Rare Pictures: Scott's South Pole Expedition, 100 Years Later

Dog and Pony Ship

Photograph by Herbert G. Ponting, Library of Congress

One of Ponting's pictures shows sled dogs housed on the deck of the wooden whaler Terra Nova during her sail to Antarctica in 1910.

Among the ship's cargo were 3 motor sledges, 162 mutton carcasses, 19 ponies, 33 dogs, and more than 450 tons of coal—not to mention 65 people, from sailors to scientists.

Published January 17, 2012

Power Nap

Photograph by Herbert G. Ponting, National Geographic

Members of the Terra Nova expedition nap in the sun while the ship battles "pack"—thick patches of sea ice—in 1910.

When the Terra Nova would get stuck in the roughly 400-mile (640-kilometer) expanse of ice, she seemed like "a living thing fighting a great fight," Scott wrote in a letter home.

Published January 17, 2012

Antarctic Ice Fishing

Photograph by Herbert G. Ponting, National Geographic

Expedition cook Thomas Clissold and surgeon Edward Atkinson (right) haul up a seal-baited fish trap during Antarctica's winter darkness.

The team's nearly three years of scientific experiments—particularly in meteorology and geology—laid the groundwork for what is known about the continent today, Jones said.

In addition to their drive to reach the Pole, he said, Scott and his men "were also driven by a passion to discover more about the world."

Published January 17, 2012

Daily Catch

Photograph by Herbert G. Ponting, National Geographic

One of the species caught in the seal-baited traps included a cod in the genus Notothenia, pictured in 1911.

Scott, who ate fried Notothenia in May 1911, wrote that the fish had an "extraordinarily sweet taste."

Published January 17, 2012

Antarctic Bite

Photograph by Herbert G. Ponting, National Geographic

Men eat lunch in a tent on January 7, 1911—not long after the Terra Nova landed at Cape Evans in Antarctica.

Scott chose to build the expedition hut at Cape Evans because the location provided easy access to the Ross Ice Shelf—a France-size piece of ice that would make up the first section of the South Pole trek.

(Test your knowledge about what it's like to live in Antarctica today.)

Published January 17, 2012

Ice Cave

Photograph by Herbert G. Ponting, National Geographic

Lieutenant Edward Evans and biologist Edward Nelson chisel an ice cave for food storage on January 12, 1911.

Though making it was "slow and arduous work," Scott wrote in his journal, he predicted that, once complete, the larder "will be admirable in every way."

Published January 17, 2012

In the Horse's Mouth

Photograph by Herbert G. Ponting, National Geographic

Expedition members give whiskey to a pony that swam ashore after being stuck on an ice floe in McMurdo Sound on February 8, 1911.

While laying supply depots in preparation for the South Pole trek, the men encountered many challenges, including unreliable ice and blizzards.

Published January 17, 2012

Reading the Horizon

Photograph by Herbert G. Ponting, National Geographic

Lieutenant Henry Rennick uses an instrument called an artificial horizon to take readings of Earth's natural horizon on February 9, 1911.

The Terra Nova scientific team was the largest to date in Antarctica, part of Scott's goal to "take every advantage ... to study natural phenomena," as he wrote to the British Royal Geographical Society before his journey.

Published January 17, 2012

Reindeer-Bag Repair

Photograph by Herbert G. Ponting, National Geographic

Expedition members repair reindeer-fur sleeping bags inside the Terra Nova hut on May 16, 1911.

For the South Pole journey, the men wore warm, reindeer-fur boots called finneskos, oversize reindeer-fur mitts, and goggles to prevent snow-blindness.

Published January 17, 2012

Bundled Up

Photograph by Herbert G. Ponting, National Geographic

Scott chose Petty Officer Edgar Evans (seen in 1910 or 1911) as one of the five men to take the final—and most difficult—part of the South Pole journey.

The South Pole team set off in October 1911 with 16 men, 5 tents, 10 ponies, 23 dogs, 13 sledges, and several pairs of skis.

Published January 17, 2012

Taking the Temperature

Photograph by Herbert G. Ponting, National Geographic

Lieutenant Henry Bowers (left) and biologist Edward Wilson read a temperature of -40 degrees Fahrenheit (-40 degrees Celsius) from a thermometer on a winter night in 1911.

Winter temperatures along the Antarctic coast can dip as low as -70 degrees Fahrenheit (-57 degrees Celsius).

Published January 17, 2012

Icy Traverse

Photograph by Herbert G. Ponting, National Geographic

Members of the western geological party haul a sledge across sea ice in 1911.

The team, led by geologist T. Griffith Taylor, was the first to explore Antarctica's Western Mountains—in Scott's words, a "vision of mountain scenery that can have few rivals."

Published January 17, 2012

By the Blubber Stove

Photograph by Herbert G. Ponting, National Geographic

Dog handler Cecil Meares and Captain Lawrence Oates crouch near a seal-blubber stove on May 26, 1911.

"The stove gives great heat, but, of course, some blubber smell," Scott wrote in his journal. "With such stoves ... one would never lack cooked food or [a] warm hut."

The Terra Nova hut was also quite roomy, at 50 feet by 25 feet (15 meters by 8 meters), and was divided into two sections: the wardroom for officers and scientists, and the messdeck for seamen.

Published January 17, 2012

Jupiter Gazing

Photograph by Herbert G. Ponting, National Geographic

Lieutenant Edward Evans observes an occultation of Jupiter—which occurs when Jupiter passes between Earth and a star—on June 8, 1911.

The Terra Nova explorers also witnessed several meteorological events, auroras possibly being the most impressive.

"Tonight we had a glorious auroral display—quite the most brilliant I have seen," Scott wrote in May 1911.

"At one time the sky from N.N.W. to S.S.E., as high as the zenith, was massed with arches, band, and curtains, always in rapid movement."

Published January 17, 2012

Tiny Terra Nova

Photograph by Herbert G. Ponting, National Geographic

Petty Officer Patrick Keohane finishes his model of the Terra Nova on August 10, 1911.

Scott's men found several ways to entertain themselves during the sunless winter, such as using the pianola (a type of piano), putting on educational slide shows, and listening to the gramophone.

Published January 17, 2012

"Great Bastion of Ice"

Photograph by Herbert G. Ponting, National Geographic

"A great bastion of ice"—Ponting's description for this feature photographed in September 1911—is among many unusual ice formations observed during the expedition.

For instance, sledging parties often encountered sastrugi, wind-sculpted snow that can resemble the surface of a stormy sea.

The men learned to "read" the sastrugi to determine the direction of the wind and then pitch their tents accordingly.

Published January 17, 2012

In the Shadow of Erebus

Photograph by Herbert G. Ponting, National Geographic

Men emerge from the Terra Nova hut on September 17, 1911—a relatively "warm" spring day of -15 degrees Fahrenheit (-26 degrees Celsius).

The 12,447-foot-tall (3,794-meter-tall) Mount Erebus, Earth's southernmost active volcano, looms in the distance.

Published January 17, 2012

Japanese Escape

Photograph by Herbert G. Ponting, National Geographic

Herbert Ponting shows a slide show from his Japanese travels on May 29, 1911.

"Tonight Ponting gave us a charming lecture on Japan with wonderful illustrations of his own," Scott wrote in his journal. "He is happiest in his descriptions of the artistic side of the people, with which he is in fullest sympathy."

Such lectures served to not only entertain and educate the team but also to provide an escape from the stark Antarctic landscape.

Published January 17, 2012

Bunny Slope

Photograph by Herbert G. Ponting, National Geographic

Norwegian ski expert Tryggve Gran executes a turn in October 1911.

Gran, who was a sub-lieutenant on the expedition, also gave ski lessons to the South Pole trekkers—most of whom had little experience on skis.

Published January 17, 2012

Polar Skis

Photograph by Herbert G. Ponting, National Geographic

A pair of reindeer-fur boots are rigged to fit skis in a 1911 picture.

Before embarking on the last 150 miles (240 kilometers) of the South Pole journey, Scott abruptly decided to take another man—despite the fact the operation was built around a four-person team, from the number of eating utensils to the pairs of skis.

His decision slowed travel—one skiless person had to walk—extended cooking time, and overall hampered the expedition.

Published January 17, 2012

"Attractive Little Beast"

Photograph by Herbert G. Ponting, National Geographic

Assistant zoologist Apsley Cherry-Garrard is seen with his pony, Michael, on October 16, 1911, before the two started on the first leg of the South Pole journey.

The pony "was as attractive a little beast as we had," Cherry-Garrard wrote in his journal, although he "developed mischievous habits and became a rope-eater and gnawer of other ponies' fringes, as we called the coloured tassels we hung over their eyes to ward off snow-blindness."

Michael and the other nine ponies died en route to stock up supply depots for Scott and his men on their return journey from the Pole.

Published January 17, 2012

Science on Ice

Photograph by Herbert G. Ponting, National Geographic

Biologist Edward Nelson tends to a scientific experiment in an ice hole on December 24, 1911.

Terra Nova biologists were fascinated by the bevy of unusual creatures around them, from leopard seals—which they called sea leopards—to killer whales to Adélie penguins.

Published January 17, 2012

Sponge Find

Photograph by Herbert G. Ponting, National Geographic

Biologist Dennis Lillie examines a large glass sponge hauled up in 1911.

Lillie was part of the ship's party, which stayed permanently aboard the Terra Nova. The ship would return to New Zealand—the closest major port—during the winters.

Published January 17, 2012

Playing a Tune

Photograph by Herbert G. Ponting, National Geographic

Dog handler Cecil Meares plays a tune on the pianola in January 1912.

Despite the unforgiving conditions outside the Terra Nova hut, assistant biologist Apsley-Garrard noted in his journal that Antarctic life was relatively luxurious for the team that stayed on the coast.

"To spend a year in the hut at Cape Evans because you explore is no more laudable than to spend a month at Davos because you have consumption, or to spend an English winter at the Berkeley Hotel," he wrote.

"It is just the most comfortable thing and easiest thing to do under the circumstances."

Published January 17, 2012

Parting Shot

Photograph by Henry Bowers, Popperfoto/Getty Images

Battered and frostbitten, Lawrence Oates, Henry Bowers, Robert Scott, Edward Wilson, and Edgar Evans (left to right) pose for a portrait at the South Pole on January 17, 1912.

About two months and a half months after this photograph was taken, the men were dead, three of them lying in a tent just 11 miles (17 kilometers) from a food depot.

In his final words, Scott wrote that he did not regret the expedition, "which has shown Englishmen can endure hardships, help one another, and meet death with as great a fortitude as ever in the past."

Published January 17, 2012