History features

The Scott expedition to the South Pole has become one of the most infamous failures in English exploring history.

Almost everyone knows the tale of his attempt to reach the South Pole first, being beaten by a month by Norwegian Roald Amundsen before his fated return journey that saw none of the team survive.

Museum-goers in Devon are now being given the chance to see previously unreleased photographs by the teams official photographer Herbert Ponting.

Scott prepares for his trip

The exhibition, on loan from The Royal Geographic Society, reveals fascinating glimpses of everyday life on the expedition set against fantastic icescapes.

Displayed alongside these dramatic images are objects related to the stories of some of Scott’s comrades, Edward Wilson, Harry Pennell, Thomas Hodgson, Fred Dailey and Frank Browning.

The show at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum will run from 27 January until 25 April 2007.

Ponting, already a famed 'camera artist', as he liked to be called, admitted in his 1921 book 'The Great White South' that the trip with Scott was something he couldn't turn down.

"It was a chance, such as never would come to me again, to turn the experience that I had gained to some permanent benefit to geography," he said.

He travelled with the expedition on the Terra Nova - the ship that carried the team to the arctic regions - and captured the first parts of Scott's campaign.

Captain Scott in the Arctic in 1911

Too old to travel with the rest of the party in the harsh Arctic winter, Ponting stayed behind and developed the shots he had taken before returning to England in the belief that a successful Scott would soon be home.

He'd expected to take part in Scott's celebratory tour, using his images and films to illustrate the explorer's achievement.

As history recorded, this never happened.

When the news of Scott and his companions death came through in 1913 Ponting decided he'd spend the rest of his life making sure the bravery of the men was never forgotten.

He toured extensively with the photographs and movies he took and on his death in 1935, they found their way around various owners until the Scott Polar Research Institute finally bought them in 2004 for £533,000.

27 January to 25 April, 2007, For more information, contact RAMM on 01392 665858.