Beschreibung:

Autograph Letter Signed ("Robert Scott"), 2 pp, 12mo, conjoined leaves, Chelsea, October 16, 1905, to H.M. Mann, on personal stationery, spot of browning, folding crease, with original transmittal envelope (corner bearing stamp excised), regarding a proposed memorial to George Vince. WITH: BARNE, MICHAEL. Autograph Letter Signed ("M. Barne"), 2 pp, 12mo, conjoined leaves, Portsmouth, November 1, 1905, to H.M. Mann, on Royal Naval Barracks stationery, spotting obscuring two words, with original transmittal envelope (corner bearing stamp excised), giving the exact coordinates of Vince's accident, and regarding a memorial brass for Vince. Scott's letter reads in part, "I wholly sympathize with your efforts to commemorate poor Vince in the manner you propose ... Vince's shipmates would no doubt have been only too good to subscribe but I fear they are so scattered that it would be difficult to inform them in the matter." George Vince was a member of the 1901-04 Discovery expedition to Antarctica led by Captain Scott, with Barne serving as second lieutenant. On March 11, 1902, Vince was part of an exploratory party that became caught in a blizzard on Ross Island. In the group's attempt to fight its way back to the ship, Vince fell over an ice-cliff into the sea, and his body was never recovered. In addition to the memorial cross erected by the crew of the Discovery at the site of the accident, a brass tablet memorial to Vince was placed in the Church of St. Peter and St. Paul in Blandford, Dorset. The present lot also includes an Autograph Note from Sir Thomas Biddulph to H.M. Mann, regarding a donation of books to the Blanford Working Men's Club.