Injuries cost Captain Scott the Title

Captain Robert Falcon Scott led the Terra Nova Expedition with the goal of obtaining the title of 'first person to reach the South Pole'. However he faced strong competition from a Norwegian expedition led be Roald Amundsen.

On 4 January 1912, the last support party of Lieutenant Evans (who had contracted scurvy), Lashly and Crean turned back. When the time came for Scott to select the party for the final push to the Pole he relied on Edward Wilson, who had accompanied him on his first journey south, along with Lawrence Oates, Edgar Evans and Henry Bowers. (The pros and cons of Scott’s decision to take five men to the Pole, rather than four, as planned, has long been debated.)

He and the four companions reached the south pole on 17 January 1912, where they found that a Norwegian team led by Roald Amundsen had preceded them by 34 days with the Norwegian flag present symbolizing that Amundsen had beaten Captain Scott to the title.

All members of Scott's expedition perished on the 800 mile journey back to the ship. Following the news of his death, Scott became a celebrated hero, a status reflected by memorials erected across the UK. However, in the last decades of the 20th century, questions were raised about his competence and character. Commentators in the 21st century have regarded Scott more positively after assessing the temperature drop below −40 °C (−40 °F) in March 1912, and after re-discovering Scott's written orders of October 1911, in which he had instructed the dog teams to meet and assist him on the return trip.