In September 1909 the formal announcement of Scott's expedition was made. He then had two main tasks, to raise the £40 000 needed for the expedition and to bring together a team.

Expedition Members
There were no problems finding people wanting to go on the expedition. Over 6 000 volunteers came forward for the small party that was to head south. Most of the key members of the team are discussed in the team section of this site. The final expedition members were made up of:

1. a shore party of 7 officers, 12 scientists and 14 "men"
2. a ship's party of 32 officers and seamen

• G.Murray Levick surgeon
• Harry Pennell Lieutenant, navigator, and in charge of magnetic work
• Henry Rennick Lieutenant, responsible for the hydrographical survey
• Victor Campbell Retired naval officer, chief officer and the man chosen to lead the Northern Expedition. He had lived in Norway and had skiing experience
• Wilfred Bruce, Kathleen Scott's brother, was a P&O merchant officer who sailed on the Terra Nova.

• Griffith Taylor an Australian geologist
• Frank Debenham an Australian geologist
• Raymond Priestly He had been on Shackleton's expedition and was also a Geologist
• George Simpson from the Indian Weather Bureau, meteorologist
• Edward Nelson Plymouth Marine laboratory, biologist
• Dennis Lillie biologist with a speciality in marine science
• Tryggve Gran a 21 year old Norwegian came as the ski expert.
• A second Russian, 4'10" Moscow jockey Anton Omelchenko, assisted with the ponies.

Fund-raising
Scott had estimated costs for the expedition of £40 000 but these had risen to £50 000 just before the departure of the Terra Nova. A government grant of £20 000 was welcome but most of the funds were raised through the hard grind of public meetings and seeking sponsors.

Contributions from schools paid for ponies, dogs, sleeping bags, sledges and tents. Schools offered a name for their item e.g. Eton College's pony was named Floreat Etona and given the nickname Snippet by Scott's men.

Commercial sponsors donated goods especially foodstuffs. Colmans donated mustard, flour and semolina. Other companies such as Oxo, Frank Cooper, Imperial Tobacco were involved. Bass brewers donated beer hoping that Scott would toast the King with their product at the South Pole.

When the Terra Nova left England in June 1910 the expedition was underfunded by £8 000. Scott did not go with the ship at that stage as he had to continue fund-raising. He was to join the expedition in South Africa where he continued to seek funds. The Australian government gave £2 500 and a private gift of £2 500 from an Australian businessman was also made. It was while he was in Australia that Scott received news that Amundsen was also planning a South Pole expedition.

The Terra Nova left Port Chalmers, New Zealand on 29 November 1910.

Cape Evans
The main base and setting off point for the Pole was Cape Evans in McMurdo Sound.

The Terra Nova arrived at Cape Evans (named after Edward Evans) on 4 January. The Terra Nova was unloaded and camp established. Bowers' Stores List gives some idea of the logistics of this operation.

• 17 tons flour
• 900 lbs salt
• 3 300 lbs tinned jams
• 4 100 lbs Huntley and Palmer biscuits
• 2 000 lbs New Zealand eggs
• 5 000 lbs Sugar
• 10 doz Courvoisier brandy
• 15 000 cigarettes
• 500 lbs tea
• 3 500 lbs Pemmican

1. The main shore party led by Scott at Cape Evans
2. The Northern Party led by Campbell at Cape Adare. This group left on 9 Feb 1911 and returned on 7 November 1912.
3. The Terra Nova itself which did some exploratory work and then headed back to New Zealand before the ice closed in.

One of the first tasks was to establish depots for the polar trip. The first one was set up at Safety Camp so-called because it was inland enough to be free from ice breaking off. Corner Camp was established at the point where the journey turned in a straight line to the Beardmore Glacier. The final depot was set up at 79° 29'S, 130 miles south of Cape Evans and because of the volume of supplies deposited there it was called One Ton Depot. It was intended to place this depot another 30 miles south but the ponies were suffering the conditions and Scott was unwilling to shoot them and to push on to the intended site.

By the end of February 1911 the depots for the polar journey had been laid and the party settled into their first Antarctic winter. The winter was the final time to assess equipment and to make plans for the polar journey. Some scientific work was conducted and on one reckless trip to retrieve an egg of the Emperor Penguin at Cape Crozier Wilson, Bowers and Cherry-Garrard were lucky to survive difficult conditions.

Three was chosen for the size of the team because a stove and tent will do one person but it will also do three and three is a safer number in the event of accidents than two. The team does recognise however that a group of three can lead to two against one in arguments.

To assist planning an operations manual has been produced that brings together all the important details of the expedition such as:

• route description
• dietary considerations
• food list
• equipment list
• medical list
• training requirements
• description of navigation technologies
• description of communication technologies
• contingency planning
• environmental imapct assessment
• sled weights and distribution

• Skis x 2 (kiting and skiing)
• Bindings - cable (Rottefella 412 Cable)
• Poles (Exel Voyager)
• Skins ¾ strap-on
• Ski Boots - OneSport Pole Boot
• Plastic sled/traces/cover
• Harness - sledding/sit/kiting
• Crampons - Grivel G12
• Rope - 50m of 8.5mm
• Prussiks x 4
• Karabiners x 3
• Wind bivi (4 person)

• Quadrifoils Q2003, Q2005, Comp#7
• Quad Racing Lines

• MSR XGKII stove x 2 - group
• Stove base x 2 - group
• Lighters x 6 - group
• Fuel bottles - 1 litre x 65 - group
• Pouring Jug - group
• Snow melting pot with handles - 8 litre x 1 - group
• Cooking pot with handle - 4 litre x 1 - group
• Pot holder x 1 - group
• Bowl - plastic
• Mug - insulated
• Spoon - Lexan
• Thermos - 2 x 1.8 litre each

• Tent - dome with ceiling net , valances x 1 - group
• Therma-rest - ultralight
• Foam mat with conversion seat
• Sleeping bags - 1.5kg goose down
• Bivy boots
• Piss bottle
• Toilet paper x 4 rolls
• Snow shovel x 2 - group
• Iceaxe x 1 - group
• Hammer x 1 - group
• Icescrews x 2
• Tent Brush - group

• GPS - Garmin 12XL x 2 or Magellan GSC100 x 2
• Compass (Silva Type 15)
• Maps (Liv Glacier, Shackleton Glacier, Ross Ice Shelf)
• Calipers/ruler
• Pencil/marker pen
• Watch/chronometer
• Binoculars

• Argos transmitter x 2
• HF radio Codan 6924 /battery x 2/aerial
• VHF AM radio
• Motorolla satellite telephone x 2/lithium ion batteries
• Motorolla pager
• Solar panel and battery leads

Maintenance / Spare (group)

• Pole (telescopic),
• Quadrifoil line set x 1
• Sunglass arms
• Tent Poles - cross braces only
• Stove repair kit - tools/spares
• Sewing kit (clothing/tent/kite)
• Adhesive repair fabric
• Awl and thread
• Araldite x 1
• Binding screws x 4
• Posi-drive #3
• Drill bit
• Pole sleeve x 2
• Duct tape x 2 rolls
• Cable ties x 10
• Nuts and Bolts - assorted
• Wire - assorted lengths and grade
• Swiss Army Knife/Leatherman - knife, pliers, screwdrivers
• Batteries AA - Lithium x 30

• Suncream/lip balm
• Mini Discman/tapes
• Books
• Diary
• Toothbrush

• Digital Video Camera x 2
• Tripod - group
• Film stock
• Camera Batteries
• Stills Camera/film