Another famous person who wrote a diary was a man called Captain Scott.
He led an unsuccessful attempt to walk to the South Pole in 1911. His party wanted to be the first people to reach the South Pole but were beaten by a Norwegian called Roald Amundsen.
The attempt was unsuccessful because he was so unprepared for the journey he embarked (set out) on.
He was in a hurry and did not plan carefully enough. He knew that other people wanted to be the first to reach the South Pole and he wanted to beat the competition.
When you attempt to do something difficult, it is always a good idea to think carefully about what you are doing before you start in order to give yourself a better chance of success.
But when you are going to do something potentially very dangerous, it is crucial to be well-prepared!
lf you went on holiday and forgot to pack your bucket and spade or swimming costume or warm ski suit, when you got to your holiday destination you would probably find a shop there selling such things.
There is nobody around to help you if you get into difficulties when you take a trip to the South Pole!
The fact that Captain Scott wrote a diary means that we know what happened on his fateful expedition.
Otherwise, we would have known that everyone on the expedition perished– because they were later found; but we would not have known about all the events that lead up to their untimely end.
The men died from exhaustion, starvation and the extreme cold. They had been trapped in a howling blizzard for eleven days. The wind was so strong it cut ridges into the polar ice.
The men knew they were going to die and they left behind notes detailing what had happened to them.
They were found on the Ross lce Shelf several months later.
The diary found amongst their possessions was published in 1913.
The obvious courage and fortitude of Captain Scott and his four companions were undeniable and they became heroes of their time.
The final entries to the diary were written in Scott’s last days whilst he was stuck in a tiny tent with a blizzard raging outside.
The food was running out and so was the fuel needed to heat snow to make water. The weather they had had to endure was worse than they had expected. Their spirits were very low.
ln the middle of January 1912, the party discovered that they had been beaten to the South Pole.
They turned back to face the arduous eight-hundred-mile journey home.
A month later they lost the first member of their team, Edgar Evans, to exhaustion and severe frostbite.
A month after that, Lawrence Oats who was suffering from frostbite that was too painful to bear was slowing down his companions and he wanted them to leave him behind. They refused to abandon him.
Knowing that he could not go on, he announced to his companions one day that he was just going outside for a while. He left the tent and was never seen again.
After 1917, the hut from which Scott’s expedition set out remained untouched for a long time.
Then in 1956, US explorers dug it out from the snow.
lt still contained boxes of personal possessions.
RRS Discovery, the ship that took Scott and his men to explore Antarctica in his first expedition (in the years 1901-1904) is now moored in dock and open to the public.
Anyone who writes a personal journal can provide an insight to everyday life or even important historical events for the people in the times that follow.
ls your diary easy to read, or written in code? ls it full of information?
Do you write about how you feel as well as about what happens to you?
Do you write about your future plans as well as past events?
Do you keep it locked and in a secret place?
Would you like someone to read it hundreds of years from now?
lf you like my blog, please support it by telling all your friends and followers about it.
Thank you!
And see you again next Fun Friday!
Love and kisses
Salty Sam
www.christina-sinclair.com
Bill and Bob’s Joke of the Week
Bill: Bob! Why do you keep opening and closing the window like that!
What are you playing at!
Bob: Draughts!
Salty Sam © Christina Sinclair 2015
Unauthorized use and/or duplication of material from this blog without express and written permission from this blog’s author and owner is strictly prohibited.
Links may be used to www.christina-sinclair.com
Picture Gallery
The expedition
(The Guardian)
The hut from which the expedition set out
(The Telegraph)
Captain Scott writing at the table
(The Telegraph)
Captain Scott was a naval captain
Discovery
THE SALTY SAM NEWS DESK
The children were working hard in the orchard at the bottom of Auntie Alice’s garden last weekend.
Every year something called the June Drop happens in her orchard.
This is when the fruit trees shed little fruitlets. These are the tiny fruits that start growing out of the blossom once the flowers have been pollinated.
In June, the apples are still very tiny and a lot of them drop to the ground.
It is the way the trees ditch any unhealthy fruit. There is then a much smaller crop for it to carry.
The fruits that are left have more room to grow.
The tree can put more energy into fewer fruits so that the apples can grow to be as large as they can be.
The children were charged with raking the apples and pears into piles so that Auntie Alice could scoop them up easily and put them on her very large compost heap. She would collect them all up in her wheelbarrow.
After the little apples were collected off the ground, she would be able to mow the grass in the orchard more easily.
But Bob started to practise his bowling techniques with some of the apples and Emily told him that they were not supposed to be playing with the fruit.
She said that they had to prove that they were going to be really good ‘sort of business partners’ and he wasn’t making a very good start.
The children did a really good job in the end, and Auntie Alice was really pleased with them.
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Recipe Spot
These are some of Salty Sam’s favourite drinks for a hot day.
Tropical Cocktail
Half fill a large jug with pineapple juice and top up with coconut milk.
Add two peppermint teabags and leave to chill in the refrigerator for a while.
Sunset
Half fill a glass with orange juice top up with pineapple juice and then carefully slip 2 tablespoons of grenadine into it so that it slides to the bottom.
Sea Bed
Fill up a glass with kiwi juice and carefully slip 2 table spoons of blackcurrant cordial into it so that it slides to the bottom.
lt’s the Weekend!
HOW TO MAKE A DOLLS’ HOUSE TERRARlUM
You will need a coloured bottle top for a base and a clear bottle cap for a cover.
Wind some green yarn around your fingers.
Tie another strand around one side of the loop and pull it tightly into a knot.
Cut across the loop on the opposite side to the binding strand and push your ‘plants’ into the base of the terrarium.
Please note that the material on this blog is for personal use and for use in classrooms only.
It is a copyright infringement and, therefore, illegal under international law to sell items made with these patterns.
Use of the toys and projects is at your own risk.
©Christina Sinclair Designs 2015
