Newly-released images of Captain Scott's fatal South Pole expedition

Never-before-seen archive images showing Captain Scott's doomed expedition team setting off on their ill-fated trek to the South Pole are set to be sold at auction.

The archive of 52 celluloid negatives were taken at the expedition base camp on Ross Island and show Scott's group preparing for their Terra Nova Expedition of 1911.

The polar mission would end the next year with the deaths of Scott and his colleagues Edward Wilson, Lawrence Oates, Edgar Evans and Henry Bowers.

Images in the archive, which were taken by Bowers under the direction of the official photographer Herbert Ponting, show the team of husky dogs used for part of the journey and the group's pyramid tents.

Ponting brought the negatives back to England with him in preparation for Scott to use for lecture and fundraising tours around the world upon his return.

The negatives are expected to sell for between £30,000 and £50,000 when they go under the hammer at Henry Aldridge and Son on April 18th.