The Secrets of Scott's Hut

0:00:19 > 0:00:23I've been invited to join an extraordinary expedition

0:00:23 > 0:00:27to a place I've dreamed of visiting since I was a boy.

0:00:27 > 0:00:34Captain Robert Falcon Scott has been a hero of mine since before I can remember.

0:00:34 > 0:00:38Many books have been written about his race to the South Pole in 1911.

0:00:38 > 0:00:43But, a century on, new information is coming to light.

0:00:43 > 0:00:51Somewhere out in the Antarctic, Scott built a hut where his team could survive in complete isolation.

0:00:51 > 0:00:58When the hut was finally abandoned to the ice, 10,000 objects were left inside.

0:00:58 > 0:01:03Today, it's still there and I'm on my way to find it.

0:01:03 > 0:01:07Wow! That is incredible!

0:01:07 > 0:01:15Few people have been to the hut and it's never been fully studied, but now a unique six year project

0:01:15 > 0:01:19is in place, to forensically explore and conserve the hut and its contents.

0:01:22 > 0:01:24It's completely overwhelming.

0:01:26 > 0:01:33It's an extraordinary opportunity to see a part of Scott's world that's been lost for 100 years.

0:01:33 > 0:01:40At last, the secrets of Scott's hut, frozen in time for a century, are being revealed.

0:02:09 > 0:02:11Wow!

0:02:11 > 0:02:16We've just landed on a temporary sea-ice runway.

0:02:16 > 0:02:19This is an ocean under us now in this great big plane.

0:02:19 > 0:02:27Scott in his wildest dreams could never have envisaged that worldwide travel could be like this.

0:02:27 > 0:02:32The difference is that, for him, he would have had this slower acclimatisation.

0:02:32 > 0:02:34He would have been cracking through this ice.

0:02:34 > 0:02:39And I've just landed, and it's minus 20. It's bloody cold!

0:02:41 > 0:02:47Scott's ship, the Terra Nova, left Cardiff on 15th June, 1910.

0:02:48 > 0:02:53It took six months to reach McMurdo Sound in Antarctica.

0:02:53 > 0:02:57A century on, and I've covered the same distance a little quicker.

0:03:00 > 0:03:03Even today, getting to the hut is quite a challenge,

0:03:03 > 0:03:07and, even if you make it, access is strictly controlled.

0:03:07 > 0:03:10But Nigel Watson holds the key.

0:03:10 > 0:03:16I've been granted special permission to spend time with the most extreme conservation team on Earth.

0:03:16 > 0:03:21They're engaged in a six-year, £4 million project to save the hut

0:03:21 > 0:03:24from complete collapse into the polar wilderness.

0:03:32 > 0:03:38Because the hut lies in New Zealand's segment of the Antarctic, the expedition

0:03:38 > 0:03:43will depart from New Zealand's Antarctic scientific headquarters, Scott Base.

0:03:45 > 0:03:47PA SYSTEM: Hello, Scott Base, Scott Base...

0:03:47 > 0:03:51Nick and Toby to the comms room please, Nick and Toby to the comms room.

0:03:51 > 0:03:55It's only possible to visit the hut during the summer.

0:03:55 > 0:03:58For the winter months of ferocious cold and continual darkness,

0:03:58 > 0:04:02items are brought back to Scott Base to be worked on.

0:04:02 > 0:04:06I don't know where that came from.

0:04:06 > 0:04:12Diana Komejan and Cricket Harbeck are completing their winter work before heading back out to the hut.

0:04:12 > 0:04:17Many of the things they work on have not been looked at for 100 years.

0:04:17 > 0:04:20It's saying a medical supply box.

0:04:20 > 0:04:22We have not looked into it, so...

0:04:22 > 0:04:27- So this is the first time you've looked at this artefact? - Yeah.- How exciting!

0:04:27 > 0:04:30- It's very exciting. Here we go. - Wow!

0:04:30 > 0:04:37First thoughts looking at this box, I imagine there's quite a lot of work that needs to go into this.

0:04:37 > 0:04:42Oh, this is a lot of work. We've got iron, we have some glass.

0:04:42 > 0:04:45Each of those materials is going to be treated a different way,

0:04:45 > 0:04:49so there's quite a few challenges in here.

0:04:49 > 0:04:54The conservators take every item, clean it, repair damage, re-fix peeling labels

0:04:54 > 0:04:58and arrest any rust and decay that threatens to destroy it.

0:04:58 > 0:05:00Supplied by...

0:05:00 > 0:05:03Burroughs, Welcome & Co., London.

0:05:03 > 0:05:05- Sodium...- Diosulphate.

0:05:05 > 0:05:12- That's a treasure trove.- Yeah. There's a mousetrap, that's funny.

0:05:12 > 0:05:13In their medical box?

0:05:13 > 0:05:15Apparently!

0:05:15 > 0:05:20To keep mice out of the medical box or to keep thieving fingers out?

0:05:20 > 0:05:27- Who knows?- I can see how, for Cricket and Diana, conservation is also detective work.

0:05:27 > 0:05:31Through these objects, they are unpicking one of the great stories

0:05:31 > 0:05:33in the history of Antarctic exploration.

0:05:35 > 0:05:43Around the turn of the 20th century, world attention turned to the unmapped continent of Antarctica,

0:05:43 > 0:05:47and the question of who would be first to get to the South Pole.

0:05:47 > 0:05:52Stories of Antarctic exploration were filled with courage, endurance and tragedy.

0:05:52 > 0:05:57None more so than that of Captain Robert Falcon Scott.

0:06:01 > 0:06:06Everything being packed into this crate belonged to his expedition,

0:06:06 > 0:06:10and has now been repaired, stabilised or cleaned.

0:06:10 > 0:06:15As the winter's now over, it's time for these objects to be returned to the hut.

0:06:15 > 0:06:17Lizzie Meek is head of conservation.

0:06:17 > 0:06:21Her team have spent the winter working on these objects in the laboratory.

0:06:21 > 0:06:25For her, this is the most nerve-racking part of the process.

0:06:25 > 0:06:28So much work has been done on conserving them,

0:06:28 > 0:06:34and now this is the moment where they're probably, you know, going to get the most movement in their lives,

0:06:34 > 0:06:40and so we just want to make sure they're completely protected and well-secured on the journey out.

0:06:40 > 0:06:48These are some of the most valuable, precious, polar artefacts in the world that are about to be dragged

0:06:48 > 0:06:52for a couple of hours behind a bulldozer across Antarctica.

0:06:56 > 0:07:01Before we head off in the morning, Lizzie insists that there's one view

0:07:01 > 0:07:04every visitor should see before leaving Scott Base.

0:07:26 > 0:07:29It's so beautiful here.

0:07:30 > 0:07:32This is Castle Rock,

0:07:32 > 0:07:37an iconic landmark that appears many times in Scott's diaries.

0:07:39 > 0:07:44It's so different, I think, from some of those images I always had

0:07:44 > 0:07:47of blizzards and the tents slapping in the wind.

0:07:47 > 0:07:51And it's cold, don't get me wrong, it's cold today,

0:07:51 > 0:07:54but it looks like such a calm...

0:07:54 > 0:07:57happy place.

0:07:58 > 0:07:59It's got a big bite out there.

0:08:12 > 0:08:16It's funny, it's not until you look at a sign like that

0:08:16 > 0:08:20that you realise how far away we are from civilisation.

0:08:20 > 0:08:22But also,

0:08:22 > 0:08:26the fact that London and Oslo in Norway are the two places

0:08:26 > 0:08:31that are just about further than anywhere else in the world,

0:08:31 > 0:08:34the two main protagonists in this whole thing.

0:08:34 > 0:08:42Scott from England, Amundsen from Norway, came from the furthest-away place.

0:08:42 > 0:08:47The first hint that Scott had competition came during the sea journey south.

0:08:47 > 0:08:50Roald Amundsen, a Norwegian explorer,

0:08:50 > 0:08:54was believed to be heading for the North Pole in his ship, the Fram.

0:08:54 > 0:08:58But while Scott was en route south, he received an enigmatic telegram

0:08:58 > 0:09:05that simply read, "Beg leave to inform you, Fram heading Antarctic. Amundsen."

0:09:05 > 0:09:13It was the first hint of what the world would later call "the race for the pole".

0:09:20 > 0:09:23- How are you feeling? - I can't wait to get out there.

0:09:24 > 0:09:28When I was invited to make this visit, I met up

0:09:28 > 0:09:33with Sir David Attenborough, a vocal campaigner on behalf of the hut and the places Scott went to.

0:09:33 > 0:09:38Well, for anybody who cares about the history of human beings,

0:09:38 > 0:09:41and who cares about the history of the human spirit,

0:09:41 > 0:09:46these are irreplaceable, wonderful, extraordinary places.

0:09:47 > 0:09:53You can sense, in a more powerful way than anywhere else on Earth,

0:09:53 > 0:09:55the spirit, the human spirit

0:09:55 > 0:10:02that drove Scott and his men to do the extraordinary, selfless, heroic things that they did.

0:10:02 > 0:10:06It's strange to think that this small expedition

0:10:06 > 0:10:10is what could preserve all of that for future generations.

0:10:13 > 0:10:18Nigel Watson first travelled across this ice a decade ago.

0:10:18 > 0:10:21It was on that journey that he fell in love with the hut

0:10:21 > 0:10:29and resolved to fully explore it, saving the hut and its contents from complete disintegration.

0:10:29 > 0:10:32The wind is the real enemy, as you know, in Antarctica.

0:10:32 > 0:10:35I've been in a situation where I've been in camp

0:10:35 > 0:10:42and we've had a storm that's blown severe winds for four, five days, where you can't get out of your tent.

0:10:42 > 0:10:45I must say, when the wind is really blowing and you're working around

0:10:45 > 0:10:50that hut, you'll find that you walk into that hut and it's a real sense of relief.

0:10:50 > 0:10:54Even 100 years later, it's a place of refuge.

0:10:54 > 0:11:02Scott's hut is on Ross Island, but connected to the mainland of Antarctica by a permanent ice shelf.

0:11:02 > 0:11:06We're travelling north, from Scott Base to Scott's hut at Cape Evans,

0:11:06 > 0:11:12the point where Scott was able to land the Terra Nova and establish his base for the expedition.

0:11:14 > 0:11:17We're nearly here. We're about to round Cape Evans

0:11:17 > 0:11:19and, as we pull into the bay,

0:11:19 > 0:11:21we're going see the hut.

0:11:21 > 0:11:27That's it, there. I can see the roof. Wow!

0:11:31 > 0:11:35We're going to pull up into Home Beach and it will be right in front of you.

0:11:46 > 0:11:48Careful there, yeah?

0:11:55 > 0:11:57This is amazing.

0:11:57 > 0:12:01You know when you've waited for a moment for so long?

0:12:01 > 0:12:03It's the hut!

0:12:03 > 0:12:06In this age of instant gratification,

0:12:06 > 0:12:11where you're used to getting on a flight and you're there,

0:12:11 > 0:12:14it's still taken me a week to get here.

0:12:14 > 0:12:18Look, from the pictures, all this sand and everything around.

0:12:18 > 0:12:20This must be one of the anchors.

0:12:22 > 0:12:28So all of this, everything around I see, is from the hut. This is all...

0:12:28 > 0:12:30It's all original.

0:12:30 > 0:12:33Yeah, absolutely, you see some of the remnants of sleds,

0:12:33 > 0:12:36a lot of detritus around the site that has been blown around.

0:12:36 > 0:12:43But you can see how the weather of 100 years has just nailed back that beautiful patina on the wood.

0:12:51 > 0:12:53- Can I go in?- Absolutely.

0:12:53 > 0:13:00Few people get to step through this door, and fewer still spend more than a few moments here.

0:13:00 > 0:13:03I'm privileged to be spending a week exploring the hut.

0:13:03 > 0:13:07And what's more, as the hut has been inaccessible for the winter,

0:13:07 > 0:13:11we will be the first to step inside for many months.

0:13:44 > 0:13:47It's completely overwhelming.

0:13:57 > 0:14:03The hut, and every object in it, came on board the Terra Nova.

0:14:03 > 0:14:08This was to be the base for scientific work, everyday life, and great adventure.

0:14:08 > 0:14:13All part of Scott's plan for his two-year Antarctic expedition.

0:14:13 > 0:14:16I recognise places in here.

0:14:16 > 0:14:18Look, this...

0:14:18 > 0:14:21There's this fantastic photograph.

0:14:28 > 0:14:31And then this is the table, I imagine...

0:14:31 > 0:14:37The great picture of Scott celebrating his birthday.

0:14:37 > 0:14:40He must have been here, and the flags hanging...

0:14:48 > 0:14:51I assume behind here is where Scott was.

0:14:58 > 0:15:00This is just amazing!

0:15:00 > 0:15:03This has to be Scott's bunk.

0:15:03 > 0:15:10If I remember, there's a picture of him sitting here working, writing at his desk.

0:15:10 > 0:15:14It's all, it's all kind of falling into place.

0:15:14 > 0:15:17You feel their presence, you definitely feel

0:15:19 > 0:15:23those years of inhabitation.

0:15:23 > 0:15:25Wow!

0:15:39 > 0:15:43An hour later, a lone tractor makes its way around the headland,

0:15:43 > 0:15:48with six crates of conserved objects about to be returned.

0:15:48 > 0:15:53- BEEPING - Pretty surreal, the beeping of a tractor,

0:15:53 > 0:15:59backing up some of the most priceless and important artefacts in polar history.

0:15:59 > 0:16:02Let's get going!

0:16:02 > 0:16:04- No rushing!- OK, no rushing.

0:16:06 > 0:16:11Could you imagine if you were in a museum back in England,

0:16:11 > 0:16:14these would be handled SO delicately, white gloves,

0:16:14 > 0:16:18there'd probably be trolleys and pick-up trucks to do it,

0:16:18 > 0:16:21but out here, you know, it's just laborious.

0:16:21 > 0:16:24- Onto this table?- Yes.

0:16:31 > 0:16:37All these supplies originally had to be unloaded, and here are all these tools going up the beach once again.

0:16:37 > 0:16:39It's like history repeating itself.

0:16:44 > 0:16:49These objects were first carried up this beach in January 1911.

0:16:55 > 0:16:58The Terra Nova had arrived in Antarctica, and Cape Evans

0:16:58 > 0:17:02was chosen as the best place to offload everything from the ship.

0:17:02 > 0:17:09A round trip to the South Pole of 1,500 miles on foot would take an entire summer, but until then,

0:17:09 > 0:17:16the hut would be a place to prepare, undertake scientific research, and wait out the oncoming winter.

0:17:16 > 0:17:22There has been a steady stream of cases, passing along the shore all day.

0:17:22 > 0:17:29The long, level beach has enabled Bowers to arrange his stores in the most systematic manner.

0:17:34 > 0:17:38I tell you what, this is bringing back some memories.

0:17:39 > 0:17:47I've spent many hours man-hauling loads a little smaller than this one.

0:17:47 > 0:17:49Ooh, that is quite...

0:17:51 > 0:17:53This isn't my first visit to Antarctica.

0:17:53 > 0:17:58Two years ago, I took part in the first race to the South Pole for a century.

0:18:00 > 0:18:05It was an extreme challenge, but it only served to make me

0:18:05 > 0:18:08more interested in the trials Scott went through back in 1911.

0:18:12 > 0:18:18I'd hoped that this time I'd get to stay in Scott's hut, but I'm told there's no chance of that.

0:18:18 > 0:18:21The building has been preserved by the cold,

0:18:21 > 0:18:23and the warmth of sleeping bodies

0:18:23 > 0:18:25could defrost the hut and bring on decay.

0:18:25 > 0:18:28Instead, we're making camp on the beach.

0:18:33 > 0:18:37Not easy this tent stuff.

0:18:37 > 0:18:39HE SIGHS

0:18:39 > 0:18:46So, my first night camping back in Antarctica

0:18:46 > 0:18:52since I did my trek to the South Pole, but the wind is certainly beginning to pick up.

0:18:53 > 0:18:55Good to be back though.

0:19:04 > 0:19:11A world away from the frozen wastes of Antarctica, Scott remains an instantly-recognised name,

0:19:11 > 0:19:16but it seems we still can't agree on what kind of man he was.

0:19:18 > 0:19:21Clearly, for the first 60 years after his death,

0:19:21 > 0:19:25Scott was celebrated as the archetypal British hero.

0:19:25 > 0:19:30A national icon, played as such in the 1948 film by John Mills.

0:19:35 > 0:19:379,000 feet up.

0:19:37 > 0:19:40The barrier and the glacier behind us.

0:19:40 > 0:19:42It should be level going now.

0:19:42 > 0:19:44All the way to our goal.

0:19:53 > 0:20:00Then in 1979, the writer Roland Huntford studied the records and came to a very different conclusion.

0:20:00 > 0:20:04Was Scott a hero? In my book, no.

0:20:04 > 0:20:07He was not a hero, because he was a failure.

0:20:07 > 0:20:11In his book, Roland Huntford makes a series of allegations,

0:20:11 > 0:20:14attacking Scott for serious weaknesses in his leadership style.

0:20:14 > 0:20:17He was responsible for the deaths of those five men.

0:20:17 > 0:20:20He led better men than himself to their death.

0:20:20 > 0:20:22The effect of Huntford's work was huge,

0:20:22 > 0:20:28and Scott's portrayal in popular culture changed dramatically.

0:20:28 > 0:20:32Good day, sir. Wheeeee!

0:20:32 > 0:20:35Get up, you bloody fool.

0:20:35 > 0:20:42By 1985, Scott was being portrayed as an irascible, impatient, unreasonable man,

0:20:42 > 0:20:49out of touch with his own team, obsessively chasing Shackleton's record, set three years earlier.

0:20:49 > 0:20:53We're falling further and further behind, and it simply won't do.

0:20:53 > 0:20:55Further behind who?

0:20:55 > 0:20:57Shackleton, who else?

0:20:57 > 0:21:01The explorer, Ranulph Fiennes, was so angered by this criticism,

0:21:01 > 0:21:05that he set about writing a book to counter Huntford's claims.

0:21:05 > 0:21:09Scott was not just organised, Scott was brilliant.

0:21:09 > 0:21:13Captain Scott would have gone huge places if he'd stayed in the Royal Navy.

0:21:13 > 0:21:15He was a brilliant bloke.

0:21:15 > 0:21:18Of course Scott failed.

0:21:18 > 0:21:21He wanted to be first at the Pole and he wasn't.

0:21:21 > 0:21:26What Scott did at the forefront of science was a huge success.

0:21:26 > 0:21:31Scott's expeditions produced more scientific information from Antarctica

0:21:31 > 0:21:36than all the other international polar expeditions of the first half of the 20th century.

0:21:36 > 0:21:37That is incredible.

0:21:37 > 0:21:44The historical facts are that Amundsen won the race.

0:21:44 > 0:21:48Personally, I prefer winners to losers.

0:21:55 > 0:21:58My second day in camp begins, and the weather has changed.

0:21:58 > 0:22:02A violent wind has ripped the outer layer of the tent in the night.

0:22:02 > 0:22:05I thought it was making a bit of noise.

0:22:07 > 0:22:10The problem is, out here,

0:22:10 > 0:22:12the wind's really come in.

0:22:12 > 0:22:20This is, well, probably gusting around 30, 35 miles per hour,

0:22:20 > 0:22:24and you can see what damage it can do.

0:22:24 > 0:22:26And in fact, to get the wind chill,

0:22:26 > 0:22:31you take a temperature, which I know today is about minus 15,

0:22:31 > 0:22:35and add it to the wind speed, so that's about minus 45.

0:22:35 > 0:22:39So exposed skin like this, at minus 45,

0:22:39 > 0:22:42a couple of minutes and you're going to get frostnip.

0:22:42 > 0:22:46That's where the top layer of the skin freezes,

0:22:46 > 0:22:49and after that, you'll get frostbite,

0:22:49 > 0:22:52which is what Scott's team suffered a lot from.

0:22:52 > 0:22:54So, I'll try and cover up.

0:22:56 > 0:22:59I'm going to check the rest of the tent.

0:22:59 > 0:23:04I dread to think what it would have been like in this weather in the clothes of 1911.

0:23:04 > 0:23:09There's one place where today's conservation team can get warm.

0:23:09 > 0:23:13A Portakabin serves as a place to eat, meet and escape the elements.

0:23:20 > 0:23:26We've drawn up a rota, and on our first full day in camp, I'm on breakfast duty.

0:23:26 > 0:23:31Well, this is a bit of respite from the wind.

0:23:39 > 0:23:41SHE LAUGHS

0:23:41 > 0:23:43It's a little breezy out there(!)

0:23:45 > 0:23:49It's also a very useful place to get my bearings.

0:23:49 > 0:23:52OK, here's my map of Antarctica here.

0:23:52 > 0:23:56We've got due south that way, north up this way.

0:23:56 > 0:23:59Here's the enormous continent of Antarctica.

0:23:59 > 0:24:02You've got the Ross Sea over here. But this area,

0:24:02 > 0:24:06coloured green on the map, this is the Ross Ice Shelf.

0:24:06 > 0:24:09This is the size of France, it's absolutely enormous.

0:24:09 > 0:24:13Captain Scott came in on the Terra Nova, landed on Ross Island.

0:24:13 > 0:24:20So this was basically the plan. They were going to go all the way across the ice shelf, 425 miles,

0:24:20 > 0:24:24an enormous distance, before turning up the Beardmore Glacier.

0:24:24 > 0:24:27That's 120 miles up to high altitude.

0:24:27 > 0:24:34This was going to be a really tough leg, where they would then have their final, 350-mile march

0:24:34 > 0:24:36to their goal, the South Pole.

0:24:40 > 0:24:45My next job is to provide a little light, so that the conservators' work can begin.

0:24:45 > 0:24:49The windows of the hut have been blocked by snow over winter,

0:24:49 > 0:24:51so, just as in Scott's day,

0:24:51 > 0:24:54someone's got to get up onto the roof and clear it.

0:25:33 > 0:25:39There's such a rich mine of stuff in here, there's so much to look at.

0:25:39 > 0:25:42I don't really know where to begin.

0:25:42 > 0:25:47But this coat here, with its ends here all weathered,

0:25:47 > 0:25:51and you look at this jumper, with all the salt stains on it,

0:25:51 > 0:25:54and I wonder whether that's from the ocean,

0:25:54 > 0:26:00but then I've got this image of them man-hauling and perhaps sweating, leaving all of these stains.

0:26:07 > 0:26:14It's amazing, when you first come into this hut it's very dark, and then as your eyes begin to adjust,

0:26:14 > 0:26:20you suddenly start making out some of these 10,000 items in here,

0:26:20 > 0:26:26and the closer you look, the more you uncover parts of Scott's story, I suppose.

0:26:27 > 0:26:32My first real surprise is that there's so much scientific equipment in the hut.

0:26:32 > 0:26:34It's everywhere.

0:26:34 > 0:26:37Clearly, this was far more than just a race to the pole.

0:26:39 > 0:26:46Nigel Watson is the executive director of The New Zealand Antarctic Heritage Trust.

0:26:46 > 0:26:50During a visit in 2004, he realised that the hut was close to collapse

0:26:50 > 0:26:55and resolved to save it, before it vanished into the snow.

0:26:55 > 0:27:02He initiated an extraordinary conservation project to preserve the hut in its original location.

0:27:02 > 0:27:08Lizzie Meek is Head of Conservation. Lizzie and her small team are two years into a six-year project

0:27:08 > 0:27:12to explore and save everything in the hut from disintegration.

0:27:12 > 0:27:18I was wondering about the salt that's kind of spilling out of this jar here.

0:27:18 > 0:27:21I've seen this before, and what happens is, the moisture

0:27:21 > 0:27:25gets absorbed by the salt and the salt expands, and then it's...

0:27:25 > 0:27:26See, it's pushed the lid.

0:27:26 > 0:27:32She selects objects to be returned to Scott Base, where they're cleaned, decay is arrested,

0:27:32 > 0:27:38peeling labels are re-stuck, and even century-old cheeses are stabilised.

0:27:38 > 0:27:41- Although, um... You want to have a sniff?- Yeah, can I?

0:27:41 > 0:27:44Wow, that's ripe. That might be beyond ripe!

0:27:44 > 0:27:49- Yeah, yeah.- Once work is complete, each object is returned to the hut,

0:27:49 > 0:27:53but sometimes, the conservation process throws up some surprises.

0:27:53 > 0:27:58When we were working on the safelight, we found that, not only had it been modified inside,

0:27:58 > 0:28:01but there was this really cool little object inside it.

0:28:01 > 0:28:04This is a photographer's magnifying loop.

0:28:06 > 0:28:08So that was just hidden inside, was it?

0:28:08 > 0:28:10Just sitting inside, that's right.

0:28:10 > 0:28:15- That must be quite exciting for you, when you're uncovering these items? - Oh, it's very exciting.

0:28:15 > 0:28:19We get excited anyway, seeing the object be revealed through the process.

0:28:19 > 0:28:23But to find something extra that no-one knew was there is special.

0:28:23 > 0:28:29Slowly, this work is filling in all sorts of previously unknown details about Scott's expedition.

0:28:31 > 0:28:36Scott kept a detailed diary, right up to his last day in a frozen tent out on the ice shelf.

0:28:36 > 0:28:40I want to use this opportunity to piece together the diaries

0:28:40 > 0:28:48with the discoveries in the hut, in the hope of establishing what kind of leader Scott really was.

0:28:48 > 0:28:51'We took up our abode in the hut today.

0:28:51 > 0:28:55'I found Bowers making cubicles, so instructed him to build a bulkhead of cases

0:28:55 > 0:29:01'which shuts off the officers' space from the men's, I am quite sure to the satisfaction of both.'

0:29:03 > 0:29:08"SS Terra Nova." So these obviously came from the ship, but they weren't just used for supplies.

0:29:08 > 0:29:11This was very much a division.

0:29:11 > 0:29:15This divided the officers and the gentlemen, the scientists from the men.

0:29:15 > 0:29:22What this wall for me, this wall that's partially here is illustrating and highlighting,

0:29:22 > 0:29:26is that all those photographs we see down in this part of the hut,

0:29:26 > 0:29:32but here, right over here, it's the barest part of the hut.

0:29:32 > 0:29:33This is where the men lived.

0:29:33 > 0:29:36And yet they were integral to this expedition.

0:29:36 > 0:29:41They were. These were the engine, if you like, the second tier of men that,

0:29:41 > 0:29:46the people you don't hear the stories about, guys who had great Antarctic experience.

0:29:46 > 0:29:51Day, Crean was a classic, Evans, who died on the Pole,

0:29:51 > 0:29:55the strongest man of the party, they were all the men from the mess deck.

0:29:55 > 0:29:58They're not the famous officers we know about.

0:29:58 > 0:30:05We know that Scott's Norwegian rival, Amundsen, had no such class division in his hut.

0:30:05 > 0:30:11Was it a sign of weakness that Scott, the British navy captain, segregated his expedition,

0:30:11 > 0:30:17not only distancing officers from men, but distancing himself from everyone else?

0:30:17 > 0:30:21Is this private cabin the reflection of a man divorced from his own team,

0:30:21 > 0:30:26as Roland Huntford claimed, unwilling to consider any opinion but his own?

0:30:30 > 0:30:36Scott's shore party was made up of 25 men, making it the biggest Antarctic expedition of its age.

0:30:36 > 0:30:44It had five officers, including Captain Scott himself, 11 scientists and nine unranked men.

0:30:46 > 0:30:51Though most of the objects in the hut were left by the officers, it's a space on the unranked side

0:30:51 > 0:30:55of the divide that perhaps tells us most about Scott's character.

0:30:55 > 0:31:00The kitchen is both intriguing and revealing.

0:31:02 > 0:31:06And we've got all of these fantastic items here, some of which I recognise.

0:31:06 > 0:31:10So Colman's, and I can see Heinz Baked Beans.

0:31:10 > 0:31:13We've been having some of those out here ourselves.

0:31:13 > 0:31:19But you've got some more unusual things like Real Turtle Soup. That's just extraordinary.

0:31:19 > 0:31:24So, how much of this stuff was just off the shelf, effectively bought from a supermarket,

0:31:24 > 0:31:27and how much was specifically for the expedition?

0:31:27 > 0:31:29Well, a lot of it was off the shelf.

0:31:29 > 0:31:32A lot of it was sponsored. A lot of sponsors came on board.

0:31:32 > 0:31:35There's great publicity shots of those early products.

0:31:35 > 0:31:37A lot of things were made

0:31:37 > 0:31:39specifically for the expedition,

0:31:39 > 0:31:42for example the Bovril Sledging Rations,

0:31:42 > 0:31:46and other objects like Huntley & Palmers Biscuits. They were crafted

0:31:46 > 0:31:51with a special formula for those biscuits for the expedition.

0:31:51 > 0:31:56Scott knew that his expedition would be the focus of the newly-emerging newspaper industry.

0:31:56 > 0:32:02He realised that manufacturers would contribute generously in return for shots like this.

0:32:02 > 0:32:05Much of the contents of this well-stocked kitchen

0:32:05 > 0:32:09have clearly been specifically supplied in return for publicity.

0:32:09 > 0:32:13Scott was creating the concept of sponsorship.

0:32:15 > 0:32:18These pictures were taken by Herbert Ponting.

0:32:18 > 0:32:21He was one of Scott's truly innovative appointments

0:32:21 > 0:32:24and was clearly considered incredibly valuable.

0:32:24 > 0:32:29Apart from Scott himself, he was the only other person allowed his own space.

0:32:34 > 0:32:39Herbert Ponting was a photographer with a name for capturing stunning images.

0:32:42 > 0:32:47In the past, artists were employed to record expeditions by hand.

0:32:47 > 0:32:53But Scott was media-savvy and the first explorer to fully realise the potential for photography.

0:32:55 > 0:32:59He employed Ponting to document a great heroic adventure,

0:32:59 > 0:33:03to engage the press and to fulfil sponsorship deals.

0:33:03 > 0:33:08Scott was making sure the world saw his expedition his way.

0:33:14 > 0:33:16Cricket, this is 8130...

0:33:16 > 0:33:21The team are returning some of Ponting's items that were taken away to be worked on over winter.

0:33:21 > 0:33:26Lizzie is responsible for ensuring that everything is returned undamaged

0:33:26 > 0:33:28and replaced where it was found.

0:33:28 > 0:33:33So this is Ponting's darkroom, which is a separate unit within the hut, isn't it?

0:33:33 > 0:33:35It is. It's closed off. It was actually his bedroom.

0:33:35 > 0:33:39He got his own room, where he had this bunk that folded back against the wall.

0:33:39 > 0:33:43Lucky sod! Although it probably was a bit whiffy with all the chemicals.

0:33:43 > 0:33:48I can imagine that, but probably good in the height of summer when there was no darkness here.

0:33:48 > 0:33:52- Yes.- It's probably the darkest room in there.- Hence the name.

0:33:56 > 0:34:01What really strikes me coming in here is, if you think about it,

0:34:01 > 0:34:07Ponting had one of the biggest sections in the whole hut, to process these photographs.

0:34:07 > 0:34:11It was very much a modern expedition.

0:34:11 > 0:34:18They really relied on all of this media material that was going to go back to feed the newspapers,

0:34:18 > 0:34:22and, I suppose, to please their sponsors.

0:34:23 > 0:34:29And some of the most iconic polar images ever were created in this lab.

0:34:31 > 0:34:33And not just still images.

0:34:35 > 0:34:40This extraordinary film was developed by Ponting in his darkroom in the hut.

0:34:40 > 0:34:44When it was premiered back in Britain, it caused a sensation.

0:34:44 > 0:34:45People flocked to see it.

0:34:45 > 0:34:49Ponting had turned Scott into a celebrity and a hero.

0:34:52 > 0:34:57Having only spent a few hours in the hut, I'm already getting a real sense of Scott.

0:34:57 > 0:35:01He imposed a class structure, a reflection of Edwardian society.

0:35:01 > 0:35:07But he was also an innovator, using the latest techniques to get his story on to the news stands.

0:35:07 > 0:35:11Scott was a man who understood how his world worked.

0:35:11 > 0:35:17But there's something unavoidable that's not reflected in the diaries or the photographs.

0:35:17 > 0:35:20The hut is a dark, shadowy place.

0:35:20 > 0:35:27It's boxed in and slightly oppressive, which is strangely close to how Scott is sometimes described.

0:35:30 > 0:35:34It's a strange feeling, accentuated by the fact that, outside the hut,

0:35:34 > 0:35:39though it's still bitterly cold, we have bright sunlight right around the clock.

0:35:44 > 0:35:47I don't think you ever get used to 24-hour sunlight.

0:35:47 > 0:35:50I found this fantastic extract from Scott's diary.

0:35:50 > 0:35:55It says, "Tonight is absolutely calm with glorious, bright sunshine.

0:35:55 > 0:36:00- "Several people were sunning themselves at 11 o'clock at night." - HE LAUGHS

0:36:02 > 0:36:06Arriving in January, Scott knows that the 24-hour sunlight

0:36:06 > 0:36:10is going to give way to 24-hour darkness in about 12 weeks' time.

0:36:14 > 0:36:20So no sooner had they set up their comfortable hut here at Cape Evans, then they were off again.

0:36:20 > 0:36:24One team of scientists headed due west, out to here.

0:36:24 > 0:36:27Another team headed east, over there.

0:36:27 > 0:36:29And Scott, meanwhile, and his team

0:36:29 > 0:36:35begin laying depots along this line, up to about 120 miles.

0:36:35 > 0:36:40This has food, fuel, everything they needed, ready for their great assault south.

0:36:47 > 0:36:51But Scott's photographer, Ponting, had a journey of his own in mind.

0:36:51 > 0:36:55He wanted to travel 12 miles around Ross Island to Cape Royds,

0:36:55 > 0:36:57to photograph the hut left behind

0:36:57 > 0:37:02by the famous explorer Ernest Shackleton just three years earlier.

0:37:05 > 0:37:09He was keen to see how the famous hut compared with Scott's hut at Cape Evans.

0:37:16 > 0:37:18Look! Shackleton's hut.

0:37:18 > 0:37:20That's Royds there.

0:37:20 > 0:37:22That is fantastic!

0:37:22 > 0:37:27Shackleton was popular, with an informal style of leadership.

0:37:27 > 0:37:31In 1907, he'd got closer to the pole than anyone else.

0:37:31 > 0:37:36His expedition was considered the greatest feat of polar exploration.

0:37:36 > 0:37:39And as arch-rival, Scott was obsessed by him.

0:37:57 > 0:38:03It has a really homely air to it, this hut.

0:38:16 > 0:38:18It's still got name tags on some of these socks here.

0:38:18 > 0:38:21Reminds me of school.

0:38:23 > 0:38:30It definitely has... a completely different feel

0:38:30 > 0:38:32to Scott's hut at Cape Evans.

0:38:33 > 0:38:36It feels much more...

0:38:36 > 0:38:39Well it feels much less divided, for a start.

0:38:39 > 0:38:42There's a little cubicle, curtains that you can close behind,

0:38:42 > 0:38:47but it feels like they were one, rather than a divided party.

0:38:49 > 0:38:50And coming in here now...

0:38:52 > 0:38:57..I'm loath to admit it, but I think I would prefer to have been on Shackleton's team than Scott's.

0:38:57 > 0:38:59It looks like they had a happier time.

0:38:59 > 0:39:04I don't know if that's because of history. History is ingrained within the huts.

0:39:04 > 0:39:10If I think now back to Cape Evans, it's just steeped in tragedy, but is that because we know the outcome?

0:39:10 > 0:39:15Would it have had that feeling had I not known the whole story?

0:39:17 > 0:39:20I could quite happily spend a year here.

0:39:21 > 0:39:24Just have to persuade my wife.

0:39:27 > 0:39:31But it's what outside the hut that really caught Ponting's attention.

0:39:50 > 0:39:57Eager to capture as much as possible for the first time, he spent days photographing the colony of penguins

0:39:57 > 0:40:01here at Cape Royds, to amaze audiences back home.

0:40:05 > 0:40:08And I must admit, a century on, nothing's changed.

0:40:08 > 0:40:11It's still an amazing sight.

0:40:22 > 0:40:25What an amazing place. Antarctica's like layers on layers on layers.

0:40:25 > 0:40:30So today, we've got the fantastic heritage of Shackleton with his hut,

0:40:30 > 0:40:33but then we've got a smoking volcano over there, the Barne Glacier,

0:40:33 > 0:40:34a frozen ocean,

0:40:34 > 0:40:38and as if that wasn't enough, we've got penguins behind.

0:40:38 > 0:40:39It's incredible!

0:40:47 > 0:40:51But back in 1909, Shackleton failed to get to the pole.

0:40:51 > 0:40:57That goal was still open to Scott's 1911 expedition, down the coast at Cape Evans.

0:40:59 > 0:41:03Scott's hut was rediscovered in 1947,

0:41:03 > 0:41:08and first chipped out of the ice by a New Zealand expedition in 1960.

0:41:08 > 0:41:16In the years following, occasional expeditions, happening upon the hut, took mementos and keepsakes.

0:41:16 > 0:41:21The New Zealand government took action, insisting that all visits are accompanied

0:41:21 > 0:41:24and severe penalties imposed on anyone removing artefacts.

0:41:24 > 0:41:28Now, the Antarctic Heritage Trust is studying everything in the hut,

0:41:28 > 0:41:31and new things are continually coming to light.

0:41:31 > 0:41:35- Can you believe that? - What, this little thing here?

0:41:35 > 0:41:38Yeah, look, I'll bring it out.

0:41:38 > 0:41:42- So what have we got here? - I think we've got the smallest book in the building.

0:41:42 > 0:41:44It's amazingly small!

0:41:44 > 0:41:47It's one of these things we keep discovering.

0:41:47 > 0:41:50It keeps giving up these secrets after 100 years.

0:41:50 > 0:41:51Do you know what book it is?

0:41:51 > 0:41:54We don't, but it looks like "Windsor"...

0:41:54 > 0:41:57- The Merry Wives Of Windsor. That's Shakespeare.- Pocket edition!

0:41:57 > 0:42:02Just amazing. What would be the point of bringing a book this small?

0:42:02 > 0:42:06Well, we don't know, but perhaps it was, you know,

0:42:06 > 0:42:09tucked inside your jacket on your sledging journey.

0:42:09 > 0:42:12It's so delicate and so small.

0:42:13 > 0:42:18The conservation work in the hut involves logging and saving everything from decay.

0:42:18 > 0:42:24It's a £4 million project that most people will never get to experience.

0:42:28 > 0:42:31I've had a slightly uneasy day.

0:42:31 > 0:42:33I'm not sure what I think

0:42:33 > 0:42:38about the effort to preserve the huts all the way down here.

0:42:38 > 0:42:41Because on the one hand, I know the huts have to be preserved,

0:42:41 > 0:42:44and it's the most incredible effort that goes into it.

0:42:45 > 0:42:47But preserving it for who?

0:42:49 > 0:42:55And I'm struggling to come to terms with the validity of doing that.

0:42:56 > 0:43:01Especially the fact that they've preserved all of these pieces.

0:43:01 > 0:43:03They've spent many, many hours,

0:43:03 > 0:43:06and now it's going back into the same environment

0:43:06 > 0:43:09that started destroying them in the first place.

0:43:09 > 0:43:11It seems like a vicious circle to me.

0:43:15 > 0:43:17I think I need to sleep on this one.

0:43:17 > 0:43:19Good night.

0:43:52 > 0:43:59- All of those Rising Suns can go. - So where do they all live?- They're all up there.- So on that bare...

0:43:59 > 0:44:05Today, Lizzie's returning some items to the kitchen that were taken away to be conserved over the winter.

0:44:05 > 0:44:08- Such beautiful bottles, these. - They are.

0:44:08 > 0:44:12Do you think the right decision was made to preserve it here, in situ?

0:44:12 > 0:44:18I do, and, I mean, I suppose I work to preserve that first memory I have of walking through that door.

0:44:18 > 0:44:24And although not many people get to experience that, nevertheless, people do.

0:44:24 > 0:44:26A lot of historic sites are like that.

0:44:26 > 0:44:31We had the choice between actively contributing to the destruction of this site

0:44:31 > 0:44:35by picking it up and taking it somewhere else, or saying,

0:44:35 > 0:44:38"Actually, we think that we can do something here to preserve it."

0:44:38 > 0:44:40OK, this is 12.

0:44:40 > 0:44:43It just strikes me as slightly strange in some ways that you're

0:44:43 > 0:44:49taking those items from effectively a controlled environment back into an uncontrolled environment.

0:44:49 > 0:44:53- Is that true?- In some ways it's an uncontrolled environment,

0:44:53 > 0:44:57but when you think about how objects deteriorate, we've got some big things on our side here.

0:44:57 > 0:45:00It's really cold - that slows down deterioration.

0:45:00 > 0:45:04So for 11 months of the year, nothing much is going on.

0:45:04 > 0:45:08It's also dark a lot of the time, and inside this building there's not much light.

0:45:08 > 0:45:10So light is a key factor of damage.

0:45:13 > 0:45:19It's the beginning of my fourth day at the hut and I'm settling into the Cape Evans way of life.

0:45:19 > 0:45:24One of the most common questions I get asked about expeditions is,

0:45:24 > 0:45:29"How do you go to the loo?" And I have to admit I was wondering that about Scott and his men.

0:45:29 > 0:45:31And this is actually their loo block.

0:45:31 > 0:45:34Out in the front, beautiful view if you ask me.

0:45:34 > 0:45:38If you look in there you'll see it's full of snow now,

0:45:38 > 0:45:40but actually, not too bad considering.

0:45:40 > 0:45:45But what's amazing is that they remained segregated out here.

0:45:45 > 0:45:49There was the officers' side and the men's side.

0:45:49 > 0:45:52Today they've got pretty strict protocol out here.

0:45:52 > 0:45:56It's all about keeping Antarctica this pristine clean environment.

0:45:56 > 0:46:00So today, for example, you have to poo in a bag.

0:46:00 > 0:46:03And that's all bagged up and then put on a ship

0:46:03 > 0:46:04and sent back to New Zealand.

0:46:04 > 0:46:08And apparently it costs a couple of quid per kilo,

0:46:08 > 0:46:11so that is very expensive poo.

0:46:16 > 0:46:19I'm really starting to imagine what it must have been like

0:46:19 > 0:46:23for those men, completely isolated here for two years.

0:46:29 > 0:46:30So quiet.

0:46:34 > 0:46:38I think for me it's moments like this that I start...

0:46:38 > 0:46:40thinking about home. It's beautiful,

0:46:40 > 0:46:45but you can't help but think about what you've left behind.

0:46:45 > 0:46:49Scott had only just married. He had a young boy about the same age

0:46:49 > 0:46:51as my little boy, Ludo.

0:46:51 > 0:46:53I can't imagine leaving them

0:46:53 > 0:46:55for two, three years.

0:46:57 > 0:47:01You've got those iconic photographs in the hut of him sitting at the map

0:47:01 > 0:47:04table, and they're behind. They're all these photographs.

0:47:04 > 0:47:06For me they're very poignant,

0:47:06 > 0:47:09of the family that he's left behind.

0:47:12 > 0:47:14I notice that's what's missing -

0:47:14 > 0:47:17the pictures have gone.

0:47:17 > 0:47:20Perhaps they were returned to his family

0:47:20 > 0:47:23or were taken by trophy hunters decades ago.

0:47:23 > 0:47:26But the heart has gone out of this little cabin.

0:47:28 > 0:47:34Before I set out to the Antarctic, I visited the Scott Polar Research Institute in Cambridge,

0:47:34 > 0:47:38where I came across a series of letters that have never been published

0:47:38 > 0:47:41and have never appeared on television before.

0:47:41 > 0:47:45They were the private letters of Scott to his wife Kathleen,

0:47:45 > 0:47:49and have always been considered too personal to make public.

0:47:49 > 0:47:53But I think glimpsing the personal Scott is key to knowing the man...

0:47:54 > 0:47:56..and the custodians agreed to let me see them.

0:47:56 > 0:47:59My own darling,

0:47:59 > 0:48:03perhaps it needed this separation to show how much you are to me.

0:48:03 > 0:48:07Does this letter express a little of what it will mean to me

0:48:07 > 0:48:11to see your sweet face again? It can only express a little.

0:48:11 > 0:48:15The thing that cannot be said too often, the amazing fact

0:48:15 > 0:48:17is that I love you so much

0:48:17 > 0:48:20the world for me must centre about you.

0:48:20 > 0:48:22This tells a very different tale.

0:48:22 > 0:48:25Yes, it does. This is a series of love letters, essentially.

0:48:25 > 0:48:31You say love letters. I think of Scott as being a stiff-upper-lipped

0:48:31 > 0:48:35officer in the Navy who wouldn't show their emotions,

0:48:35 > 0:48:37almost emotionally barren.

0:48:37 > 0:48:41That was his public face. This is the private man, the family man.

0:48:41 > 0:48:44It's clear that Scott adored his wife.

0:48:44 > 0:48:48By all accounts, Kathleen Bruce was both striking and charming.

0:48:48 > 0:48:52She was a talented artist, having trained under Rodin,

0:48:52 > 0:48:56and intellectually she was every bit Scott's equal.

0:48:56 > 0:49:00Setting out on the expedition, Scott's only regret appears to have

0:49:00 > 0:49:05been leaving behind his wife and his son, Peter, not yet a year old.

0:49:05 > 0:49:08"Dear heart, all this in one sense seems to be

0:49:08 > 0:49:12"asking you to sacrifice your own interest and the Boodle Doo's..."

0:49:12 > 0:49:15And of course Boodle Doo is Peter, her son, their nickname for him.

0:49:15 > 0:49:18"..to the expedition. But I know you would wish it that way.

0:49:18 > 0:49:21"So we act straight to ourselves and the world."

0:49:21 > 0:49:24I think that's very telling.

0:49:24 > 0:49:28I love you as much as ever and wish I could get a glimpse of you.

0:49:28 > 0:49:33I have this little red Morocco case with your picture in front and the Boodle Doo at the back.

0:49:33 > 0:49:37Give him my best love and ever so many kisses...

0:49:37 > 0:49:41My dearest dearest, here is... My own darling, I am writing to you...

0:49:41 > 0:49:45My sweet lady, I told you we should be cut off from...

0:49:45 > 0:49:49Some of them are intensely personal, and I think it's really interesting

0:49:49 > 0:49:55to see how he feels he can write completely frankly to Kathleen

0:49:55 > 0:49:59in a way he can't, perhaps, express himself to other members

0:49:59 > 0:50:02of his team actually down in the Antarctic.

0:50:05 > 0:50:10Being here in the Antarctic, things are starting to fall into place.

0:50:10 > 0:50:13I now see Scott less as an iconic figure

0:50:13 > 0:50:16and increasingly as something more human.

0:50:19 > 0:50:21Scott was an animal lover.

0:50:21 > 0:50:25He was fond of the ponies and dogs on the expedition.

0:50:25 > 0:50:31There are signs of animals everywhere, but just outside the hut, buried in the snow,

0:50:31 > 0:50:34was something I hadn't expected to find.

0:50:34 > 0:50:38And behind here is one of the expedition dogs.

0:50:39 > 0:50:41But you can still its collar.

0:50:41 > 0:50:44That is unbelievable. Look at that!

0:50:45 > 0:50:49- Does that chain go to the collar? - It does. So it's still chained up.

0:50:49 > 0:50:53I can't believe there is a dog with a collar still on it chained up here.

0:50:53 > 0:50:58Because, for me, the dogs, you know that was one of the key differences between Scott and Amundsen.

0:50:58 > 0:51:02This for me is a really significant part of the heritage of this site.

0:51:02 > 0:51:06It was known that dog-sledding was an effective means of polar transport,

0:51:06 > 0:51:11but Scott had chosen to rely on a number of different methods,

0:51:11 > 0:51:13landing with 17 Siberian ponies.

0:51:13 > 0:51:16They quickly proved unreliable.

0:51:16 > 0:51:18Six had perished on this short depot laying journey.

0:51:18 > 0:51:23This put into real doubt how useful they were going to be

0:51:23 > 0:51:26the following spring for their great assault south.

0:51:26 > 0:51:30But also, significantly, they were forced to lay the final depot

0:51:30 > 0:51:3330 miles short of their proposed point.

0:51:34 > 0:51:39It was 30 miles that would make the difference between life and death.

0:51:40 > 0:51:45Scott was still fretful over the telegram he'd received on the outward journey,

0:51:45 > 0:51:49but had no way of tracking the Norwegian expedition.

0:51:49 > 0:51:52On the 8th February, the scientific party that had taken

0:51:52 > 0:51:57the ship out East suddenly returned with shocking news.

0:51:58 > 0:52:00While over here, they'd actually bumped

0:52:00 > 0:52:02into the Norwegian Roald Amundsen.

0:52:02 > 0:52:05He had his ship, The Fram, dogs, many men.

0:52:05 > 0:52:09Suddenly, that telegram made complete sense.

0:52:09 > 0:52:13They were heading south, too. As soon as winter was over,

0:52:13 > 0:52:17they would also be heading for exactly the same goal.

0:52:17 > 0:52:19The race was on.

0:52:21 > 0:52:27Scott had chosen ponies, believing that it was impossible to get large numbers of dogs to Antarctica.

0:52:27 > 0:52:30Amundsen, it seemed, had no such concerns,

0:52:30 > 0:52:33and had landed with over 100 dogs.

0:52:37 > 0:52:42There is no doubt that Amundsen's plan is a very serious menace to ours.

0:52:46 > 0:52:50I never thought he could have got so many dogs safely to the ice.

0:52:50 > 0:52:52His plan for running them seems excellent.

0:52:56 > 0:53:01But above and beyond all, he can start his journey early in the season -

0:53:01 > 0:53:03an impossible condition with ponies.

0:53:10 > 0:53:14Nevertheless, there was no way of changing course, and Scott was committed to working with

0:53:14 > 0:53:20the Siberian ponies he'd brought and had stables built along the outside of the hut to house them.

0:53:20 > 0:53:24A century on, and the stables are still throwing up surprises.

0:53:30 > 0:53:32Oh, that smell!

0:53:32 > 0:53:34THEY LAUGH

0:53:34 > 0:53:36Oh, it smells like old milk!

0:53:38 > 0:53:40It's a sledging...

0:53:40 > 0:53:44ration bag, one of the cotton bags that they used.

0:53:44 > 0:53:48I think that's either cheese or butter.

0:53:48 > 0:53:53I think you've got the world's oldest pound of butter there, Ben!

0:53:55 > 0:53:57- Wow.- Look... It's...

0:53:57 > 0:54:01- Can you see it?- Yeah.- It's got Fern Leaf written on the label.

0:54:01 > 0:54:06It's part of a supplies they brought out from New Zealand en route.

0:54:06 > 0:54:10It's very rancid butter, 100-year-old butter.

0:54:10 > 0:54:14We dug this up from under one of the bays here in the stables

0:54:14 > 0:54:18and it's more likely that perhaps it got forgotten about or dropped

0:54:18 > 0:54:20under some scoria over it, or snow,

0:54:20 > 0:54:25and then it was lost to time until we were in here excavating.

0:54:25 > 0:54:28But it certainly hasn't fared well over that 100 years, by the smell of it.

0:54:31 > 0:54:35Food items are among the most intriguing things that Scott left behind,

0:54:35 > 0:54:39partly because they give us a glimpse into the brands and tastes of Edwardian England,

0:54:39 > 0:54:44but also because they speak of the everyday lives of the men.

0:54:44 > 0:54:47Most of what's in this is what's known as Bowers' Annex.

0:54:47 > 0:54:51He was in charge of the stores and he built an annexe

0:54:51 > 0:54:53on the side of the hut. It was made of packing cases.

0:54:54 > 0:54:58These boxes, now being sent off for conservation,

0:54:58 > 0:55:00are actually full of flour.

0:55:01 > 0:55:05Yeah, if you think of artefacts being conserved, preserved,

0:55:05 > 0:55:09I have this image of it being paintings or furniture.

0:55:09 > 0:55:11And here we're doing flour.

0:55:11 > 0:55:15Does it at least...? I mean, it's kind of strange,

0:55:15 > 0:55:17- or is it not for you? - It's not strange for me.

0:55:17 > 0:55:19I'm used to it. It's really interesting.

0:55:19 > 0:55:24You just never know what you're going to get next when you walk into the hut, you know.

0:55:24 > 0:55:26It could be a tool, it could be some food,

0:55:26 > 0:55:30it could be a piece of clothing, and it's always interesting.

0:55:30 > 0:55:34Little was known about the effects of high altitude on diet in 1911.

0:55:34 > 0:55:38Although Scott carefully calculated rations, at 10,000 feet above sea

0:55:38 > 0:55:42level, they were burning many more calories than they were consuming.

0:55:42 > 0:55:44Scott and his men were literally starving.

0:55:50 > 0:55:56From the food stuffs found in the hut, we now know that was not the case while they were here.

0:55:56 > 0:56:00It's clear that meals were substantial, could run to several courses

0:56:00 > 0:56:04and included the finer things that gentlemen of the expedition would have been used to.

0:56:04 > 0:56:07This was part of Scott's strategy.

0:56:07 > 0:56:13No matter what hardships might have to be faced, there would always be a good meal at the end,

0:56:13 > 0:56:15while they were staying in the hut at any rate.

0:56:17 > 0:56:21Scott's secret weapon to keeping up morale was Thomas Clissold.

0:56:21 > 0:56:24Clissold was a talented 25-year-old cook

0:56:24 > 0:56:27who could serve up a range of dishes more usually found

0:56:27 > 0:56:32in a good restaurant, or improvise with the seals and penguins that came his way.

0:56:34 > 0:56:37I don't know about you, but when I look at some of those Ponting photos of him,

0:56:37 > 0:56:40he has quite a contemporary look about him. His hair was quite short,

0:56:40 > 0:56:44little bit of almost a goatee going on. He looks quite modern.

0:56:44 > 0:56:48He does look pretty cool, actually pretty hot!

0:56:48 > 0:56:50Which can't be said for all of them!

0:56:50 > 0:56:52But Clissold was more than just a good cook.

0:56:52 > 0:56:56He was also something of a mechanic, begging wires and batteries

0:56:56 > 0:56:59from around the hut to create his own gadgets.

0:56:59 > 0:57:05He'd rigged up this really cool alarm for working out when the bread dough had risen.

0:57:05 > 0:57:08As it rose it hit a lever which kind of went up to a switch

0:57:08 > 0:57:12and made this alarm ring, and then if that wasn't enough, then a light would start blinking

0:57:12 > 0:57:18above his bed, and so the whole thing was set up so he could have a nap while the bread was rising.

0:57:18 > 0:57:21Thomas Clissold made such an impression with his gadgets

0:57:21 > 0:57:24that he found himself being awarded the greatest honour of all.

0:57:24 > 0:57:27Scott had been working on an innovation.

0:57:27 > 0:57:33He'd decided to experiment with new technology and had brought with him three motorised sledges.

0:57:33 > 0:57:39Seeing Clissold's skill with gadgets, Scott asked him to join the team working with the sledges, which

0:57:39 > 0:57:45would mean, in the spring time, leaving his kitchen and heading south with the polar party.

0:57:46 > 0:57:51For an unranked 25-year-old cook, it was the chance of a lifetime.

0:57:52 > 0:57:59And for me, it's proof that Scott was anything but blind to the talent around him, wherever it lay.

0:58:15 > 0:58:17Each year as winter approaches,

0:58:17 > 0:58:19the sea begins to freeze

0:58:19 > 0:58:23and the solid mass of Antarctica doubles in size.

0:58:25 > 0:58:29In 1911, as the sea froze, the Terra Nova had to leave.

0:58:29 > 0:58:32As the ship would not be able to return until the following summer,

0:58:32 > 0:58:37the men left behind were now cut off from the rest of the world.

0:58:40 > 0:58:45With no way of restocking, Scott had to ensure that a catastrophic fire

0:58:45 > 0:58:48in the hut wouldn't destroy everything they had.

0:58:49 > 0:58:53He decided to scatter hoards of food and fuel in small clusters

0:58:53 > 0:58:58on the hillside above the hut, and, a century on, many are still here.

0:59:01 > 0:59:03Look at this!

0:59:05 > 0:59:08I mean, this looks... this looks fresh!

0:59:10 > 0:59:11It looks like lentils.

0:59:16 > 0:59:21The detective in me is returning now. I assume this is flour.

0:59:21 > 0:59:24I could be wrong now.

0:59:25 > 0:59:26Look at all of these.

0:59:29 > 0:59:31No!

0:59:32 > 0:59:33Look, look, look, look, look!

0:59:35 > 0:59:38Huntley, that's got to be the Huntley and Palmer biscuits.

0:59:38 > 0:59:40This is just incredible.

0:59:47 > 0:59:51On April 23rd, the 25 occupants of the Cape Evans Hut have their

0:59:51 > 0:59:56last sight of the sun before the 24-hour darkness of a polar winter.

1:00:06 > 1:00:09It will be four months before they see the sun again.

1:00:09 > 1:00:12The men make notes in their diaries

1:00:12 > 1:00:14and busy themselves as best they can.

1:00:16 > 1:00:21Sunday, and the inhabitants of the hut are occupied with their own affairs.

1:00:21 > 1:00:25Ponting is reading an exciting love story.

1:00:25 > 1:00:28Oates is studying his great hero Napoleon.

1:00:28 > 1:00:32For myself, clothes washing is the order of the day.

1:00:32 > 1:00:36When that is finished I will be sewing patches on underpants.

1:00:38 > 1:00:41At breakfast we discussed Amundsen.

1:00:41 > 1:00:46Most of those here consider he will reach the pole first if he's not driven out to sea.

1:00:50 > 1:00:54On starry nights, I shall look at the Great Bear

1:00:54 > 1:00:57and you will also look at it sometimes.

1:00:57 > 1:00:59And I shall look at the moon

1:00:59 > 1:01:03as it floods our snows with its silver light.

1:01:03 > 1:01:06The point was raised as to what a man should do if he were

1:01:06 > 1:01:10to break down on the polar journey, thereby becoming a burden to others.

1:01:10 > 1:01:16Oates unhesitatingly and emphatically expressed the opinion that there was only one possible course -

1:01:16 > 1:01:20self sacrifice. He thought that a pistol should be carried and that

1:01:20 > 1:01:24if anyone breaks down, he should have the privilege of using it.

1:01:27 > 1:01:33Perhaps the winter of 1911 on Cape Evans was best summed up by the one Norwegian on Scott's team,

1:01:33 > 1:01:36the ski expert and diarist Tryggve Gran.

1:01:38 > 1:01:41It is difficult to keep a diary.

1:01:41 > 1:01:43One day is just as monotonous as the rest.

1:01:43 > 1:01:47Under such conditions, weak nerves will either get stronger or crack.

1:01:49 > 1:01:53There is so little happening.

1:01:54 > 1:01:58The tedium is broken briefly on midwinter's day by a great party.

1:02:01 > 1:02:05Whilst revelry was the order of the day within our hut,

1:02:05 > 1:02:08the elements without seemed desirous of celebrating the occasion

1:02:08 > 1:02:12with equal emphasis and greater decorum.

1:02:12 > 1:02:17The eastern sky was massed with swaying auroral light,

1:02:17 > 1:02:22the most vivid and beautiful display that I had ever seen.

1:02:26 > 1:02:30It is impossible to witness such a beautiful phenomenon

1:02:30 > 1:02:32without a sense of awe.

1:03:02 > 1:03:07One of the most extraordinary events of that winter was a journey.

1:03:07 > 1:03:13Through the dark and bitterly cold winter, few people travelled far from the hut at Cape Evans.

1:03:13 > 1:03:16But one man couldn't be held back.

1:03:16 > 1:03:21Edward Wilson was an artist, a doctor, a devoted Christian

1:03:21 > 1:03:25and Scott's chief scientist. He was passionately committed

1:03:25 > 1:03:29to making scientific discoveries at any cost.

1:03:29 > 1:03:34Wilson wanted to be the first to bring the eggs of the emperor penguin back to Britain,

1:03:34 > 1:03:38eggs that are only laid in the middle of the polar winter.

1:03:38 > 1:03:42He was insistent on taking two men on a five-week hike

1:03:42 > 1:03:46through polar storms in permanent darkness to Cape Crozier.

1:03:46 > 1:03:48It was one of the most taxing,

1:03:48 > 1:03:53extreme and hostile journeys ever undertaken in the name of science.

1:03:59 > 1:04:02Thankfully, we're taking a faster route.

1:04:02 > 1:04:07Nigel is coming to make a record of what remains, and I've taken the opportunity to join him.

1:04:09 > 1:04:13I don't think there's any other way to describe this

1:04:13 > 1:04:15other than a godforsaken place!

1:04:15 > 1:04:18This is about as bleak as you can get.

1:04:18 > 1:04:23Yeah, we're on a very exposed sphere here, on the edge of Ross Island.

1:04:23 > 1:04:28It must have been absolute sheer hell to be here

1:04:28 > 1:04:33in the middle of winter in 24-hour darkness, shivering.

1:04:36 > 1:04:39Apsley Cherry-Garrard talked about

1:04:39 > 1:04:44the fact you know it's bad when you get frostbite inside your sleeping bag.

1:04:44 > 1:04:48It was so cold that the men's teeth began to crack,

1:04:48 > 1:04:51and even though we're here in summer and in good weather,

1:04:51 > 1:04:56this is easily the coldest, bleakest place we've encountered.

1:04:56 > 1:05:01If I ever think I've had any hardships in my life, on any of my trips...

1:05:01 > 1:05:04Pales into insignificance.

1:05:04 > 1:05:07This is like hell on Earth, this spot here.

1:05:07 > 1:05:11Cape Crozier is a truly desolate place.

1:05:11 > 1:05:16But amazingly, there are still remains of the stone igloo that the three men built for shelter.

1:05:18 > 1:05:23This looks pretty insignificant, but this, can you see the green canvas?

1:05:23 > 1:05:27- Yes. Green? It looks white now. - They used this in the rock igloo

1:05:27 > 1:05:29as a roof

1:05:29 > 1:05:32with their sledges on top,

1:05:32 > 1:05:35and the account was that when the big storm came in,

1:05:35 > 1:05:38they started stuffing everything they could,

1:05:38 > 1:05:44socks, bits of cloth, anything they could into the gaps in the rock

1:05:44 > 1:05:46to stop the snow coming in.

1:05:46 > 1:05:49But this was such a huge storm and it raged so hard,

1:05:49 > 1:05:53they said the screaming was unbelievable, the noise.

1:05:53 > 1:05:58And eventually they knew they were going to lose the roof

1:05:58 > 1:06:01and the canvas went and here we had

1:06:01 > 1:06:05the three men huddled in here in their sleeping bags,

1:06:05 > 1:06:09in the open elements, with a storm raging.

1:06:12 > 1:06:19Nigel is keen to record what remains to help build up his understanding of what Scott's team did.

1:06:19 > 1:06:24For me, the trip has brought home a key point about this whole story -

1:06:24 > 1:06:26it wasn't a dash to the pole.

1:06:27 > 1:06:32Scott's British Antarctic Survey of 1911 was a scientific enterprise

1:06:32 > 1:06:35supporting no fewer than 11 scientists.

1:06:35 > 1:06:42These pioneers in biology, geology and physics measured the landscape, mapped skies, studied the climate

1:06:42 > 1:06:48and returned discoveries for analysis at home, including the eggs of the emperor penguin.

1:06:52 > 1:06:56I really can't help but think that this can't have helped their cause.

1:06:56 > 1:06:58Bowers and Wilson,

1:06:58 > 1:07:02you know, two men that perished in the tent with Captain Scott,

1:07:02 > 1:07:06they can't have had time to recover from an experience like this.

1:07:13 > 1:07:17Here are Bowers, Wilson and Cherry-Garrard about

1:07:17 > 1:07:21to set out into the darkness of the polar winter for Cape Crozier.

1:07:21 > 1:07:25This is their return just five weeks later.

1:07:25 > 1:07:28And just three months after this photo was taken,

1:07:28 > 1:07:32two of these men would accompany Scott to the pole.

1:07:39 > 1:07:43The Crozier party looked more weather-worn than anyone I have yet seen.

1:07:47 > 1:07:51It is for me now to note the strains that they have imposed upon themselves,

1:07:51 > 1:07:56and the lessons that their experiences teach for our future guidance.

1:08:02 > 1:08:08As the winter ended, all attention was focused on preparations for the journey to the South Pole.

1:08:08 > 1:08:14Each day Scott carefully monitored the temperature, the weather and the first flickers of sunlight.

1:08:18 > 1:08:21It's the famous stables in here. The smell is just extraordinary.

1:08:21 > 1:08:24You really get a sense of what it must have been like.

1:08:24 > 1:08:27But these were pretty frustrating times for Scott.

1:08:27 > 1:08:32He knew that not far away, Amundsen was waiting with his much hardier dogs.

1:08:32 > 1:08:36And even as the light returned after winter, they had to wait.

1:08:36 > 1:08:39The ponies simply couldn't go out until it was warm enough.

1:08:46 > 1:08:49Though it's certainly cold, it's only by spending the winter here at

1:08:49 > 1:08:54Cape Evans, as Scott did, that you encounter the worst temperatures.

1:08:56 > 1:09:01At minus 30, any exposed skin is vulnerable to frostbite in moments,

1:09:01 > 1:09:04which presents a challenge when nature calls.

1:09:04 > 1:09:08Diana has just made a discovery that suggests that this was

1:09:08 > 1:09:13one problem that Scott's party had gone some way to solving.

1:09:15 > 1:09:18That is hilarious.

1:09:19 > 1:09:21Is that willy hole?

1:09:21 > 1:09:24That is amazing! So they could go to the loo.

1:09:25 > 1:09:28I've never seen anything like that in all my life.

1:09:28 > 1:09:34I thought I'd seen everything. It even has a little closing strap so that you could...avoid drafts.

1:09:35 > 1:09:38You wouldn't want to get frostbite there, would you?

1:09:38 > 1:09:41OK, Cricket, shall I pop those down there?

1:09:41 > 1:09:44Sure, we'll take a look at them. What have you got there?

1:09:44 > 1:09:47Trousers with a willy hole.

1:09:47 > 1:09:51- Very nice!- How are we going to pack that so we don't crush that?

1:09:51 > 1:09:53THEY LAUGH

1:09:55 > 1:09:57We pay these guys a lot of money.

1:10:02 > 1:10:06Although the expedition was using basic clothing by today's standards,

1:10:06 > 1:10:09it seems they were using the very best available.

1:10:09 > 1:10:15Much of the clothing left here in the hut was specially designed by companies like Burberry and Jaeger.

1:10:16 > 1:10:21This project has revealed that the clothing of 1911, being of entirely natural fibres,

1:10:21 > 1:10:25compared surprisingly well with modern counterparts at keeping out the cold.

1:10:28 > 1:10:31Where Scott suffered was in carrying the bedding.

1:10:33 > 1:10:36These 1911 reindeer sleeping bags are cumbersome and heavy

1:10:36 > 1:10:40compared to modern sleeping bags, and doubled in weight once wet.

1:10:42 > 1:10:44Wow, look at that.

1:10:44 > 1:10:46An old tweed cap.

1:10:46 > 1:10:50- No way, I've never seen that before. - Have you not?- No, It's fantastic.

1:10:50 > 1:10:53It actually looks in quite good condition.

1:10:55 > 1:10:58- It's gorgeous, yeah. I think Clissold would look good in this. - Oh, do you?

1:11:01 > 1:11:04Clissold, the inventive cook, and the other 14 men selected

1:11:04 > 1:11:08by Scott are now fully engaged in preparing for the journey south.

1:11:10 > 1:11:12Sunday, October 8th,

1:11:12 > 1:11:15about five, a telephone message from Nelson's igloo

1:11:15 > 1:11:19reported that Clissold had fallen from a berg and hurt his back.

1:11:19 > 1:11:25It appears that Clissold was acting as Ponting's model and that he dropped six feet onto a sharp angle

1:11:25 > 1:11:28in the berg before he grew unconscious.

1:11:29 > 1:11:32Tuesday, October 17th.

1:11:32 > 1:11:37I have had to tell Clissold that he cannot go out with the motor party, to his great disappointment.

1:11:37 > 1:11:39Hooper replaces him.

1:11:41 > 1:11:47On the 24th October, the motorised sledges headed out without Clissold.

1:11:47 > 1:11:52And it was over the next few days that 11 men, ponies and dogs, all set out for the pole.

1:11:52 > 1:11:55The expedition had begun.

1:11:55 > 1:11:59But it would be some time before those men left behind in the hut

1:11:59 > 1:12:01would hear news of how they were getting on.

1:12:01 > 1:12:08While his heavy equipment meant that Ponting was unable to photograph the journey south, Scott was.

1:12:08 > 1:12:11He's been accused of being stubborn and old fashioned.

1:12:11 > 1:12:16But what few people know is that be became a pupil of Ponting

1:12:16 > 1:12:19so that he could photograph the journey south himself.

1:12:19 > 1:12:25Amazingly, those pictures were lost and only recently turned up in an auction.

1:12:25 > 1:12:28They've never been published before and are seen here

1:12:28 > 1:12:30for the first time.

1:12:30 > 1:12:33What they show shines a new light on Scott.

1:12:34 > 1:12:37He took to his tutelage very well.

1:12:37 > 1:12:39He learned from a master.

1:12:39 > 1:12:41Here's an early photograph.

1:12:41 > 1:12:44You can see see that there was a certain problem.

1:12:44 > 1:12:46- Head cut off.- That's right.

1:12:46 > 1:12:48All of a sudden we start seeing

1:12:48 > 1:12:52Scott do different things from Ponting, and what happens is

1:12:52 > 1:12:57that while Ponting is using the film camera, a whiteout occurs,

1:12:57 > 1:13:01and Scott keeps taking the photographs.

1:13:01 > 1:13:05Scott wanted to show action as it was occurring.

1:13:07 > 1:13:11Having practised his craft at the hut, once on the expedition

1:13:11 > 1:13:16to the pole it was Scott's chance to capture truly unique images.

1:13:16 > 1:13:19Here we are on the great ice barrier, and there is the line of march.

1:13:19 > 1:13:21With the infamous ponies.

1:13:21 > 1:13:24With the infamous ponies, the sledges fully done

1:13:24 > 1:13:28and the men trudging through a very heavy snow.

1:13:28 > 1:13:30This photo is on the way to the South Pole.

1:13:30 > 1:13:32- On the way.- It's amazing.

1:13:32 > 1:13:35They had to create these huge ice walls.

1:13:35 > 1:13:39Imagine finishing a day's march like you had, and then having to build

1:13:39 > 1:13:43a six-foot ice wall to protect the ponies from the freezing wind.

1:13:43 > 1:13:48I heard a story of Oates who was particularly fond of the ponies, that these walls would sometimes

1:13:48 > 1:13:52tumble in the night. The winds were so strong, they'd knock them over. He'd go and rebuild them.

1:13:52 > 1:13:56And apparently he had one pony that kept knocking it down.

1:13:56 > 1:13:59It got really angry, and he'd rebuilt it up to eight times in the night.

1:13:59 > 1:14:01- That's right.- That's dedication.

1:14:01 > 1:14:05He was the last man in his tent because he was always building walls.

1:14:05 > 1:14:09Captain Laurence Titus Oates loved the ponies

1:14:09 > 1:14:12and understood them better than anyone on the expedition.

1:14:12 > 1:14:17He's shown here to be one of Scott's most committed expedition members.

1:14:17 > 1:14:22But Scott's pictures also give insight to his much debated leadership style.

1:14:22 > 1:14:24Take a look at that.

1:14:26 > 1:14:31They are manhauling for all their worth a sledge which weighs an awful lot.

1:14:31 > 1:14:35So much has been made of Scott the divisionist,

1:14:35 > 1:14:39if that's a word that I can use, but Captain Scott

1:14:39 > 1:14:41who divided officers and men,

1:14:41 > 1:14:45and they had their separate parts in the hut and even divided the loos,

1:14:45 > 1:14:51and yet here it feels much more of a team, it feels much more intimate.

1:14:51 > 1:14:53I'd agree with that.

1:14:53 > 1:14:58I think all of these pictures show that everyone is moving together,

1:14:58 > 1:15:00working together, to meet their goal.

1:15:00 > 1:15:03I don't see any sense of division here at all.

1:15:05 > 1:15:08The pictures show Scott's men working together.

1:15:08 > 1:15:11It may be that the hut was divided, but for me

1:15:11 > 1:15:15what these pictures reveal is a leader of a unified team

1:15:15 > 1:15:18pulling as one, with a common goal.

1:15:20 > 1:15:23Seven weeks after the party had left the hut,

1:15:23 > 1:15:27the first news of the expedition began to arrive back at Cape Evans.

1:15:30 > 1:15:36The motorised sledging team returned with the news that just 60 miles in, the vehicles had failed.

1:15:36 > 1:15:38They'd been forced to abandon them.

1:15:38 > 1:15:43But worse still, the dog sledding team returned from this point

1:15:43 > 1:15:47with the news that Scott and his men had been stormbound for many days. This had a knock-on effect.

1:15:47 > 1:15:53The ponies that they were relying on simply weren't going to make it up the glacier. They had to shoot them.

1:15:53 > 1:15:57Scott and his men, without ponies, without dogs and without motorised

1:15:57 > 1:16:00vehicles, would have to pull the sledges themselves.

1:16:01 > 1:16:07They'd be manhauling the heavy sledges to the South Pole earlier than Scott had planned.

1:16:20 > 1:16:25Those men left at the hut knew that Scott had to return by March

1:16:25 > 1:16:30when the winter darkness would begin again and his rations would run out.

1:16:30 > 1:16:34Until then, all they could do was wait.

1:17:04 > 1:17:10By the middle of March, everyone in the hut knew that Scott's party should be returning.

1:17:10 > 1:17:14Men became agitated and there were frequent false alarms.

1:17:14 > 1:17:16Wind Vane Hill, right behind the hut,

1:17:16 > 1:17:18is a perfectly positioned vantage point,

1:17:18 > 1:17:21allowing a view directly south.

1:17:22 > 1:17:23So they say that...

1:17:23 > 1:17:28each evening a watchman would come up on top of this hill

1:17:28 > 1:17:34and look due south for any sign of Scott's returning team.

1:17:34 > 1:17:37When they went back into the hut there was complete silence,

1:17:37 > 1:17:40everyone stopped what they were doing

1:17:40 > 1:17:43in expectation of news.

1:17:47 > 1:17:4925th March, 1912.

1:17:51 > 1:17:55We have begun to worry about the fate of the polar party.

1:17:55 > 1:17:59No one says anything, but you can see it in most of their faces.

1:17:59 > 1:18:03When the watchman comes down from Vane Hill each night to report,

1:18:03 > 1:18:06everything comes to a standstill in the hut

1:18:06 > 1:18:08and every eye is fixed on him.

1:18:11 > 1:18:1411th April, 1912.

1:18:15 > 1:18:22I was standing outside the hut taking the temperatures when I heard someone shout, "The polar party's coming!"

1:18:22 > 1:18:27I rushed into the hut, to the gramophone to get out the National Anthem to greet Scott.

1:18:27 > 1:18:30I stood and waited long.

1:18:31 > 1:18:33But no-one came.

1:18:39 > 1:18:4119th April, 1912.

1:18:41 > 1:18:44I had a fright today.

1:18:44 > 1:18:48The stove was spluttering, the chimney pipe glowing red hot

1:18:48 > 1:18:53right up to the roof, and outside a blizzard was blowing.

1:18:53 > 1:18:55Suddenly, there was a bang at the door.

1:18:55 > 1:18:59I stopped daydreaming and sat up and listened.

1:18:59 > 1:19:01A wild idea rushed through my head.

1:19:02 > 1:19:05Could the impossible have happened?

1:19:05 > 1:19:08Could Scott have returned?

1:19:08 > 1:19:10I rushed out of the hut into the blizzard.

1:19:10 > 1:19:15Something loomed up and I ran towards it.

1:19:15 > 1:19:19A big emperor penguin was paying us a visit.

1:19:19 > 1:19:21It paid for its cheek

1:19:21 > 1:19:23with its life.

1:19:29 > 1:19:35By late October, exactly a year after Scott set out for the pole with ten men,

1:19:35 > 1:19:40several of those same men now head off from the Cape Evans hut to attempt to find Scott's body.

1:19:41 > 1:19:46Had the party failed, we would never have known how the story ended.

1:19:46 > 1:19:48But by a chance in 100,

1:19:48 > 1:19:52they find a tent almost buried after a winter in the snow.

1:19:55 > 1:20:00It was here, 11 miles short of that final depot of food and fuel,

1:20:00 > 1:20:05the depot that was originally supposed to be 30 miles further out.

1:20:05 > 1:20:10Here inside the tent, Scott, the scientist and writer,

1:20:10 > 1:20:13Wilson, and the great organiser Bowers...

1:20:14 > 1:20:16..were found frozen.

1:20:21 > 1:20:24They take Scott's diary, some exposed film that will later reveal

1:20:24 > 1:20:29the faces of five men at the South Pole, one month after Amundsen.

1:20:32 > 1:20:36This is the final diary that was on his body

1:20:36 > 1:20:39when he was found in the tent.

1:20:40 > 1:20:44This has lasted a whole winter out on the ice.

1:20:45 > 1:20:50And here on this last page, "For God's sake,

1:20:50 > 1:20:51"look after our people."

1:20:54 > 1:20:59This was the only evidence as to how and why they perished.

1:21:04 > 1:21:07The diary reveals that the mighty Evans was first to die.

1:21:10 > 1:21:17We stopped, and seeing Evans a long way astern, we were alarmed, and all four started back on ski.

1:21:19 > 1:21:22He was on his knees with clothing disarranged, hands uncovered

1:21:22 > 1:21:27and frostbitten, and a wild look in his eyes.

1:21:27 > 1:21:30He died quietly at 12:30am.

1:21:32 > 1:21:38He dies here at the foot of the Beardmore glacier on 16th February.

1:21:38 > 1:21:42And just a month later, on 15th or 16th March,

1:21:42 > 1:21:47Oates dies here, his feet in tatters from frostbite.

1:21:49 > 1:21:51Poor Titus Oates said he couldn't go on.

1:21:51 > 1:21:54He proposed we should leave him in his sleeping bag.

1:21:54 > 1:21:56That we could not do.

1:21:56 > 1:21:59He struggled on and we made a few miles.

1:21:59 > 1:22:03He slept through the night, hoping not to wake, but he woke in the morning.

1:22:03 > 1:22:06It was blowing a blizzard. He said...

1:22:07 > 1:22:12"..I am just going outside and may be some time."

1:22:13 > 1:22:16He went out into the blizzard and we have not seen him since.

1:22:18 > 1:22:23Perhaps the five men died because they were caught in some truly terrible polar storms.

1:22:23 > 1:22:25Perhaps it was because they chose to take ponies

1:22:25 > 1:22:28when dogs might have proved faster.

1:22:28 > 1:22:32Or maybe they grew weak on low rations of food.

1:22:32 > 1:22:38But there is another suggestion hinted at by Scott himself, that the fuel that was essential for heating

1:22:38 > 1:22:42food and giving warmth ran out, something that mystified Scott,

1:22:42 > 1:22:47but thanks to objects left behind, we may now have the answer.

1:22:47 > 1:22:51This was a critical part of the story of Scott's last expedition.

1:22:51 > 1:22:53One-gallon tins of paraffin.

1:22:53 > 1:22:58They were sealed with these brass tops, and on the inside of them,

1:22:58 > 1:23:03they had leather washers and they shrunk in the cold.

1:23:03 > 1:23:06They'd arrive at one of their depots and they'd find these half empty.

1:23:06 > 1:23:12That's right, and they couldn't understand why there was less fuel, and without that you're a goner.

1:23:12 > 1:23:15There's been a lots of hypotheses, lots of theories

1:23:15 > 1:23:19about why Scott might have died, what might have saved him.

1:23:19 > 1:23:23But essentially, that little washer, that little piece of leather

1:23:23 > 1:23:26could have meant the difference between life and death, really.

1:23:26 > 1:23:30For something so small, it had a major bearing on the outcome.

1:23:33 > 1:23:39In his last days, Scott assessed the reasons for what could now only end in tragedy.

1:23:39 > 1:23:43Causes of the disaster are not due to faulty organisation, but to misfortune...

1:23:43 > 1:23:48The loss of pony transport obliged the limits of stuff transported to be narrowed...

1:23:48 > 1:23:50The weather throughout the outward journey...

1:23:50 > 1:23:53We should have got through in spite of the weather...

1:23:53 > 1:23:55But for the sickening of Captain Oates... Captain Oates...

1:23:55 > 1:24:01And a shortage of fuel in our depots, for which I cannot account...

1:24:01 > 1:24:05Finally, but for the storm which has fallen on us

1:24:05 > 1:24:08within 11 miles of the depot...

1:24:08 > 1:24:09Had we lived,

1:24:09 > 1:24:12I should have had a tale to tell

1:24:12 > 1:24:17of the hardyhood, endurance and courage of my companions

1:24:17 > 1:24:21which would have stirred the heart of every Englishman.

1:24:21 > 1:24:25These rough notes and our dead bodies must tell the tale.

1:24:25 > 1:24:28It seems a pity,

1:24:28 > 1:24:30but I do not think that I can write more.

1:24:33 > 1:24:36For God's sake,

1:24:36 > 1:24:38look after our people.

1:24:45 > 1:24:50Somewhere beneath this ice shelf that's the size of France

1:24:50 > 1:24:52are the bodies

1:24:52 > 1:24:55of Evans, Oates,

1:24:55 > 1:24:58Wilson, Bowers

1:24:58 > 1:25:00and Captain Scott,

1:25:00 > 1:25:05entombed in 100 years of snow and ice.

1:25:07 > 1:25:11And almost in a beautiful irony,

1:25:11 > 1:25:15as this ice shelf continues to move north...

1:25:16 > 1:25:21..at some stage, their bodies will arrive at open water

1:25:21 > 1:25:25and they will have completed their journey home.

1:25:28 > 1:25:34I set out to the Antarctic with contrasting portraits of Scott in my mind.

1:25:34 > 1:25:39On one hand he was the great British hero who never put a foot wrong.

1:25:39 > 1:25:42On the other he was an uncommunicative failure.

1:25:45 > 1:25:48As my time at Cape Evans runs out,

1:25:48 > 1:25:53I realise that I've been surrounded by the answers the whole time.

1:25:55 > 1:25:58Shackleton's hut was the hut of a man whose principle aim,

1:25:58 > 1:26:02like Amundsen's, was to get to the South Pole.

1:26:02 > 1:26:06But I now realise why Scott's hut feels so different.

1:26:06 > 1:26:11This wasn't just the base for a polar hunt, it was so much more.

1:26:11 > 1:26:15This was the base for a journey of scientific discovery.

1:26:15 > 1:26:19This is where the science of climate study began in Antarctica.

1:26:19 > 1:26:25And this is where information was gained that was so accurate that's it's still used today.

1:26:27 > 1:26:30Scott was turned into a two-dimensional hero by people

1:26:30 > 1:26:34who didn't fully understand what he came here to do.

1:26:34 > 1:26:37By spending time here in the hut,

1:26:37 > 1:26:40I can see that he was so much more than that.

1:26:47 > 1:26:53This is the Royal Geographical Society in London, the place where Scott researched his adventures.

1:26:53 > 1:26:57A century on and I've been asked to present my own conclusions.

1:26:57 > 1:27:03Over the last century, Scott has been portrayed as a national hero

1:27:03 > 1:27:04and a heroic failure.

1:27:04 > 1:27:07I think both do him an injustice.

1:27:07 > 1:27:12I think as we mark the centenary of his great expedition,

1:27:12 > 1:27:15it's time to allow him to be a man -

1:27:15 > 1:27:18a man of vision, a man of drive,

1:27:18 > 1:27:22a man of passion, a man with faults

1:27:22 > 1:27:26and a man with qualities that made other men want to follow him

1:27:26 > 1:27:28to the end of the Earth.

1:27:28 > 1:27:30APPLAUSE

1:27:58 > 1:28:02I feel that in a wooden hut in the Antarctic,

1:28:02 > 1:28:06I came about as close to Scott as is ever going to be possible.

1:28:06 > 1:28:09I think Scott was a man of passion and drive

1:28:09 > 1:28:11who wanted to be remembered.

1:28:11 > 1:28:15I think he might be amused and perhaps a little humbled

1:28:15 > 1:28:20to know that, a century on, his hut is cherished

1:28:20 > 1:28:24along with the toothbrushes, test tubes, boots,

1:28:24 > 1:28:27cufflinks and bottles of tomato ketchup,

1:28:27 > 1:28:30and that it bears witness to the kind of man he was.

1:28:30 > 1:28:34I don't think he'd be displeased by that at all.

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