Robert Falcon Scott (1868-1912) page 2
The Terra Nova Expedition 1910-13
Crew of the Terra Nova

Scott wanted to use the Discovery again for this second expedition, but the admiralty had sold it to the Hudson's Bay Company some years before, and they refused to sell her back. After considering several others, Scott purchased the Terra Nova, which had been used for whaling and sealing since her return from the Discovery expedition.

Scott planned to use the motor sledges as far as possible, establishing depots along the way. The ponies would then take over and haul the sledges to the foot of a glacier, the next major obstacle, when the south pole party would begin to manhaul their sledges.

The journey to Antarctica on the Terra Nova was eventful and losses of ponies, a dog, coal and other stores occurred during a storm. On December 8th 1910 the first iceberg was spotted and on the following day, in latitude 65°8'S, the Terra Nova entered the pack ice. The ship continued to encounter heavy pack ice for the next three weeks, consuming a great deal of precious coal in the process.

On December 30th Scott wrote, "We are out of the pack at length and at last one breathes again". On New Year's Day, 1911, Mount Erebus came into view. They attempted to land at Cape Crozier, where they had planned on setting up winter quarters, but the seas were too rough. So, McMurdo Sound was their next option. On January 4th 1911, the Terra Nova anchored to the ice and the unloading began. The ponies were especially happy to finally be on firm ground as they rolled and kicked in the snow.

The motor sledges began well, they were unloaded and immediately put to work hauling stores to the new camp. The third and largest sledge however broke through the ice to the sea and sank in sixty fathoms of water as it was being hauled by twenty men towards the shore.

The hut was erected quickly, it measured fifty feet by twenty-five and was nine feet to the eaves. It was insulated with quilted seaweed, lined with matchboard, lit by acetylene gas, provided with a stove and cooking range and divided into two by a partition made of crates (including the wine) to separate the men's from the officers' quarters. Within two weeks the hut was built and occupied.

Like the Discovery expedition, again the centrepiece of the expedition was to be to reach the South Pole, and again this was but one of several projects and exploratory trips from the base camp. Depot laying parties set out shortly after arrival to leave stores and provisions. Doubts set in early on about the usefulness of the ponies, as they had problems with sinking into soft snow.

It was only after arriving at their winter camp and erecting the hut that Scott found out that the Norwegian Roald Amundsen had arrived at the bay of Whales and he too was planning to reach the South Pole the following summer. Amundsen had more dogs and better trained dogs, what was more, he and his men were experienced in using them efficiently. Many of Scott's party were unhappy at the arrival of Amundsen, his arrival was thought to be an unsporting and previously unannounced attempt at beating Scott and his team to the pole.

The ponies continued to fare badly, two were lost in the sea when they broke through ice. When they were unable to be retrieved, they fell victim to killer whales. Before the sun went down for the winter, only 10 ponies were left out of an original 19.

The one sledging journey was undertaken in the winter by a small team of men led by Wilson, the biologist and including the young Apsley Cherry-Garrard, famously this gave rise to the acknowledged greatest of all Antarctic adventure and travel books "The Worst Journey in the World". This was a trip to Cape Crozier in search of eggs from Emperor penguins that were known to lay and incubate their eggs in the Antarctic winter though none had ever been returned intact to science. Indeed they had only first been discovered a few years beforehand.

The winter was a very active time for the expedition and a large quantity of scientific data never before collected was able to be gathered. Though Scott spent much time engaged in science his thoughts were inevitably also always on the attempt to reach the pole to be carried out when the weather allowed after the sun had returned.

He decided during the winter on who his companions were to be for the polar journey. The chosen team was:

Dr. E. A. Wilson known as "Uncle Bill", chief scientist and doctor of the expedition.

Captain L. E. G. Oates, a career soldier and in charge of the Siberian ponies.

Lieutenant H. R. Bowers, respected for his hardiness and dauntlessness.

Petty officer Edgar "Taff" Evans the strongman of the party, in charge of sledging equipment.

The story continues, the journey to the pole

Historical photographs on this page by permission of National Library of Australia