The explorer Scott had used Christchurch and Lyttelton as his New Zealand base for the British National Antarctic Expedition, 1901–1904 and Terra Nova Expedition, 1910–1913. In between, Ernest Shackleton's Nimrod Expedition also used Lyttelton as the base for their attempt to reach the South Pole, but they failed to get there. The objective of the Terra Nova Expedition was to be the first to reach the geographical South Pole. Scott and four companions reached the pole on 1912, to find that a Norwegian team led by Roald Amundsen had preceded them by 33 days. Scott's entire party died on the return journey from the pole. Their deaths resulted in them being treated as heroes throughout the British Empire.