Fight to secure funding doomed Scott’s polar trip to failure, his diary reveals

A LONG-lost pocket diary belonging to Captain Robert Scott has emerged which reveals his polar trip was doomed to fail – after he became pre-occupied fundraising for the expedition.

The 100-year-old tattered green leather ledger – simply titled “Diary 1910” – recalls Scott’s final few months in England and his frantic last-gasp plans for the ill-fated trip.

It documents how the run-up to the departure was dominated by last-minute attempts to find financial backers – at the expense of practical planning and training.

The explorer, who was to perish alongside his four companions in the icy wastes of the Terra Nova, travelled to Middlesbrough, Manchester and Liverpool seeking money for the project.

Scott also publicised the event through various press calls, lectures and dinners, his journal revealed.

The dog-eared diary is being sold by Scott’s descendants and is expected to fetch up to £10,000 when it goes under the hammer at Christie’s later this month.

Written partly in pen, partly in pencil, it contains 118 entries between 4 December, 1909 and 12 July, 1910 – his last months in England.

Christie’s specialist Thomas Venning said: “This is an important historical document.”