Captain Scott’s Lost Photographs Found in New Book

Captain Scott’s lost photographs have been missing for the last century. The arctic explorer and four fellow adventures perished in March, 1912, when they were attempting to return from the South Pole. Now Robert Falcon Scott’s photographs of the ill-fated adventure are being printed for the first time in a new book, “The Lost Photographs of Captain Scott: Unseen Images From the Legendary Antarctic Expedition.”

The Guardian reports that diaries, sketches and photographs from the expedition’s professional photographer, Herbert Ponting, have painted a vivid story of Captain Scott’s adventure, but these new photographs, which were taken by Scott himself, have never been shown to the public.

Captain Scott’s lost photographs were fought over, lost, recovered, and auctioned off over the last century.

MSNBC explains that Ponting didn’t accompany Scott all the way to the South Pole. Ponting survived the expedition and brought the photographs back to England. Some of Scott’s work was put on display, but the majority of Captain Scott’s photograph laid in a disorganized mess in a photo agency’s basement. The photos resurfaced in 2001 and were eventually auctioned off by a London auction house.

David M. Wilson, the author of “The Lost Photographs of Captain Scott,” said:

“At the end of the day, this is one of the greatest stories of human exploration history.”

Wilson notes that Scott’s photograph also represented a big change in the scientific community. Wilson said:

“You’ve got this point where the camera takes over from the sketch pad as the best scientific record, and it happened on this expedition.”

Captain Scott and his men reached the South Pole on Jan. 17, 1912. But to Scott’s dismay, he wasn’t the first to arrive. Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen arrived a full month earlier, on Dec. 14, 1911.

What do you think of Captain Scott’s lost photography?