Editing Robert Falcon Scott (section)

=== First season ===
[[File:Robert Falcon Scott in the Cape Evans hut, October 1911.jpg|thumb|alt=Man sitting cross-legged at table, pipe in hand, apparently writing. Much clutter of clothing, books and equipment is in the background.|Scott writing his journal in [[Scott's Hut]] at [[Cape Evans]], 7 October 1911]]
On 15 June 1910, Scott's ship, ''Terra Nova'', an old converted whaler, set sail from [[Cardiff]], South Wales. Scott meanwhile was fundraising in Britain and joined the ship later in South Africa. Arriving in [[Melbourne]], Australia in October 1910, Scott received a telegram from Amundsen stating: "Beg leave to inform you ''Fram'' proceeding Antarctic Amundsen," possibly indicating that Scott faced a race to the pole.{{sfn|Crane|2005|pp=425–428}}

The expedition suffered a series of early misfortunes which hampered the first season's work and impaired preparations for the main polar march. On its journey from New Zealand to the Antarctic, ''Terra Nova'' nearly sank in a storm and was then trapped in [[pack ice]] for 20&nbsp;days,{{sfn|Huxley|1913a|pp=30–71}} far longer than other ships had experienced, which meant a late-season arrival and less time for preparatory work before the Antarctic winter. At Cape Evans, Antarctica, one of the motor sledges was lost during its unloading from the ship, breaking through the sea ice and sinking.{{sfn|Huxley|1913a|pp=106–107}}

Deteriorating weather conditions and weak, unacclimatised, ponies affected the initial depot-laying journey, so that the expedition's main supply point, One Ton Depot, was laid {{convert|35|mi}} north of its planned location at 80°S. [[Lawrence Oates]], in charge of the ponies, advised Scott to kill ponies for food and advance the depot to 80°S, which Scott refused to do. Oates is reported as saying to Scott, "Sir, I'm afraid you'll come to regret not taking my advice."{{sfn|Crane|2005|p=466}} Four ponies died during this journey, either from the cold or because they slowed the team down and were shot.

[[File:TerraNova-Ponting.jpg|thumb|[[Terra Nova (ship)|''Terra Nova'']] held up in pack ice, 13 December 1910]]

On its return to base, the expedition learned of the presence of Amundsen, camped with his crew and a large contingent of dogs in the [[Bay of Whales]], {{convert|200|mi|km}} to their east.{{sfn|Huxley|1913a|pp=187–188}} Scott conceded that his ponies would not be able to start early enough in the season to compete with Amundsen's cold-tolerant dog teams for the pole and also acknowledged that the Norwegian's base was closer to the pole by {{convert|69|mi|km}}.<ref>Scott's diary, 22 February 1911: "The proper, as well as wiser, course for us is to proceed exactly as though this had not happened. To go forward and do our best for the honour of the country without fear or panic. There is no doubt that Amundsen's plan is a serious menace to ours. He has a shorter distance to the Pole by {{convert|60|mi|-1}}—I never thought he could have got so many dogs safely to the ice. His plan for running them seems excellent. But above all he can start his journey early in the season — an impossible condition with ponies."</ref>
Wilson was more hopeful,<ref>Wilson's diary "As for Amundsen's prospects of reaching the Pole, I don't think they are very good&nbsp;... I don't think he knows how bad an effect the monotony and the hard travelling surface of the Barrier is to animals," cited from Ranulph Fiennes ''Captain Scott'' Hodder and Stoughton, London 2003 p.&nbsp;219.</ref> whereas Gran shared Scott's concern.<ref>Tryggve Gran's diary "If we reach the Pole, then Amundsen will reach the Pole, and weeks earlier. Our prospects are thus not exactly promising. The only thing that can save Scott is if an accident happens to Amundsen." cited from Ranulph Fiennes ''Captain Scott'' Hodder and Stoughton, London 2003 pp. 219ff</ref> Shortly afterwards, the death toll among the ponies increased to six, three drowning when sea-ice unexpectedly disintegrated, casting in doubt the possibility of reaching the pole at all. However, during the 1911 winter, Scott's confidence increased: on 2 August, after the return of a three-man party from their winter journey to [[Cape Crozier]], Scott wrote, "I feel sure we are as near perfection as experience can direct".{{sfn|Huxley|1913a|p=369}}