NavList:

Dear David,

Some information regarding the photograph from the Terra Nova expedition showing a twin pillar Troughton and Simms sextant being used. The man in the photograph is Henry Rennick and from reading Herbert Pontings book(the expedition photographer or artist as he liked to be known) this particular picture was set up by Ponting who was teaching Scott and Bowers how to take photographs - foreground / background etc, as he would not be going on the expedition to the South Pole.

As a naval officer, then promoted to captain in 1904, Scott's main responsibility is the navigation of the ship or expedition he commands. It was usual policy for naval officers to have their own sextant. This information has been verified by experts from the National Maritime Museum, the Scott Polar Institute and from the grandson of Scott himself - Falcon Scott, who confirmed,  'it is unthinkable that my grandfather went on the expedition to the South Pole without taking his own sextant'.

From the research I have done, I now have a timeline detailing how Scots sextant was retrieved from the instrument box in the tent were Scott, Wilson and Bowers had perished. The engraved Scott sextant along with a letter for the King of Norway that Amundsen had left for Scott at the South Pole was retrieved from the death tent along with other personal items by Dr Edward Atkinson who led the search party and oversaw the removal and safekeeping of all the personal items, until he handed them over to Scott's wife Kathleen, along with his famous diaries which only he had read in February 1913.

Hope this may add some detail to your polar research.

Regards

Henry Klejdys