The Freezing of the Sea

One of Ponting's greatest images from Scott's Terra Nova expedition, the view looking across McMurdo Sound from Cape Evans with the Barne Glacier in the distance. The photograph was printed by Ponting from a 5 x 4in. glass negative taken on 3 March 1911 (negatives A29, 29B and A30 in Ponting's 'List of 5 x 4" Negatives. Scott Expedition.', titled 'Looking to Cape Barne from Cape Evans: Mirage Effect.'). The print is in its most desirable form, printed under the auspices of the Fine Art Society, and the supervision of Ponting himself, for the exhibition of about 200 images held in London and the provinces in 1913-1914. The exhibition catalogue entry for no.39 reads 'The Polar Winter is rapidly falling, and a thin film of new ice covers the sea. In the distance the end of the Barne Glacier is seen, and stranded ice blocks fill the foreground.'