Members from Robert Falcon Scott's polar expedition stand on the shore and wave to departing comrades. Although most of the team stayed on the coast, 16 men set off for the South Pole—only to perish on their return journey.
Photograph by Herbert G. Ponting, Nat Geo Image CollectionFor their trip, the expedition brought sled dogs, 3 motor sledges, 162 mutton carcasses, 19 ponies, 33 dogs, and more than 450 tonnes of coal—not to mention 65 people, from sailors to scientists.
Photograph by Herbert G. Ponting, Nat Geo Image CollectionDoctor Edward Atkinson conducts experiments in his lab during the expedition. Part of Scott's goal was to "take every advantage ... to study natural phenomena," as he wrote to the British Royal Geographical Society before his journey.
Men construct a sledge used to haul items during the expedition. The South Pole team took five tents, 10 ponies, 23 dogs, 13 sledges, and several pairs of skis on their journey.
Photograph by Herbert G. Ponting, Nat Geo Image CollectionThe S.S. Terra Nova ferried explorers to Antarctica from 1910 to 1912. Originally a whaling ship, after Antarctica, the ship was a supply vessel until it sank in 1943 off Southern Greenland.
Photograph by Herbert G. Ponting, Nat Geo Image Collection