Photographs of the Discovery Expedition Under Robert Falcon Scott

DISCOVERY EXPEDITION. 44 gelatin silver photographs, majority captioned in pencil on the mount versos or versos and some with publication notes. Led by Captain Robert Falcon Scott, the British National Antarctic Expedition of 1901-1904 marked Britain's return to Antarctic exploration after more than half a century. Constructed specifically for the venture, the Discovery carried a party of naval officers, scientists, and explorers whose achievements laid the foundations of the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. Reginald Skelton, the expedition's chief engineer, was also its principal photographer, producing some of the most evocative visual records of the journey. Skelton's photographs document both the daily life and scientific work of the expedition and the stark grandeur of the Antarctic landscape. The group includes views of Discovery secured in winter quarters amid the ice of McMurdo Sound, the February 1904 view of the ship finally freed from pack ice, the relief ship Terra Nova , shipboard scenes, sealing, members of the expedition at work in the field, a group portrait with sledge that appears to be from Christmas Day, and studies of temporary camps and scientific installations erected on the frozen continent. Other photographs capture dramatic polar vistas: towering ice cliffs and pressure ridges, pinnacle ice, volcanic rock formations, glaciers and snow-covered mountain ranges, as well as expansive seascapes dominated by the Antarctic Ice Barrier. Some of the captions specify South Trinidad, Mt. Melbourne, Sturge Island, Robertson Bay, Mt Erebus, Coulman Island, Cape Armitage, Fram Point, Cape Adare, Admiralty Range, etc. Three photographs are labeled "Farthest South"; two of which are particularly dramatic images of a lone figure standing at "The Chasm."

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