During an expedition to the South Pole, a dog enjoys the gramophone, 1911.
The dog’s name is Chris. The photo was taken in January 1911 on Ross Island in Antarctica (the frozen continent south of New Zealand). Photographer Herbert Ponting - the official photographer for Captain Robert Falcon Scott’s South Pole expedition - personally set up this scene.
Later on, reproductions of this photo were made, and the dog’s collar was edited out. You can see the original photo in the second image.**
The archive record for the photo includes the following text: ‘Capt. Scott’s Antarctic Expedition 1911.’
Ponting had a clear reference in mind: the 1898 painting 'His Master’s Voice’ by artist Francis Barraud. (See the third image I shared.) In that painting, the dog, Nipper, is looking into a phonograph horn. The Gramophone Company provided the expedition with two HMV Monarch gramophones and hundreds of 78 rpm records. The records were carefully selected: Enrico Caruso operas, Norwegian folk music, Clara Butt songs, comedy routines…
Ponting placing the gramophone on a wooden crate in the snow to shoot this photo series was most likely in exchange for that sponsorship agreement.
But these bright days were fleeting. When the Antarctic winter set in from May to August 1911, months of pitch-black darkness began.
Captain Scott had the gramophone played only once a day, at a set time. The goal wasn’t entertainment; it was to keep the biological clocks of 25 men on track throughout the dark winter.
Captain Scott and four of his men lost their lives on the journey back from the South Pole. Ponting had originally prepared these photos to be used as slides for the public lectures Scott would give upon his triumphant return. That was the plan. Because Captain Scott and his four men perished, there were no victory speeches; those photos were used for mourning and remembrance instead. The expedition’s photo archive is largely a tragedy. Chris provides one of the rare frames in this collection that makes you smile.
** National Library of New Zealand, Alexander Turnbull Library. Scanned from the book Les Grands Explorateurs.
Note: Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any verifiable information about the fate of the dogs (or Chris). Some sources claim they died, while others say Chris made it back.
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