On 17th January 1912, members of the British Antarctic Expedition, led by Captain Robert Falcon Scott, reached the South Pole. Hoping to be the first people to get there, Scott and his companions were devastated to find that a party from Norway, led by Captain Roald Amundsen, had beaten them to it. His men had endured a tough journey across the icy continent of Antarctica. Now they faced a long and difficult return trek to their base camp. But tragedy would soon follow.

In early January 1911, Scott’s team arrived in Antarctica. Although it was midsummer there, it was still bitterly cold. The men set up camp at Cape Evans on Ross Island, at the edge of the Ross Ice Shelf. The team built a hut and began to make preparations for the long winter months to come. They also delivered supplies to a number of points (depots) on the Ross Ice Shelf. These would be for the use of those men making the journey to and from the Pole.

Setting off for the Pole

Scott and a party of 15 men set off from base camp on 1st November 1911. To haul their supplies, including food and fuel, they had sledges (powered by motors), dogs and ponies.

By mid-December, the dog teams had to turn back: there was not enough food to keep them going further. This left the rest of the party to climb the Beardmore Glacier and continue their journey to the Pole hauling their own sledges. On 4th January 1912 Scott chose four men to accompany him on the final leg of the journey. They were: Edward "Bill" Wilson, Captain Lawrence "Titus" Oates, Edgar Evans and Henry "Birdie" Bowers. The others returned to the camp.

The following day, 18th January, the dejected group began their long return journey. Gradually the men began to suffer from hunger and illness. The weather worsened. Evans died on 17th February. Forced to leave his body behind, the men trudged on. They eventually reached a supply depot. Here, they expected to meet up with dog teams to take them swiftly back to camp. But these failed to appear.

Oates had severe frostbite in his left foot. On 16th March, while the others sheltered in their tent, he walked out into the blizzard, telling his companions: "I am just going outside and may be some time..." He sacrificed his life so that the others could carry on without him slowing them down.

On 20th March the remaining three men—Scott, Wilson and Bowers—were caught in terrible blizzards on the Ross Ice Shelf, just 18 kilometres (11 miles) short of another supply depot. Unable to leave their tent as they waited for the blizzards to end, their supplies finally ran out. By 30th March, all three were dead. The last entry in Scott’s diary on 29th March read: "The end cannot be far. It seems a pity but I do not think I can write more. R. Scott. Last entry. For God's sake look after our people."