who said i am going outside and may be some time
Lawrence Oates On the morning of the 17th of March (or possibly the 16th – Scott was unsure) Oates walked out of the tent into a −40 °F (−40 °C) blizzard to his death. Scott wrote in his diary: "We knew that poor Oates was walking to his death, but though we tried to dissuade him, we knew it was the act of a brave man and an English gentleman."[14] According to Scott's diary, as Oates left the tent he said, "I am just going outside and may be some time",[15] though Edward Adrian Wilson, who was also present, made no reference to this in his own diary or the letters to Oates' mother.[16]