The deaths in the Antarctic of Captains Robert Falcon Scott and Lawrence “Titus” Oates are the most examined in almost all exploration. However, one object, until today unknown, gives a clue to the real story of the last three days of the Terra Nova expedition leaders. This is the sextant that Captain Scott had with him throughout his career until his death, passed from Kathleen Scott to Peter Scott and thence to its current owner. The sextant, its history and the meaning of the relic are set out before the public for the first time.

This article reveals that Captain Robert Falcon Scott rewrote his Terra Nova journals for the period 24 January to 18 June 1911, making extensive changes, in places. He made carbon copies of his journal from then until 31 October 1911. The Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) holds the combined manuscript as Carbon copy of diary as leader of British Antarctic Expedition, Jan. to Oct. 1911 with reference number RFS/1. This little-known version of Scott’s journals has apparently been overlooked by many researchers and scholars. The main research question addressed by the article is: “What was the significance of Captain Scott rewriting his story?” The article reviews two versions of Scott’s story – the published narrative Scott’s Last Expedition, and RFS/1. It investigates the provenance of each version and then reviews differences between the two texts. Three key differences stand out, suggesting the underlying pressures that drove Scott to rewrite his story in mid-1911. The article touches upon editorial changes made by Leonard Huxley in compiling Scott’s Last Expedition and contrasts those changes with changes made by Scott when rewriting the same passages. It also investigates the provenance of a typescript version of RFS/1 held by Canterbury Museum.

This article tells the story of the dog teams of the British Antarctic Expedition 1910–13. Its purpose is to establish an accurate record of sledge dog involvement in the expedition. It is not concerned with hypotheses about how a better outcome for the expedition might have been achieved, aiming simply to assemble and analyse verifiable evidence in chronological order. A substantial amount of research has been undertaken. Straightforward details about procurement of the dogs and their main Antarctic journeys have been summarised in tabular form as an accessible reference source for future work. A literature review has been undertaken, finding that none of the reviewed works accurately traces the evolving plans and instructions for the expedition’s dog teams. The story starts with Scott’s September 1909 public fundraising prospectus and goes on to the procurement and training of Huskies from Siberia. It traces the challenges, achievements, attitudes and management decisions that shaped the dogs’ main journeys. It finishes with Terra Nova leaving the Antarctic, with the last 13 dogs in January 1913. The dog teams and their handlers performed well in the Antarctic and successfully completed three of their four main journeys. They made a substantial contribution to the expedition.