Captain Robert Falcon Scott was born in 1868 in Devonport, Devon. He became a naval cadet at the age of 13 and served in the Royal Navy for much of his life. Scott was chosen by the Royal Geographic Society to command the National Antarctic Expedition (1901-1904), which also included Ernest Shackleton. This expedition sparked Scott’s desire to be the first to reach the South Pole.

Scott set off on his own Antarctic expedition, Terra Nova (named after the whaling ship) in June 1910. Scott was beaten to the South Pole on 14th December 1911 by the Norwegian Roald Amundsen and his team. Scott and his remaining men reached the South Pole on 17th January 1912, but they died in March 1912 on the difficult 1,500km journey back to their ship.