Lot 142: EDWARD LEICESTER ATKINSON (1881-1929)

EDWARD LEICESTER ATKINSON (1881-1929)

Autograph letter signed ('E.L. Atkinson') to Charles Seymour Wright ('Dear Silas'), Hut Point, 22 February 1912, one page, 4to.

A dramatic letter after the return of a gravely-ill Teddy Evans from the southern journey: 'I have just brought in Teddy Evans from beyond Corner Camp with a hellish go of Scurvy: I want you please to take my team South to meet the last party. If you cannot possibly do so ask Cherry. I cannot leave T.E. in his present state'. Atkinson urges Wright to come as quickly as possible, and to 'Bring with you some few apples, Oranges and Onions'. The letter ends 'Five have gone to the Pole. Crean will give you the news'.

The gravely-ill Evans had been brought back from the southern journey after heroic efforts by Lashly and Crean, who hauled him semi-conscious all the way from One Ton Depot to Corner Camp. In the absence of the polar party and with Evans incapacitated, Atkinson was not only the expedition's only remaining doctor but its acting head: there was some logic in his instruction to Wright, with his skills both as a navigator and as a dog-driver, to take the team out to meet Scott; but in the event Wright had been bound by Simpson to continue the scientific work, so, faute de mieux, the inexperienced, short-sighted Cherry-Garrard led the attempt.

VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price and at 17.5% on the buyer's premium.