Items from doomed Scott and Oates expedition set to fetch £150k at auction

The items belonged to Captain Lawrence Oates, who walked out of his tent to his death as he feared he was holding the party up.

The former Army captain, realising he was succumbing to frostbite and scurvy, wandered into the -40C Antarctic tundra, uttering his famous last words: "I am just going outside and may be some time."

Scott, Edward, Wilson and Henry Bowers, died in their tent 12 days later on March 29, 1912.

Their remains were found by a search party eight months later alongside Scott's diary and Oates' 42in ice axe. It was returned to his family in England then gived by his sister, Violet, to William Meadows, a handyman for the family at their home in Gestingthorpe, Essex.

In 1978, the 92-year-old gave the axe it to his neighbour Peter Grant.

It is among a handful of artefacts from the Terra Nova Expedition being sold by Sotheby's in London on Tuesday. They include a photo of the men during Scott's final birthday meal and a penguin egg.

Richard Fattorini, of Sotheby's, said: "These are truly extraordinary items."