A sleeping bag cover belonging to a famous explorer has failed to sell at auction.

Christie's auction house, of London, hoped to sell the cover on behalf of the current owner, but its minimum price was not reached.

Captain Lawrence Oates, of Gestingthorpe, north of Halstead, took the coarse fabric cover on his expedition to the Antarctic in 1910.

No-one returned from the two-year expedition, which had hoped to be the first to the South Pole, after Captain Scott's British team were beaten by the Norwegians.

Captain Oates, 32, had started to slow the party down due to frostbite.

So he sacrificed himself, uttering the now famous words: "I am just going outside and may be some time."

He never returned.

A spokesman for Christie's said the hand-sewn item was expected to raise between £30,000 and £40,000.

He said: "The price didn't go above the reserve.

"It remains as it was, as the property of the seller, and it is very much their decision. "

Previously, a flag from the expedition sold for £35,287.