Naval officer (1876-1912) who was one of Robert Falcon Scott's companions on his ill-fated Terra Nova Expedition to the South Pole in 1911–1912. ALS signed “Edgar,” (and Edgar Evans in the text) one page both sides, 8 x 10, British Antarctic Expedition letterhead, June 22, 1910. Written to his brother in law while at sea aboard the Terra Nova, In full: “A few lines to let you know that I am in the best of health and I hope this will find you all the same. I am writing this to you at sea because I shall not have time to write you once we get into harbour, we only stay in Madeira 3 days, or I should say we were supposed to stay that length of time, but we shant, as we shall be overdue, we leave there on the 26th for Cape Town and expect to arrive there on the 1st of August; (oh) we go a long way in a long time we do, so far we have had very fair weather but the winds have been against us nearly the whole of the time. I suppose we shall get a fair wind some time, its really a good job that we have had decent weather. So as to get things a bit square, we were in a bad state when we left Cardiff. I’m happy to tell you that the leak is as bad as ever but it may close up in (time) I will send you a programme of our movements from Cape Town if I can get any reliable information, I should very much like to hear from you at Cape Town, but you will have to hurry up about it as we leave there on the 8th of August. Dear Jack, please remember me to George Parguell, Shute, Eddie, etc. I hope they are keeping well. My address in Cape Town is Edgar Evans, S. L. Terra Nova R.Y.S., Cape Town South Africa. Please give my love to all the children & tell Hilf I had to get another boy as the clothes were made. I have no more to say at present, so will close with best wishes.” In very good condition, with central horizontal and vertical fold, scattered creasing and wrinkling, and scattered soiling.
Like the Discovery, Scott’s ship from his voyage in 1901, the Terra Nova was a leaker. Every hand on deck took a turn at the hand pumps during the voyage. After toiling to reach Antarctica, the expedition began an arduous journey to the South Pole, first on horseback and motorized sleds, and ending on foot. The trip proved to be historically unsuccessful as Roald Amundsen’s Norwegian team had preceded them by 33 days.
Evans made it to the Pole with Scott and was the first of the Polar party to die on the return trip. Scott had described him as ‘an invaluable assistant’ responsible for all the sledges, tents and sleeping bags. Evans had cut his hand in an accident as they were nearing the pole, and the wound did not heal properly. During the return journey he began to deteriorate mentally as well as physically. As they descended the Beardmore Glacier, he is thought to have suffered a head injury in a fall into a crevasse on February 4, 1912, sustaining serious concussion which caused his condition to rapidly worsen. Two days later, Evans collapsed and died from the effects of his fall, and the remaining four members of the team would meet the same fate shortly after. A rare letter from the ill-fated explorer, with excellent association. RRAuction COA.
