The last photograph ever taken of explorer Captain Robert Scott before he set off on his ill-fated expedition to the South Pole is set to fetch £4,500 at auction.
The black and white picture was taken of Scott and his wife Kathleen Bruce by photographer Stefano Webb in New Zealand in 1910.
Scott’s epic mission to Antarctica in began months later in November 1911 and his team reached the South Pole on January 17, 1912.
But they then discovered that a Norwegian team led by Roald Amundsen (corr) had beaten them by 33 days.
Capitan Scott’s final diary entry was written during his return journey on March 29, 1912 – the day all five explorers died of exposure.
The last photograph taken of Scott was shot in Lyttelton Christchurch, and will be sold at Sotherby’s in London next month.
They will be auctioned along with nine other images which show the couple on Quail Island and aboard the Terra Nova ship used for the expedition.
Captain Scott, born in Plymouth, Devon, said his objective for the expedition was “to reach the South Pole and to secure for the British Empire the honour of this achievement”.
Their records were retrieved by a search party eight months later.
