Just across Winter Quarters Bay from McMurdo is the site of Robert Scott's Discovery Hut.  Assembled in 1902, this prefabricated structure served as a base of operations for Scott's first attempt at reaching the Pole and was an important staging area for later expeditions.

Although not as large or well provisioned as the Terra Nova hut at Cape Evans, it afforded the crews of both Scott's and Shackleton's expeditions some shelter while they were hauling supplies from Cape Evans to the Ross Ice Shelf.  In 1916, the Aurora component of the Endurance expedition had to spend a considerable period of time here. Ironically, they were unaware of the vast cache of supplies that was buried beneath the ice just outside and almost starved to death.