Captain Oates: Soldier and Explorer

Whilst many people will know something of Captain Scott's ill-fated expedition to the South Pole in 1912, few are able to name any other members of his team except, of course, for Captain Oates. It was the injured Oates who deliberately walked to his death during a blizzard in the hope that his fellow team members would survive. As he left that tent on what can only be described as the worst possible night, he uttered words which have since become immortalised; "I am just going outside and may be some time." With the moment recorded in Scott's own diary, Oates had placed himself firmly into the world's history books. Other than knowing his name, however, even fewer people will know anything at all, about this man - other than the fact he was a captain in the British army. This book provides a complete explanation of that life. Described by Sir Ranulph Fiennes as "A fascinating character study of a quintessential British hero" this book is everything a biography should be. Perhaps it is the incidental information - such as the revelation that two "very" prominent and heroic figures from the Victorian era (Kitchener and Gordon!) both had a preference for boys or the infinite detail surrounding the central figure, his family, friends and colleagues. For many, however, it will be the simple truism that this book is well written and a darned good read with the added intrigue that we all know from the outset how the life of the central character finally came to an end. Whatever aspect hits your own requirements for a good book, the way in which that detail is portrayed is both gripping and fascinating thus providing one of the finest biographies I have ever read. Co-author Sue Limb is an established writer who has retained an interest in Scott for many years. Her fellow author is Patrick Cordingley who came to prominence in the UK as a senior British officer during the Gulf War of 1990. Not all of those senior commanders acquitted themselves as well as he at that particular time and, speaking as a retired officer myself, I am not alone in being surprised he did not attain much higher office. Having been commissioned into Oates' old regiment, however, Patrick Cordingley provides an insight which might otherwise have been missed. This is a work which describes Captain Lawrence Edward Grace Oates in fine detail from before his birth to after his death. It is a book in which we learn of his privileged, albeit somewhat sickly, formative years, his disrupted schooling, the early death of his father, his struggle to get into the army and of his first action during the Boer War during which his thigh was shattered and he was Mentioned in Despatches - leaving many to believe he should have received the VC! We also learn of his mother's continuing patronage, his letters home, service in Egypt and India - where he contracted smallpox, his quiet, almost withdrawn demeanour and so much more. We also learn of his expertise with horses. In fact, the reader becomes

This is an insightful and well-researched biography. Using sources previously kept within the Oates family, including a collection of over three hundred of Captain Oates' letters and portions of his Antarctic diary, Sue Limb and P. Cordingly recreate many details of the explorer's life and experiences which had previously been unknown. The result is an account focusing on Oates' LIFE, rather than his famous DEATH after reaching the South Pole with Scott in 1912. Oates is shown to be not a sublime martyr, but instead an intelligent, remarkable man grounded in reality, whose life ended too soon as a result of the blunders of others.