Scott’s Last Expedition – Natural History Museum

One hundred years ago this month, Captain Robert Falcon Scott and his party of men reached the South Pole only to find that they had been beaten to their destination by a Norwegian team led by explorer Roald Amundsen.

Stylo have worked with the designers Land Design as well as The Moule Partnership to create a new exhibition commemorating the event and celebrating its scientific achievements. The exhibition first resided in the National Maritime Museum Sydney before settling in the Natural History Museum, London.  Scott’s Last Expedition features rare artefacts used by Scott’s team and scientific specimens, appearing together for the first time, alongside a life-sized representation of Scott’s hut that survives in Antarctica.

Robert Falcon Scott was born on 6 June 1868 in Devonport. He attracted the notice of the Royal Geographical Society, which appointed him to command the National Antarctic Expedition of 1901-1904. The expedition reached further south than anyone before them and Scott returned to Britain a national hero. He had caught the exploring bug and began to plan an expedition to be the first to reach the South Pole.

The whaling ship Terra Nova left Cardiff, Wales in June 1910 and the expedition set off from base the following October, with mechanical sledges, ponies and dogs. However, the sledges and ponies could not cope with the conditions and the expedition carried on without them, through appalling weather and increasingly tough terrain. In mid December, the dog teams turned back, leaving the rest to face the ascent of the Beardmore Glacier and the polar plateau. By January 1912, only five remained: Scott, Wilson, Oates, Bowers and Evans.

On 17 January, they reached the pole, only to find that a Norwegian party led by Roald Amundsen, had beaten them there. They started the 1,500 km journey back. Evans died in mid-February. By March, Oates was suffering from severe frostbite and, knowing he was holding back his companions, walked out into the freezing conditions never to be seen again. The remaining three men died of starvation and exposure in their tent on 29 March 1912. They were in fact only 20 km from a pre-arranged supply depot.

Eight months later, a search party found the tent, the bodies and Scott’s diary. The bodies were buried under the tent, with a cairn of ice and snow to mark the spot.

Explore the captivating story of Captain Robert Falcon Scott’s last expedition to Antarctica in 1910-1913, in this groundbreaking exhibition.