Pictures of the Terra Nova Expedition

Terra Nova Expedition – Photo Gallery

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The Terra Nova Expedition 1910 – 1913


The Terra Nova expedition was both Captain Scott’s and Tom Crean’s second journey to Antarctica, as both men had been part of the Discovery Expedition 1901 – 1904.
The aims of the British Antarctic Expedition ( official name of the Terra Nova expedition ) was chiefly to reach the South Pole, but also there was the important objectives of scientific research – meteorological, geological, geographical and zoological.
While many of the scientific aspects of the excursion were successful, and indeed Scott and his team did reach the Pole on January 17th 1912, the expedition ultimately ended in tragedy with the deaths of all five men of the Polar Party, on their return journey.
Despite the fact that this expedition took place over 100 years ago, the photographs of Herbert Ponting affords us an excellent visual backdrop to the fascinating stories of endeavour, bravery and tragedy, that unfolded on the harsh frozen continent of Antarctica.

Captain Robert Falcon Scott (1868 – 1912) and eight other expedition members at camp in the Ross Dependency of Antarctica, during Scott’s Terra Nova Expedition to the Antarctic, April 1911. They have just returned from the Southern Party’s exploratary expedition. (Photo by Herbert Ponting/Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge/Getty Images)

Dog handler Cecil Meares with his animals on the deck of the ‘Terra Nova’, during Captain Robert Falcon Scott’s Terra Nova Expedition to the Antarctic, 3rd January 1911. (Photo by Herbert Ponting/Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge/Getty Images)

Stacking up supplies at Cape Evans on Ross Island, in the Ross Dependency of Antarctica, during Captain Robert Falcon Scott’s Terra Nova Expedition to the Antarctic, 23rd January 1911. The active volcano Mount Erebus is in the background. (Photo by Herbert Ponting/Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge/Getty Images)

The ‘Terra Nova’ in McMurdo Sound, Antartica, 1911. Captain Robert Falcon Scott’s (1868-1912) ship the Terra Nova seen in the distance on the ill-fated expedition to the South Pole. (Photo by The Print Collector/Print Collector/Getty Images)

The ‘Terra Nova’ moored to the ice sheet in the Ross Dependency, during Captain Robert Falcon Scott’s Terra Nova Expedition to the Antarctic, 16th January 1911. (Photo by Herbert Ponting/Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge/Getty Images)

An ice grotto in the Church Berg, in the Ross Dependency of Antarctica, during Captain Robert Falcon Scott’s Terra Nova Expedition to the Antarctic, 29th December 1911. (Photo by Herbert Ponting/Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge/Getty Images)

January 1912: In the final journey of Scott to discover the South Pole, Captain Scott leads a sleigh party over the ice. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Dr. Edward Adrian Wilson (1872 – 1912) works on a sketch at camp in the Ross Dependency of Antarctica, during Captain Robert Falcon Scott’s Terra Nova Expedition to the Antarctic, 1911. (Photo by Herbert Ponting/Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge/Getty Images)

Captain Robert Falcon Scott (1868 – 1912) celebrates his 43rd birthday at camp in the Ross Dependency of Antarctica, during his Terra Nova Expedition to the Antarctic, 6th June 1911. Scott is at the head of the table. (Photo by Herbert Ponting/Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge/Getty Images)

Apsley Cherry-Garrard (1886 – 1959) with the pony ‘Michael’ in the Ross Dependency of Antarctica, during Captain Robert Falcon Scott’s Terra Nova Expedition to the Antarctic, October 1911. (Photo by Herbert Ponting/Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge/Getty Images)

‘The Tenements’ – bunkbeds in a Winter Quarters hut on the Ross Dependency, during Captain Robert Falcon Scott’s Terra Nova Expedition to the Antarctic, 9th October 1911. Henry Robertson Bowers, Lawrence Oates, Cecil Meares and Edward L. Atkinson lie on bunks, while Apsley Cherry-Garrard stands on the left. (Photo by Herbert Ponting/Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge/Getty Images)

Three expedition members sit around a camping stove in the Ross Dependency of Antarctica, during Captain Robert Falcon Scott’s Terra Nova Expedition to the Antarctic, 7th February 1911. (Photo by Herbert Ponting/Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge/Getty Images

Captain Robert Falcon Scott (1868 – 1912) writes his journal in the Winterquarters Hut, in the Ross Dependency of Antarctica, during his Terra Nova Expedition to the Antarctic, 7th October 1911. Behind him are pictures of his wife and son. (Photo by Herbert Ponting/Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge/Getty Images)

Expedition cook Thomas Clissold makes pies at camp in the Ross Dependency of Antarctica, during Captain Robert Falcon Scott’s Terra Nova Expedition to the Antarctic, January 1912. (Photo by Herbert Ponting/Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge/Getty Images)

Dog handler Cecil Meares and Captain Lawrence Oates (1880 – 1912) cook blubber for the dogs at their camp in the Ross Dependency of Antarctica, during Captain Robert Falcon Scott’s Terra Nova Expedition to the Antarctic, May 1911. (Photo by Herbert Ponting/Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge/Getty Images)

Crean & BonesTom Crean and the pony “Bones”, just before his 400 mile march across the Great Ice Barrier, October 1911
Terra Nova Expedition 1910-13

Terra Nova expedition at the South Pole - LOC 3a30750u“Camp at the South Pole.” Published in: The Great White South… / by Herbert G. Ponting, F.R.G.S. New York : Robert M. McBride & Co., 1922.