The whaler, sealer and polar exploration vessel Terra Nova in McMurdo Sound, Antartica; and Shackleton's ship Endurance leaving Grytviken, South Georgia, 5th December 1914 (both illustrated)

Terra Nova, a Newfoundland sealing vessel, was purchased by the Admiralty to accompany the smaller Morning on a second Antarctic relief expedition to relieve Discovery after a second ice-bound winter in McMurdo Sound. A number of serious problems faced Terra Nova and Morning on the journey, including Morning's faulty boiler and the ever-thickening ice fields surrounding Discovery. At Scott's request the second relief expedition brought 'gun-cotton', and on 5th February a series of explosions were undertaken to free Discovery from the ice. Though initial progress was disheartening, on the afternoon of 11th February a gale brought swells which carried large floes away with every explosion. The three ships left McMurdo Sound on 19th February 1904. In 1910, Terra Nova sailed from Cardiff under the command of Captain Scott for his last expedition, the Terra Nova Expedition, which is best remembered for the death of Scott and four companions. After returning from the Antarctic in 1913, Terra Nova resumed work in the Newfoundland seal fishery. In 1943, whilst carrying supplies to base stations in Greenland Terra Nova was damaged by ice and sank near the southwestern tip of Greenland.

Endurance was a steam-assisted barquentine built at Sandefjord, Norway, in 1912. Intended for tourist cruises in the Arctic, she was chosen by Ernest Shackleton to convey his 1914-16 Trans-Antarctic expedition party to the Weddell Sea from where he and six men would cross the continent via the South Pole. After leaving England in August 1914, Endurance cleared her last landfall on South Georgia on 5th December and entered the pack ice in the Weddell Sea on the 11th. A month of intermittent progress followed but, by mid-January 1915, the ship was stuck fast in the ice from which she never escaped. Although Endurance was subsequently crushed and sunk, her crew was eventually rescued after Shackleton's legendary mission to get help which is now recognised as one of the most epic journeys in the history of exploration.