The first of four pages of Scott's letter. (Click to enlarge). UPDATE: IT MADE £163,250
A farewell letter written in the Antarctic by Capt. Robert Scott comes up at Bonhams Polar sale in London on March 30. The first of the farewell letters written by Scott was found on his body in November 1912. Written on March 16 that year as he realised that he and his team would not survive it was addressed to financier Sir Edgar Speyer. A noted philantrophist – to whom Richard Strauss dedicated his opera Salome – Speyer was treasurer of the fund-raising committee for the ill fated trip.
The final page. (Click to enlarge).
Scott expresses his great concerns for his family and the families of his companions and asks that the nation provide for their future: “I fear we must go…but we have been to the Pole and we shall die like gentlemen – I regret only for the women we leave behind. If this diary is found it will show how we stuck by our dying companions and fought this thing out to the end. “We very nearly came through and it’s a pity to have missed it but lately I have felt that we have overshot our mark – no-one is to blame and I hope no attempt will be made to suggest that we lacked support.”
There was a huge outpouring of public sympathy for Scott and his team when the outcome of his final letters became known, and their families were well provided for. The letter is estimated at £100,000-150,000.
UPDATE: THE LETTER SOLD FOR £163,250.