Scott of the Antarctic farewell letter sells for £163,000 The letter, which had been expected to fetch between £100,000-£150,000, was sold by auction house Bonhams in London last week. Written to Sir Edgar Speyer, the honorary treasurer of the fundraising committee behind Scott's ill-fated expedition to reach the South Pole, the missive was found on Scott's body by a search party in November 1912 - around eight months after his death. Scott died of starvation and hypothermia in a tent on March 29 1912, alongside fellow adventurers Lieutenant Henry Bowers and Dr Edward Wilson, on their return journey from the Pole. Two other colleagues, Captain Lawrence Oates and Petty Officer Edgar Evans, had already perished. The five-strong team had reached their destination on January 17, only to find that the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen and his party had beaten them there. The letter, one of several discovered on Scott's body, was later given to an American polar explorer, Rear Admiral Richard E Byrd, by Sir Edgar Speyer's widow. Its sale was organised to coincide with the centenary of Scott's passing, which was also marked by a memorial service at St Paul's Cathedral on Thursday.