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ARETE

THE WORST JOURNEY
IN THE WORLD
ANTARCTIC
ii Nahai ae,

BY
APSLEY CHERRY-GARRARD

WITH MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS BY THE LATE
DOCTOR EDWARD A. WILSON AND OTHER MEMBERS OF THE EXPEDITION

IN TWO VOLUMES

VOLUME TWO

NEW YORK: GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY
LONDON: CONSTABLE & COMPANY LTD.

First published December 1922

Printed in Great Britain by R. & R. Car, Lrwirep, Edinburgh.

CONTE NS

CHAPTER: NOT

SPRING . : : . ‘ : : 10-gCI

CHAPTER IX

Tae Potar Journzy. I. THe Barrier Srace , « 137
CHAPTER X

Tue Potar Journey. IL. THe BearpmMore Gtacier . ~ 4350
CHAPTER. Xi

Tue Potar Journey. III. THe Prarzau ro 87° 32’ S. 368

CHAPTER. XII

Tue Potar Journey. IV. Rerurninc Parties : - 380

CHAPTER XIII

SusPENSE ; e : , : 5 - 408

CHAPTER XIV
Tue Lasr Winrer i : : ; : Cae es

CHAPTER XV

ANOTHER SPRING : 2 : ¢ : - 459

vi WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

CHAPTER XVI

THE SEARCH JOURNEY .

CHAPTER XVII

Tue Porar Journey. V. THe Pote anp Arrer

CHAPTER XVIII

Tue Potar Journey. VI. Farruesr Souru

CHAPTER XIX

Never AGaIn

GLOSSARY

INDEX

PAGE

472

496

527,

543

5/9

581

LLeUST RATIONS

A Halo round the Moon, showing vertical and horizontal shafts

and mock Moons. : Frontispiece
From a water-colour Teds by Dr. hand A. Wilson.
FACING PAGE

Camp on the Barrier. November 22, 1911. A rough sketch

for future use. : ; oi ages
From a sketch by Dr. Fuad A. Weiler:

Parhelia. For description, see text. November 14, 1g11. A

rough sketch for future use : : a eae
From a sketch by Dr. Edward A. 7 ileuo.

A Pony Camp on the Barrier . : ° : “Prado

The Dog Teams leaving the Beardmore Glacier. Mount Hope

and the Gateway before them. g eee
Frum photographs by C. S. Wright.

Mount Patrick. December 16, 1911 . , : A as)
From a sketch by Dr. Edward A, Wilson.

Our night Camp at the foot of the Buckley Island ice-falls.
December 20, 1911. Buckley Island in the aeae Tae

Note ablation pits inthe snow. 364

From a photograph by C. 8. Wright.
The Adams Mountains : ‘ : : 2) 62
The First Return Party on the Beardmore Glacier. 3 oe ae

From photographs by C. S. Wright.

Camp below the Cloudmaker. Note pressure ridges in the

middle distance . : : 3 MDE 232.
From a photograph by C. 8. Wright.

View from Arrival Heights northwards to Cape Evans and the
Dellbridge Islands : : ; : - 1) Ass

Cape Royds from Cape Barne, with the frozen McMurdo Sound 428
From photographs by F. Debenham.

Cape Evans in Winter. This view is drawn when looking

northwards from under the Ramp : : 440
From a water-colour drawing by Dr. Edward A. Wilson:

North Bay and the snout of the Barne Glacier from Cape Evans 448
From a photograph by F. Debenham.

Vil

vil WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

FACING PAGE
The Mule Party leaves Cape Evans. October 29, 1912 -. eee
From a photograph by F. Debenham.

The Dog Party leaves Hut Point. November 1, 1912 .)
From a photograph by F. Debenham.

“Atch”: E. L. Atkinson, commanding the Main a

Party after the death of Scott. : 492

“Titus”? Oates , 3 : . doe
From photographs by C. S. Wr ight.

The Tent left by Amundsen at the South Pole (Polheim) . i) MEG

From a sketch by Dr. Edward A. Wilson.

Buckley Island, where the fossils were found . as 1)
From a photograph by C. 8. Wright.

Mount Kyffin, sketched on December 13, 1911 , ~ yc eee
From a sketch by Dr. Edward A. Wilson.

Where Evans died, showing the Pillar Rock near which the
Lower Glacier Depdt was made. Sketched on December
11, 1911. : : » 26
Ge a sketch by De Bawa A. Wilt

Sledging in a high wind : the floor-cloth of the tent is the sail. 5 30
From a sketch by Dr. Edward A. Wilson.

A Blizzard Camp: the half-buried sledge is in the foreground 536
From a sketch by Dr. Edward A. Wilson.

MAP
The Polar Journey . : : 5 . wh ae

CHAPTER VIII
SPRING

INsIDE was pandemonium. Most men had gone to bed,
and I have a blurred memory of men in pyjamas and
dressing-gowns getting hold of me and trying to get the
chunks of armour which were my clothes to leave my body.
Finally they cut them off and threw them into an angular
heap at the foot of my bunk. Next morning they were a
sodden mass weighing 24 lbs. Bread and jam, and cocoa;
showers of questions; ‘‘ You know this is the hardest
journey ever made,” from Scott; a broken record of
George Robey on the gramophone which started us laugh-
ing until in our weak state we found it difficult to stop. I
have no doubt that I had not stood the journey as well as
Wilson : my jaw had dropped when I came in, so they
tell me. Then into my warm blanket bag, and I managed
to keep awake just long enough to think that Paradise must
feel something like this.

We slept ten thousand thousand years, were wakened
to find everybody at breakfast, and passed a wonderful day,
lazying about, half asleep and wholly happy, listening to the
news and answering questions. ‘‘ We are looked upon as
beings who have come from another world. This afternoon
I had a shave after soaking my face in a hot sponge, and
then a bath. Lashly had already cut my hair. Bill looks
very thin and we are all very blear-eyed from want of
sleep. I have not much appetite, my mouth is very dry
and throat sore with a troublesome hacking cough which
I have had all the journey. My taste is gone. We are

301

302 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD
getting badly spoiled, but our beds are the height of all

our pleasures.” !

But this did not last long:

‘Another very happy day doing nothing. After falling
asleep two or three times | went to bed, read Kim, and
slept. About two hours after each meal we all want
another, and after a tremendous supper last night we had
another meal before turning in. I have my taste back but
all our fingers are impossible, they might be so many
pieces of lead except for the pins and needles feeling in
them which we have also got in our feet. My toes are
very bulbous and some toe-nails are coming off. My left
heel is one big burst blister. Going straight out of a warm
bed into a strong wind outside nearly bowled me over. I
felt quite faint, and pulled myself together thinking it was
all nerves: but it began to come on again and | had to
make for the hut as quickly as possible. Birdie is now full
of schemes for doing the trip again next year. Baill says
it is too great a risk in the darkness, and he will not con-
sider it, though he thinks that to go in August might be
possible.” ?

And again a day or two later:

“‘T came in covered with a red rash which is rather
ticklish. My ankles and knees are a bit puffy, but my feet
are not so painful as Bill’s and Birdie’s. Hands itch a bit.
We must be very weak and worn out, though I think
Birdie is the strongest of us. He seems to be picking up
very quickly. Bill is still very worn and rather haggard.
The kindness of everybody would spoil an angel.’

I have put these personal experiences down from my
diary because they are the only contemporary record I
possess. Scott’s own diary at this time contains the state-
ment: “‘ The Crozier party returned last night after endur-
ing for five weeks the hardest conditions on record. They
looked more weather-worn than any one I have yet seen.
Their faces were scarred and wrinkled, their eyes dull,
their hands whitened and creased with the constant ex-
posure to damp and cold, yet the scars of frost-bite were

1 My own diary. 2 Ibid. 3 [bid

—_--

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SPRING 303

very few... to-day after a night’s rest our travellers are
very different in appearance and mental capacity.”

‘“ Atch has been lost in a blizzard,”’ was the news which
we got as soon as we could grasp anything. Since then he
has spent a year of war in the North Sea, seen the Dar-
danelles campaign, and much fighting in France, and has
been blown up ina monitor. I doubt whether he does not
reckon that night the worst of the lot. He ought to have
been blown into hundreds of little bits, but always like
some hardy indiarubber ball he turns up again, a little
dented, but with the same tough elasticity which refuses
to be hurt. And with the same quiet voice he volunteers
for the next, and tells you how splendid everybody was
except himself.

It was the blizzard of July 4, when we were lying in
the windless bight on our way to Cape Crozier, and we
knew it must be blowing all round us. At any rate it was
blowing at Cape Evans, though it eased up in the after-
noon, and Atkinson and Taylor went up the Ramp to read
the thermometers there. They returned without great
difficulty, and some discussion seems to have arisen as to
whether it was possible to read the two screens on the sea-
ice. Atkinson said he would go and read that in North
Bay: Gran said he was going to South Bay. They started
independently at 5.30 p.m. Gran returned an hour and
a quarter af tgapards. He had gone about two hundred
yards.

Atkinson had not gone much farther when he decided
that he had better give it up, so he turned and faced the
wind, steering by keeping it on his cheek. We discovered
afterwards that the wind does not blow quite in the same
direction at the end of the Cape as it does just where the
hut lies. Perhaps it was this, perhaps his left leg carried
him a little farther than his right, perhaps it was that the
numbing effect of a blizzard on a man’s brain was already
having its effect, certainly Atkinson does not know him-
self, but instead of striking the Cape which ran across
his true front, he found himself by an old fish trap which

1 Scort’s Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 361.

304. WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

he knew was 200 yards out on the sea-ice. He made a
great effort to steady himself and make for the Cape, but
any one who has stood in a blizzard will understand how
difficult that is. The snow was a blanket raging all round
him, and it was quite dark. He walked on, and found
nothing.

Everything else is vague. Hour after hour he staggered
about: he got his hand badly frost-bitten : he found press-
ure: he fell over it: he was crawling in it, on his hands
and knees. Stumbling, tumbling, tripping, buffeted by
the endless lash of the wind, sprawling through miles of
punishing snow, he still seems to have kept his brain
working. He found an island, thought it was Inaccessible,
spent ages in coasting along it, lost it, found more pressure,
and crawled along it. He found another island, and the
same horrible, almost senseless, search went on. Under
the lee of some rocks he waited for a time. His clothing
was thin though he had his wind-clothes, and, a horrible
thought if this was to go on, he had boots on his feet
instead of warm finnesko. Here also he kicked out a hole
in a drift where he might have more chance if he were
forced to lie down. For sleep is the end of men who get
lost in blizzards. ‘Though he did not know it he must now
have been out more than four hours.

There was little chance for him if the blizzard con-
tinued, but hope revived when the moon showed in a
partial lull. It is wonderful that he was sufficiently active
to grasp the significance of this, and groping back in his
brain he found he could remember the bearing of the moon
from Cape Evans when he went to bed the night before.
The hut must be somewhere over there: this must be
Inaccessible Island! He left the island and made in that
direction, but the blizzard came down again with added
force and the moon was blotted out. He tried to return to
the island and failed: then he stumbled on another island,
perhaps the same one, and waited. Again the lull came,
and again he set off, and walked and walked, until he re-
cognized Inaccessible Island on his left. Clearly he must
have been under Great Razorback Island and this is some

SPRING 305

four miles from Cape Evans. The moon still showed, and
on he walked and then at last he saw a flame.

Atkinson’s continued absence was not noticed at the
hut until dinner was nearly over at 7.15; that is, until he
had been absent about two hours. The wind at Cape
Evans had dropped though it was thick all round, and no
great anxiety was felt: some went out and shouted, others
went north with a lantern, and Day arranged to light a
parafiin flare on Wind Vane Hill. Atkinson never ex-
perienced this lull, and having seen the way blizzards will
sweep down the Strait though the coastline is compara-
tively clear and calm, I can understand how he was in the
thick of it all the time. I feel convinced that most of these
blizzards are local affairs. The party which had gone north
returned at 9.30 without news, and Scott became seriously
alarmed. Between 9.30 and Io six search parties started
out. But time was passing and Atkinson had been away
more than six hours.

The light which Atkinson had seen was a flare of tow
soaked in petrol lit by Day at Cape Evans. He corrected
his course and before long was under the rock upon which
Day could be seen working like some lanky devil in one
of Dante’s hells. Atkinson shouted again and again but
could not attract his attention, and finally walked almost
into the hut before he was found by two men searching
the Cape. “It was all my own damned fault,” he said,
“but Scott never slanged me at all.” I really think we
should all have been as merciful! Wouldn’t you?

And that was that: but he had a beastly hand.

Theoretically the sun returned to us on August 23.
Practically there was nothing to be seen except blinding
drift. But we saw his upper limb two days later. In Scott’s
words the daylight came “rushing” at us. Two spring
journeys were contemplated ; and with preparations for the
Polar Journey, and the ordinary routine work of the sta-
tion, everybody had as much on his hands as he could get
through.

Lieutenant Evans, Gran and Forde volunteered to go
out to Corner Camp and dig out this depét as well as that

x

306 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

of Safety Camp. They started on September 9 and camped
on the sea-ice beyond Cape Armitage that night, the mint-
mum temperature being - 45°. They dug out Safety Camp
next morning, and marched on towards Corner Camp.
The minimum that night was - 62.3°. The next even-
ing they made their night camp as a blizzard was coming
up, the temperature at the same time being - 34.5° and
minimum for the night - 40°. This is an extremely low
temperature fora blizzard. They madea start ina very cold
wind the next afternoon (September 12) and camped at
8.30 P.M. That night was bitterly cold and they found that
the minimum showed - 73.3° for that night. Evans re-
ports adversely on the use of the eider-down bag and inner
tent, but here none of our Winter Journey men would
agree with him.!. Most of September 13th was spent in
digging out Corner Camp which they left at 5 p.m., intend-
ing to travel back to Hut Point without stopping except
for meals. ‘They marched all through that night with two
halts for meals and arrived at Hut Point at 3 p.m. on Sep-
tember 14, having covered a distance of 34.6 statute miles.
They reached Cape Evans the following day after an ab-
sence of 64 days.”

During this journey Forde got his hand badly frost-
bitten which necessitated his return in the Terra Nova in
March 1912. He owed a good deal to the skilful treat-
ment Atkinson gave it.

Wilson was still looking grey and drawn some days,
and I was not too fit, but Bowers was indefatigable. Soon
after we got in from Cape Crozier he heard that Scott was
going over to the Western Mountains : somehow or other
he persuaded Scott to take him, and they started with Sea-
man Evans and Simpson on September 15 on what Scott
calls ‘‘a remarkably pleasant and instructive little spring
journey,” * and what Bowers called a jolly picnic.

This picnic started from the hut in a — 40° tempera-
ture, dragging 180 lbs. per man, mainly composed of
stores for the geological party of thesummer. They pene-

1 Scott's Last Expedition, vol. ii. p. 293.
2 Tbid. pp. 291-297 5 written by Lieutenant Evans. 3 bid. vol. i. p. 409.

SPRING 307

trated as far north as Dunlop Island and turned back from
there on September 24, reaching Cape Evans on Septem-
ber 29, marching twenty-one miles (statute) into a blizzard
wind with occasional storms of drift and a temperature
of —- 16°: and they marched a little too long; for a storm
of drift came against them and they had to camp. It 1s
never very easy pitching a tent on sea-ice because there
is not very much snow on the ice: on this occasion it was
only after they had detached the inner tent, which was fas-
tened to the bamboos, that they could hold the bamboos,
and then it was only inch by inch that they got the outer
cover on. At 9g p.m. the drift took off though the wind was
as strong as ever, and they decided to make for Cape Evans.
They arrived at 1.15 a.m. after one of the most strenuous
days which Scott could remember: and that meant a good
deal. Simpson’s face was a sight! During his absence
Grifith Taylor became meteorologist-in-chief. He was a
greedy scientist, and he also wielded a fluent pen. Conse-
quently his output during the year and a half which he
spent with us was large, and ranged from the results of
the two excellent scientific journeys which he led in the
Western Mountains, to this work during the latter half
of September. He was a most valued contributor to The
South Polar Times, and his prose and poetry both had a
bite which was never equalled by any other of our amateur
journalists. When his pen was still, his tongue wagged,
and the arguments he led were legion. The hut was a
merrier place for his presence. When the weather was
good he might be seen striding over the rocks with a
complete disregard of the effect on his clothes: he wore
through a pair of boots quicker than anybody I have ever
known, and his socks had to be mended with string. Ice
movement and erosion were also of interest to him, and
almost every day he spent some time in studying the slopes
and huge ice-cliffs of the Barne Glacier, and other points
of interest. With equal ferocity he would throw himself
into his curtained bunk because he was bored, or emerge
from it to take part in some argument which was troubling
the table. His diary must have been almost as long as the

308 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

reports he wrote for Scott of his geological explorations.
He was a demon note-taker, and he had a passion for
being equipped so that he could cope with any observation
which might turn up. Thus Old Griff on a sledge journey
might have notebooks protruding from every pocket, and
hung about his person, a sundial, a prismatic compass, a
sheath knife, a pair of binoculars, a geological hammer,
chronometer, pedometer, camera, aneroid and other items
of surveying gear, as well as his goggles and mitts. And in
his hand might be an ice-axe which he used as he went
along to the possible advancement of science, but the cer-
tain disorganization of his companions.

His gaunt, untamed appearance was atoned for by a
halo of good-fellowship which hovered about his head. |
am sure he must have been an untidy person to have in
your tent: I feel equally sure that his tent-mates would
have been sorry to lose him. His gear took up more room
than was strictly his share, and his mind also filled up a
considerable amount of space. He always bulked large,
and when he returned to the Australian Government, which
had lent him for the first two sledging seasons, he left a
noticeable gap in our company.

From the time we returned from Cape Crozier until
now Scott had been full of buck. Our return had taken a
weight off his mind: the return of the daylight was stimu-
lating to everybody: and to a man of his impatient and
impetuous temperament the end of the long period of wait-
ing was a relief. Also everything was going well. On Sep-
tember 10 he writes with a sigh of relief that the detailed
plans for the Southern Journey are finished at last. “‘ Every
figure has been checked by Bowers, who has been an enor-
mous help to me. If the motors are successful, we shall
have no difficulty in getting to the Glacier, and if they fail,
we shall still get there with any ordinary degree of good
fortune. To work three units of four men from that point
onwards requires no small provision, but with the proper
provision it should take a good deal to stop the attainment
of our object. I have tried to take every reasonable possi-
bility of misfortune into consideration, and to so organize

SPRING 309

the parties as to be prepared to meet them. I fear to be too
sanguine, yet taking everything into consideration I feel
that our chances ought to be good.” }

And again he writes: ‘“‘ Of hopeful signs for the future
none are more remarkable than the health and spirit of our
people. It would be impossible to imagine a more vigorous
community, and there does not seem to be a single weak
spot in the twelve good men and true who are chosen for
the Southern advance. All are now experienced sledge
travellers, knit together with a bond of friendship that has
never been equalled under such circumstances. Thanks
to these people, and more especially to Bowers and Petty
Officer Evans, there is not a single detail of our equipment
which is not arranged with the utmost care and in accord-
ance with the tests of experience.” ?

Indeed Bowers had been of the very greatest use to
Scott in the working out of these plans. Not only had he
all the details of stores at his finger-tips, but he had studied
polar clothing and polar food, was full of plans and alter-
native plans, and, best of all, refused to be beaten by any
problem which presented itself. The actual distribution of
weights between dogs, motors and ponies, and between
the different ponies, was largely left in his hands. We had
only to lead our ponies out on the day of the start and we
were sure to find cur sledges ready, each with the right load
and weight. To the leader of an expedition such a man
was worth his weight in gold.

But now Scott became worried and unhappy. We were
running things on a fine margin of transport, and during
the month before we were due to start mishap followed
mishap in the most disgusting way. Three men were more
or less incapacitated: Forde with his frozen hand, Clis-
sold who concussed himself by a fall from a berg, and
Debenham who hurt his knee seriously when playing foot-
ball. One of the ponies, Jehu, was such a crock that at one
time it was decided not to take him out at all: and very bad
opinions were also held of Chinaman. Another dog died
of a mysterious disease. “‘It is trying,” writes Scott, “‘ but

1 Scott’s Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 403. 2 Ibid. p. 404.

310 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

Iam past despondency. Things must take their course.” 4
And “‘if this waiting were to continue it looks as though
we should become a regular party of ‘crocks.’”’?

Then on the top of all this came a bad accident to one
of the motor axles on the eve of departure. “‘’To-night the
motors were to be taken on to the floe. The drifts made
the road very uneven, and the first and best motor overrode
its chain; the chain was replaced and the machine pro-
ceeded, but just short of the floe was thrust to a steep in-
clination by a ridge, and the chain again overrode the
sprockets; this time by ill fortune Day slipped at the
critical moment and without intention jammed the throttle
fullon. The engine brought up, but there was an ominous
trickle of oil under the back axle, and investigation showed
that the axle casing (aluminium) had split. The casing
had been stripped and brought into the hut: we may be
able to do something to it, but time presses. It all goes to
show that we want more experience and workshops. Iam
secretly convinced that we shall not get much help from
the motors, yet nothing has ever happened to them that
was unavoidable. A little more care and foresight would
make them splendid allies. The trouble is that if they fail,
no one will ever believe this.” §

In the meantime Meares and Dimitri ran out to Corner
Camp from Hut Point twice with the two dog-teams. The
first time they journeyed out and back in two days and a
night, returning on October 15; and another very similar
run was made before the end of the month.

The motor party was to start first, but was delayed
until October 24. They were to wait for us in latitude
80° 30’, man-hauling certain loads on if the motors broke
down. The two engineers were Day and Lashly, and their
two helpers, who steered by pulling on a rope in front, were
Lieutenant Evans and Hooper. Scott was ‘“ immensely
eager that these tractors should succeed, even though they
may not be of great help to our Southern advance. A small
measure of success will be enough to show their possibili-
ties, their ability to revolutionize polar transport.” 4

1 Scort’s Last Expedition, vol.i. p. 425. 2 Ibid. p. 437- 3 Ibid. p. 429.
4 [bid. p. 438.

SPRING 2k

Lashly, as the reader may know by now, was a chief
stoker in the Navy, and accompanied Scott on his Plateau
Journey in the Discovery days. The following account of
the motors’ chequered career is from his diary, and for
permission to include here both it and the story of the
adventures of the Second Return Party, an extraordinarily
vivid and simple narrative, I cannot be too grateful.

After the motors had been two days on the sea-ice on
their way to Hut Point Lashly writes on 26th October
ROLE:

“Kicked off at 9.30; engine going well, surface much
better, dropped one can of petrol each and lubricating oil,
lunched about two miles from Hut Point. Captain Scott
and supporting party came from Cape Evans to help us over
blue ice, but they were not required. Got away again after
lunch but was delayed by the other sledge not being able
to get along, it is beginning to dawn on me the sledges are
not powerful enough for the work as it is one continual
drag over this sea-ice, perhaps it will improve on the
barrier, it seems we are going to be troubled with engine

overheating; after we have run about three-quarters to a
mile it is necessary to stop at least half an hour to cool the
engine down, then we have to close up for a few minutes to
allow the carbrutta to warm up or we can’t get the petrol to
vaporize; we are getting new experiences every day. We
arrived at Hut Point and proceeded to Cape Armitage it
having come on to snow pretty thickly, so we pitched our
tent and waited for the other car to come up, she has been
delayed all the afternoon and not made much headway. At
6.30 Mr. Bowers and Mr. Garrard came out to us and told
us to come back to Hut Point for the night, where we all
enjoyed ourselves with a good hoosh and a nice night with
all hands.

“27th October 1911.

*‘ This morning being fine made our way out to the cars
and got them going after a bit of trouble, the temperature
being a bit low. I got away in good style, the surface seems
to be improving, it is better for running on but very rough
and the overheating is not overcome nor likely to be as far

~

gra, WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

as I can see. Just before arriving at the Barrier my car
began to develop some strange knocking in the engine, but
with the help of the party with us I managed to get on the
Barrier, the other car got up the slope in fine style and
waited for me to come up; as my engine is giving trouble
we decided to camp, have lunch and see what is the matter.
On opening the crank chamber we found the crank brasses
broke into little pieces, so there is nothing left to do but
replace them with the spare ones; of course this meant a
cold job for Mr. Day and myself, as handling metal on the
Barrier is not a thing one looks forward to with pleasure.
Anyhow we set about it after Lieutenant Evans and
Hooper had rigged up a screen to shelter us a bit, and by
IO P.M. we were finished and ready to proceed, but owing
to a very low temperature we found it difficult to get the
engines to go, so we decided to camp for the night.

“28th October 1g11.

“Turned out and had another go at starting which took
some little time owing again to the low temperature. We
got away but again the trouble is always staring us in the
face, overheating, and the surface is so bad and the pull so
heavy and constant that it looks we are in for a rough time.
We are continually waiting for one another to come up,
and every time we stop something has to be done, my fan
got jammed and delayed us some time, but have got it
right again. Mr. Evans had to go back for his spare gear
owing to some one [not] bringing it out in mistake; he
had a good tramp as we were about 15 miles out from Hut
Point.

‘29th October 1911.

‘““Again we got away, but did not get far before the
other car began to give trouble. I went back to see what
was the matter, it seems the petrol is dirty due perhaps to
putting in a new drum, anyhow got her up and camped for
lunch. After lunch made a move, and all seemed to be
going well when Mr. Day’s car gave out at the crank
brasses the same as mine, so we shall have to see what is
the next best thing to do.

SPRING gna

“ 30th October 1911.

“This morning before getting the car on the way had
to reconstruct our loads as Mr. Day’s car is finished and
no more use for further service. We have got all four of us
with one car now, things seems to be going fairly well, but
we are still troubled with the overheating which means to
say half our time is wasted. We can see dawning on us the
harness before long. We covered seven miles and camped
for the night. We are now about six miles from Corner
Camp.

“<< 31st October 1911.

“Got away with difficulty, and nearly reached Corner
Camp, but the weather was unkind and forced us to camp
early. One thing we have been able to bring along a good
supply of pony food and most of the man food, but so far
the motor sledges have proved a failure.

“1st November 1911.

“Started away with the usual amount of agony, and
soon arrived at Corner Camp where we left a note to Captain
Scott explaining the cause of our breakdown. I told Mr.
Evans to say this sledge won’t go much farther. After
getting about a mile past Corner Camp my engine gave out
finally, so here is an end to the motor sledges. I can’t say
I am sorry because I am not, and the others are, | think, of
the same opinion as myself. We have had a heavy task
pulling the heavy sledges up every time we stopped, which
was pretty frequent, even now we have to start man-haul-
ing we shall not be much more tired than we have already
been at night when we had finished. Now comes the man-
hauling part of the show, after reorganizing our sledge and
taking aboard all the man food we can pull, we started with
190 lbs. per man, a strong head wind made it a bit uncom-
fortable for getting along, anyhow we made good about
three miles and camped for the night. The surface not
being very good made the travelling a bit heavy.

‘After three days’ man-hauling.
“¢ sth November 1911.

‘““Made good about 144 miles, if the surface would

314. WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

only remain as it is now we could get along pretty well.
We are now thinking of the ponies being on their way,
hope they will get better luck than we had with the motor
sledges, but by what I can see they will have a tough time
of it.

“6th November 1911.

“To-day we have worked hard and covered a good
distance 12 miles, surface rough but slippery, all seems to
be going pretty well, but we have generally had enough by
the time comes for us to camp.

<< 7th November 1911.

““We have again made good progress, but the light
was very trying, sometimes we could not see at all where
we were going. I tried to find some of the Cairns that were
built by the Depdt Party last year, came upon one this
afternoon which is about 20 miles from One Ton Depot,
so at the rate we have been travelling we ought to reach
there some time to-morrow night. Temperature to-day
was pretty low, but we are beginning to get hardened into
it now.

“8th November 1911.

“Made a good start, but the surface is getting softer
every day and makes our legs ache; we arrived at One
Ton Depét and camped. Then proceeded to dig out some
of the provisions, we have to take on all the man food we
can, this is a wild-looking place no doubt, have not seen
anything of the ponies.

“oth November 1911.

“To-day we have started on the second stage of our
journey. Our orders are to proceed one degree south of
One Ton Depét and wait for the ponies and dogs to come
up with us; as we have been making good distances each
day, the party will hardly overtake us, but we have found
to-day the load is much heavier to drag. We have just
over 200 lbs. per man, and we have been brought up on
several occasions, and to start again required a pretty good
strain on the rope, anyhow we done 103 miles, a pretty
good show considering all things.

SPRING 315

“<< roth November 1911.

‘Again we started off with plenty of vim, but it was
jolly tough work, and it begins to tell on all of us; the
surface to-day is covered with soft crystals which don’t
improve things. To-night Hooper is pretty well done up,
but he have stuck it well and I hope he will, although he
could not tackle the food in the best of spirits, we know he
wanted it. Mr. Evans, Mr. Day and myself could eat
more, as we are just beginning to feel the tightening of the
belt. Made good 114 miles and we are now building
cairns all the way, one about three miles: then again at
lunch and one in the afternoon and one at night. This
will keep us employed.

“1th November 1911.

“To-day it has been very heavy work. The surface is
very bad and we are pretty well full up, but not with food ;
man-hauling is no doubt the hardest work one can do, no
wonder the motor sledges could not stand it. I have been
thinking of the trials I witnessed of the motor engines in
Wolseley’s works in Birmingham, they were pretty stiff
but nothing compared to the drag of a heavy load on the
Barrier surface.

“12th November 1911.

“To-day have been similar to the two previous days,
but the light have been bad and snow have been falling
which do not improve the surface ; we have been doing Io
miles a day Geographical and quite enough too as we have
all had enough by time it goes Camp.

“13th November 1911.

“The weather seems to be on the change. Should not
be surprised if we don’t get a blizzard before long, but of
course we don’t want that. Hooper seems a bit fagged but
he sticks it pretty well. Mr. Day keeps on plodding, his

only complaint is should like a little more to eat.

“rath November 1911.

“When we started this morning Mr. Evans said we
had about 15 miles to go to reach the required distance.

316 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

The hauling have been about the same, but the weather is
somewhat finer and the blizzard gone off. We did 10
miles and camped; have not seen anything of the main
party yet but shall not be surprised to see them at any
time.
“15th November 1911.

“We are camped after doing five miles where we are
supposed to be [lat. 80° 32’]; now we have to wait the
others coming up. Mr. Evans is quite proud to think we
have arrived before the others caught us, but we don’t
expect they will be long although we have nothing to be
ashamed of as our daily distance have been good. We
have built a large cairn this afternoon before turning in.
The weather is cold but excellent.”

They waited there six days before the pony party
arrived, when the Upper Barrier Depot (Mount Hooper)
was left in the cairn.

7
q
}
‘
te

CHAPTER IX

THE POLAR JOURNEY

Come, my friends,
”Tis not too late to seek a newer world.
Push off, and sitting well in order smite
‘The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds
To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths
Of all the western stars, until I die.
It may be that the gulfs will wash us down:
It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles,
And see the great Achilles, whom we knew.
‘Tho’ much is taken, much abides; and tho’
Weare not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
Tennyson, U/ysses.

Take it all in all it is wonderful that the South Pole was reached so soon
after the North Pole had been conquered. From Cape Columbia to the
North Pole, straight going, is 413 geographical] miles, and Peary who took
on his expedition 246 dogs, covered this distance in 37 days. From Hut
Point to the South Pole and back is 1532 geographical or 1766 statute
miles, the distance to the top of the Beardmore Glacier alone being more
than 100 miles farther than Peary had to cover to the North Pole. Scott
travelled from Hut Point to the South Pole in 75 days, and to the Pole and
back to his last camp in 147 days, a period of five months. A.C.-G.

(All miles are geographical unless otherwise stated.)

I. Tuer Barrier STAGE

Tue departure from Cape Evans at 11 p.m.on November 1

is described by Griffith Taylor, who started a few days later

on the second Geological Journey with his own party:
317

318 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

“On the 31st October the pony parties started. Two
weak ponies led by Atkinson and Keohane were sent off
first at 4.30, and I accompanied them for about a mile.
Keohane’s pony rejoiced in the name of Jimmy Pigg, and
he stepped out much better than his fleeter-named mate
Jehu. We heard through the telephone of their safe
arrival at Hut Point.

“¢ Next morning the Southern Party finished their mail,
posting it in the packing case on Atkinson’s bunk, and
then at 11 a.m. the last party were ready for the Pole.
They had packed the sledges overnight, and they took
20 lbs. personal baggage. The Owner had asked me what
book he should take. He wanted something fairly filling.
I recommended Tyndall’s Glaciers—if he wouldn’t find
it ‘coolish.’ He didn’t fancy this! So then I said, “Why
not take Browning, as I’m doing?’ And I believe that he
did so.

““Wright’s pony was the first harnessed to its sledge.
Chinaman is Jehu’s rival for last place, and as some com-
pensation is easy to harness. Seaman Evans led Snatcher,
who used to rush ahead and take the lead as soon as he was
harnessed. Cherry had Michael, a steady goer, and Wil-
son led Nobby—the pony rescued from the killer whales
in March. Scott led out Snippets to the sledges, and har-
nessed him to the foremost, with little Anton’s help—only
it turned out to be Bowers’ sledge! However he trans-
ferred in a few minutes and marched off rapidly to the
south. Christopher, as usual, behaved like a demon.
First they had to trice his front leg up tight under his
shoulder, then it took five minutes to throw him. The
sledge was brought up and he was harnessed in while his
head was held down on the floe. Finally he rose up, still
on three legs, and started off galloping as well as he was
able. After several violent kicks his foreleg was released,
and after more watch-spring flicks with his hind legs he
set off fairly steadily. ‘Titus can’t stop him when once he
has started, and will have to do the fifteen miles in one lap
probably!

“Dear old Titus—that was my last memory of him.

THE POLAR JOURNEY 319

Imperturbable as ever; never hasty, never angry, but
soothing that vicious animal, and determined to get the
best out of most unpromising material in his endeavour
to do his simple duty.

“Bowers was last to leave. His pony, Victor, nervous
but not vicious, was soon in the traces. I ran to the end of
the Cape and watched the little cavalcade—already strung
out into remote units—rapidly fade into the lonely white
waste to southward.

“That evening I had a chat with Wilson over the
telephone from the Discovery Hut—my last communica-
tion with those five gallant spirits.” ?

All the ponies arrived at Hut Point by 4 p.m., just in
time to escape a stiff blow. Three of them were housed
with ourselves inside the hut, the rest being put into the
verandah. The march showed that with their loads the
speed of the different ponies varied to such an extent that
individuals were soon separated by miles. “‘It reminded
me of a regatta or a somewhat disorganized fleet with
ships of very unequal speed.” ?

It was decided to change to night marching, and the
following evening we proceeded in the following order,
which was the way of our going for the present. The three
slowest ponies started first, namely, Jehu with Atkinson,
Chinaman with Wright, James Pigg with Keohane. This
party was known as the Baltic Fleet.

Two hours later Scott’s party followed; Scott with
Snippets, Wilson with Nobby, and myself with Michael.

Both these parties camped for lunch in the middle of
the night’s march. After another hour the remaining four
men set to work to get Christopher into his sledge; when
he was started they harnessed in their own ponies as
quickly as possible and followed, making a non-stop run

‘right through the night’s march. It was bad for men
and ponies, but it was impossible to camp in the middle
of the march owing to Christopher. The composition
of this party was, Oates with Christopher, Bowers

1 Taylor, with Scott, The Silver Lining, pp. 325-326.
2 Scott’s Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 448.

320 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

with Victor, Seaman Evans with Snatcher, Crean with
Bones.

Each of these three parties was self-contained with tent,
cooker and weekly bag, and the times of starting were so
planned that the three parties arrived at the end of the
march about the same time.

There was a strong head wind and low drift as we
rounded Cape Armitage on our way to the Barrier and
the future. Probably there were few of us who did
not wonder when we should see the old familiar place
again.

Scott’s party camped at Safety Camp as the Baltic fleet
were getting under weigh again. Soon afterwards Ponting
appeared with a dog sledge and a cinematograph,—how
anomalous it seemed—which “‘ was up in time to catch the
flying rearguard which came along in fine form, Snatcher
leading and being stopped every now and again—a won-
derful little beast. Christopher had given the usual trouble
when harnessed, but was evidently subdued by the Barrier
Surface. However, it was not thought advisable to halt
him, and so the party fled through in the wake of the ad-
vance guard.” }

Immediately afterwards Scott’s party packed up.
“Good-bye and good luck,” from Ponting, a wave of the
hand not holding in a frisky pony and we had left the
last link with the hut. “The future is in the lap of
the gods; I can think of nothing left undone to deserve
suecess/, |?

The general scheme was to average 10 miles (11.5
statute) a day from Hut Point to One Ton Depét with
the ponies lightly laden. From One Ton to the Gateway
a daily average of 13 miles (15 statute) was necessary to
carry twenty-four weekly units of food for four men each
to the bottom of the glacier. This was the Barrier Stage
of the journey, a distance of 369 miles (425 statute) as
actually run on our sledge-meter. The twenty-four weekly
units of food were to carry the Polar Party and two sup-
porting parties forward to their farthest point, and back

1 Scotts Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 449. 2 Ibid. p. 446.

}

THE POLAR JOURNEY 321

again to the bottom of the Beardmore, where three more
units were to be left in a depét.t

All went well this first day on the Barrier, and encourag-
ing messages left on empty petrol drums told us that the
motors were going well when they passed. But the next
day we passed five petrol drums which had been dumped.
This meant that there was trouble, and some 14 miles from
Hut Point we learned that the big end of the No. 2
cylinder of Day’s motor had broken, and half a mile
beyond we found the motor itself, drifted up with snow,
and looking a mournful wreck. The next day’s march
(Sunday, November 5, a.m.) brought us to Corner Camp.
There were a few legs down crevasses during the day but
nothing to worry about.

From here we could see to the South an ominous mark
in the snow which we hoped might not prove to be the
second motor. It was: “the big end of No. 1 cylinder
had cracked, the machine otherwise in good order. Evi-
dently the engines are not fitted to working in this climate,
a fact that should be certainly capable of correction. One
thing is proved; the system of propulsion is altogether
satisfactory.” 2 And again: “It is a disappointment. I
had hoped better of the machines once they got away on
mine Barrier Surface.” ®

Scott had set his heart upon the success of the motors.
He had run them in Norway and Switzerland; and every-
thing was done that care and forethought could suggest.
At the back of his mind, I feel sure, was the wish to
abolish the cruelty which the use of ponies and dogs
necessarily entails. “‘A small measure of success will be
enough to show their possibilities, their ability to revolu-
tionize polar transport. Seeing the machines at work to-
day [leaving Cape Evans] and remembering that every
defect so far shown is purely mechanical, it is impossible
not to be convinced of their value. But the trifling
mechanical defects and lack of experience show the risk of
cutting out trials. A season of experiment with a small

? See pp. 350, 552-556. ;
2 Scote’s Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 4.53. 3 Ibid. p. 4.52.

¥

qo2 WORST JOURNEY INVTHE WORLD

workshop at hand may be all that stands between success
and failure.”? I do not believe that Scott built high hopes
on these motors: but it was a chance to help those who
followed him. Scott was always trying to do that.

Did they succeed or fail? They certainly did not help
us much, the motor which travelled farthest drawing a
heavy load to just beyond Corner Camp. But even so fifty
statute miles is fifty miles, and that they did it at all was
an enormous advance. The distance travelled included
hard and soft surfaces, and we found later when the snow
bridges fell in during the summer that this car had crossed
safely some broad crevasses. Also they worked in tem-
peratures down to - 30° Fahr. All this was to the good,
for no motor-driven machine had travelled on the Barrier
before. The general design seemed to be right, all that
was now wanted was experience. As an experiment they
were successful in the South, but Scott never knew their
true possibilities; for they were the direct ancestors of the
‘tanks’ in France.

Night-marching had its advantages and disadvantages.
The ponies were pulling in the colder part of the day and
resting in the warm, which was good. Their coats dried
well in the sun, and after a few days to get accustomed
to the new conditions, they slept and fed in comparative
comfort. On the other hand the pulling surface was un-
doubtedly better when the sun was high and the tempera-
ture warmer. Taking one thing with another there was
no doubt that night-marching was better for ponies, but
we seldom if ever tried it man-hauling.

Just now there was an amazing difference between day
and night conditions. At midnight one was making short
work of everything, nursing fingers after doing up harness
with minus temperatures and nasty cold winds: by supper
time the next morning we were sitting on our sledges
writing up our diaries or meteorological logs, and even
dabbling our bare toes in the snow, but not for long!
Shades of darkness! How different all this was from
what we had been through. My personal impression of

1 Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 438-439.

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THE POLAR JOURNEY 323

this early summer sledging on the Barrier was one of con-
stant wonder at its comfort. One had forgotten that a
tent could be warm and a sleeping-bag dry: so deep were
the contrary impressions that only actual experience was
convincing. “It is a sweltering day, the air breathless, the
glare intense—one loses sight of the fact that the tempera-
ture is low [ - 22°], one’s mind seeks comparison in hot
sunlit streets and scorching pavements, yet six hours ago
my thumb was frost-bitten. All the inconveniences of
frozen footwear and damp clothes and sleeping-bags have
vanished entirely.” }

We could not expect to get through this windy
area of Corner Camp without some bad weather. The
wind-blown surface improved, the ponies took their
heavier loads with ease, but as we came to our next camp
it was banking up to the S.E. and the breeze freshened
almost immediately. We built pony walls hurriedly and
by the time we had finished supper it was blowing force 5
(a.m. November 6, Camp 4). There was a moderate gale
with some drift all day which increased to force 8 with
‘more drift at night. It was impossible to march. The
drift took off a bit the next morning, and Meares and
Dimitri with the two dog-teams appeared and camped
astern of us. This was according to previous plan by
which the dog-teams were to start after us and catch us up,
since they travelled faster than the ponies. “The snow
and drift necessitated digging out ponies again and again
to keep them well sheltered from the wind. The walls
made a splendid lee, but some sledges at the extremities
were buried altogether, and our tent being rather close to
windward of our wall got the back eddy and was con-
tinually being snowed up above the door. After noon the
snow ceased except for surface drift. Snatcher knocked
his section of the wall over, and Jehu did so more than
ever. All ponies looked pretty miserable, as in spite of
the shelter they were bunged up, eyes and all, in drift which
had become ice and could not be removed without con-
siderable difficulty.” 2

1 Scote’s Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 4.50. 2 Bowers.

324. WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

Towards evening it ceased drifting altogether, but a
wind, force 4, kept up with disconcerting regularity.
Eventually Atkinson’s party got away at midnight.
“Castle Rock is still visible, but will be closed by the
north end of White Island in the next march—then good-
bye to the old landmarks for many a long day.” }

The next day (November 8-9) “ started at midnight
and had a very pleasant march. Truly sledging in such
weather is great. Mounts Discovery and Morning, which
we gradually closed, looked fine in the general panorama
of mountains. We are now nearly abreast the north end of
the Bluff. We all came up to camp together this morning:
it looked like a meet of the hounds, and Jehu ran away!!!’”?

The next march was just the opposite. Wind force 5
to 6 and falling snow. “The surface was very slippery in
parts and on the hard sastrugi it was a case of falling or
_ stumbling continually. The light got so bad that one
might have been walking in the clouds for all that could
be discerned, and yet it was only snowing slightly. The
Bluff became completely obscured, and the usual signs of
a blizzard were accentuated.

‘At lunch camp Scott packed up and followed us. We
overhauled Atkinson about 14 hours later, he having
camped, and we were not sorry, as in addition to march-
ing against a fresh southerly breeze the light brought a
tremendous strain on the eyes in following tracks.” ? A
little more than eight miles for the day’s total.

We carried these depressing conditions for three more
marches, that is till the morning of November 13. The
surface was wretched, the weather horrid, the snow per-
sistent, covering everything with soft downy flakes, inch
upon inch, and mile upon mile. There are glimpses of
despondency in the diaries. “If this should come as an

exception, our luck will be truly awful. The camp is very |
silent and cheerless, signs that things are going awry.” 4 —
‘<‘The weather was horrid, overcast, gloomy, snowy. One’s —
spirits became very low.”® ‘I expected these marches to be ~

1 Bowers. 2 My own diary. 3 Bowers.
4 Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 463. 5 Ibid. p. 462.

THE POLAR JOURNEY 325

a little difficult, but not near so bad as to-day.”"! Indefi-
nite conditions always tried Scott most: positive disasters
put him into more cheerful spirits than most. In the big
gale coming South when the ship nearly sank, and when
we lost one of the cherished motors through the sea-ice, his
was one of the few cheerful faces I saw. Even when the
ship ran aground off Cape Evans he was not despondent.
But this kind of thing irked him. Bowers wrote: “The
unpleasant weather and bad surface, and Chinaman’s in-
disposition, combined to make the outlook unpleasant, and
on arrival [in camp] I was not surprised to find that Scott
had a grievance. He felt that in arranging the consump-
tion of forage his own unit had not been favoured with the
same reduction as ours, in fact accused me of putting upon
his three horses to save my own. We went through the
weights in detail after our meal, and, after a certain amount
of argument, decided to carry on as we were going. I can
quite understand his feelings, and after our experience of
last year a bad day like this makes him fear our beasts
are going to fail us. The Talent [Z.e. the doctors] exam-
ined Chinaman, who begins to show signs of wear. Poor
ancient little beggar, he ought to be a pensioner instead
of finishing his days on a job of this sort. Jehu looks pretty
rocky too, but seeing that we did not expect him to reach
the Glacier Tongue, and that he has now done more than
100 miles from Cape Evans, one really does not know
what to expect of these creatures. Certainly Titus thinks,
as he has always said, that they are the most unsuitable
scrap-heap crowd of unfit creatures that could possibly be
got together.” *

“The weather was about as poisonous as one could
wish ; a fresh breeze and driving snow from the E. with
an awful surface. The recently fallen snow thickly covered
the ground with powdery stuff that the unfortunate ponies
fairly wallowed in. If it was only ourselves to consider I
should not mind a bit, but to see our best ponies being hit
like this at the start is most distressing. A single march
like that of last night must shorten their usefulness by

1 Scott’s Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 461. 2 Bowers.

326 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

days, and here we are a fortnight out, and barely one-
third of the distance to the glacier covered, with every pony
showing signs of wear. Victor looks a lean and lanky beast
compared with his condition two weeks ago.” 1

But the ponies began to go better; and it was about
this time that Jehu was styled the Barrier Wonder, and
Chinaman the Thunderbolt. ‘‘ Our four ponies have suf-
fered most,” writes Bowers. “‘I don’t agree with Titus that
it is best to march them right through without a lunch
camp. They were undoubtedly pretty tired, and worst of
all did not go their feeds properly. It was a fine warm
morning for them (Nov. 13); +15°, our warmest tem-
perature hitherto. In the afternoon it came on to snow in
large flakes like one would get at home. I have never seen
such snow down here before; it makes the surface very
bad for the sledges. The ponies’ manes and rugs were
covered in little knots of ice.”

The next march (November 13-14) was rather better,
though the going was very deep and heavy, and all the
ponies were showing signs of wear and tear. This was
followed by a delightfully warm day, and all the animals
were standing drowsily in the sunshine. We could see
the land far away behind us, the first sight of land we
had had for many days. On November 15 we reached
One Ton Depét, having travelled a hundred and thirty
miles from Hut Point.

The two sledges left standing were still upright, and
the tattered remains of a flag flapped over the main cairn.
In a salt tin lashed to the bamboo flag-pole was a note from
Lieutenant Evans to say that he had gone on with the
motor party five days before, and would continue man-
hauling to 80° 30’ S. and await us there. “He has done
something over 30 miles in 24 days—exceedingly good
going.” 2 We dug out the cairn, which we found just as
we had left it except that there was a big tongue of drift,
level with the top of the cairn to leeward, and running
about 150 yards to N.E., showing that the prevailing wind
here is S.W. Nine months before we had sprinkled some

1 Bowers. 2 Scote’s Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 465.

THE POLAR JOURNEY 327

oats on the surface of the snow hoping to get a measure-
ment of the accretion of snow during the winter. Unfor-
tunately we were unable to find the oats again, but other
evidence went to show that the snow deposit was very
small. A minimum thermometer which was lashed with
great care to a framework registered - 73°. After the
temperatures already experienced by us on the Barrier
during the winter and spring this was surprisingly high,
especially as our minimum temperatures were taken under
the sledge, which means that the thermometer is shaded
from radiation, while this thermometer at One Ton was
left open to the sky. On the Winter Journey we found
that a shaded thermometer registered - 69° when an un-
shaded one registered — 75°, a difference of 6°. All the
provisions left here were found to be in excellent condition.

We then had a prolonged council of war. This meant
that Scott called Bowers, and perhaps Oates, into our tent
after supper was finished in the morning. Somehow these
conferences were always rather serio-comic. On this occa-
sion, as was usually the case, the question was ponies. It
was decided to wait here one day and rest them, as there
was ample food. The main discussion centred round the
amount of forage to be taken on from here, while the state
of the ponies, the amount they could pull and the distance
they could go had to be taken into consideration.

“Oates thinks the ponies will get through, but that
they have lost condition quicker than he expected. Con-
sidering his usually pessimistic attitude this must be
thought a hopeful view. Personally I am much more
hopeful. I think that a good many of the beasts are
actually in better form than when they started, and that
there is no need to be alarmed about the remainder,
always excepting the weak ones which we have always
regarded with doubt. Well, we must wait and see how
things go.’’?

The decision made was to take just enough food to get
the ponies to the glacier, allowing for the killing of some
of them before that date. It was obvious that Jehu and

1 Scott’s Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 465.

328 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

Chinaman could not go very much farther, and it was also
necessary that ponies should be killed in order to feed the
dogs. The two dog-teams were carrying about a week’s
pony food, but they were unable to advance more than a
fortnight from One Ton without killing ponies.

This decision practically meant that Scott abandoned
the idea of taking ponies up the glacier. This was a great
relief, for the crevassed state of the lower reaches of the
glacier as described by Shackleton led us to believe that
the attempt was suicidal. All the winter our brains were
exercised to try and devise some method by which the
ponies could be driven from behind, and by which the
connection between pony and sledge could be loosed if the
pony fell into a crevasse, but I confess that there seemed
little chance of this happening. From all we saw of the
glacier am convinced that there is no reasonable chance
of getting ponies up it, and that dogs could only be driven
down it if the way up was most carefully surveyed and
kept on the return. I am sure that in this kind of uncer-
tainty the mental strain on the leader of a party is less
than that on his men. The leader knows quite well what
he thinks worth while risking or not: in this case Scott
probably was always of the opinion that it would not be
worth while taking ponies on to the glacier. The pony
leaders, however, only knew that the possibility was ahead
of them. I can remember now the relief with which we
heard that it was not intended that Wilson should take
Nobby, the fittest of our ponies, farther than the Gate-
way.
Up to now Christopher had lived up to his reputation,
as the following extracts from Bowers’ diary will show:
“Three times we downed him, and he got up and
threw us about, with all four of us hanging on like grim
death. He nearly had me under him once ; he seems
fearfully strong, but it is a pity he wastes so much good
energy. . . . Christopher, as usual, was strapped on
three legs and then got down on his knees. He gets more
cunning each time, and if he does not succeed in biting or
kicking one of us before long it won’t be his fault. He

THE POLAR JOURNEY 329

finds the soft snow does not hurt his knees like the sea-ice,
and so plunges about on them ad 46. One’s finnesko are
so slippery that it is difficult to exert full strength on him,
and to-day he bowled Oates over and got away altogether.
Fortunately the lashing on his fourth leg held fast, and we
were able to secure him when he rejoined the other animals.
Finally he lay down, and thought he had defeated us, but
we had the sledge connected up by that time, and as he got
up we rushed him forward before he had time to kick over
the traces. . . . Dimitri came and gave us a hand with
Chris. Three of us hung on to him while the other two
connected up the sledge. We had a struggle for over
twenty minutes, and he managed to tread on me, but no
damage done. . . . Got Chris in by a dodge. Titus did
away with his back strap, and nearly had him away un-
aided before he realized that the hated sledge was fast to
him. Unfortunately he started off just too soon, and
bolted with only one trace fast. This pivoted him to star-
board, and he charged the line. I expected a mix-up, but
he stopped at the wall between Bones and Snatcher, and
we cast off and cleared sledge before trying again. By
laying the traces down the side of the sledge instead of
ahead we got him off his guard again, and he was away
before he knew what had occurred. . . . We had a bad
time with Chris again. He remembered having been
bluffed before, and could not be got near the sledge at all.
Three times he broke away, but fortunately he always ran
back among the other ponies, and not out on to the Barrier.
Finally we had to down him, and he was so tired with his
recent struggles that after one abortive attempt we got him
fast and away.”

Meanwhile it was not so much the difficulties of
sledging as the depressing blank conditions in which our
march was so often made, that gave us such troubles as
we had. The routine of a tent makes a lot of difference.
Scott’s tent was a comfortable one to live in, and I was
always glad when I was told to join it, and sorry to leave.
He was himself extraordinarily quick, and no time was
ever lost by his party in camping or breaking camp. He

330 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

was most careful, some said over-careful but I do not think
so, that everything should be neat and shipshape, and there
was a recognized place for everything. On the Depdt
Journey we were bidden to see that every particle of snow
was beaten off our clothing and finnesko before entering
the tent: if it was drifting we had to do this after enter-
ing and the snow was carefully cleared off the floor-cloth.
Afterwards each tent was supplied with a small brush with
which to perform this office. In addition to other obvious
advantages this materially helped to keep clothing, fin-
nesko, and sleeping-bags dry, and thus prolong the life of
furs. ‘‘ After all is said and done,” said Wilson one day
after supper, “the best sledger is the man who sees what
has to be done, and does it—and says nothing about it.”
Scott agreed. And if you were “‘sledging with the Owner ”
you had to keep your eyes wide open for the little things
which cropped up, and do them quickly, and say nothing
about them. There is nothing so irritating as the man who
is always coming in and informing all and sundry that he
has repaired his sledge, or built a wall, or filled the cooker,
or mended his socks.

I moved into Scott’s tent for the first time in the middle
of the Depét Journey, and was enormously impressed by
the comfort which a careful routine of this nature evoked.
There was a homelike air about the tent at supper time, and,
though a lunch camp in the middle of the night is always
rather bleak, there was never anything slovenly. Another
thing which struck me even more forcibly was the cook-
ing. We were of course on just the same ration as the tent
from which I had come. I was hungry and said so. “* Bad
cooking,”’ said Wilson shortly; and so it was. For in two
or three days the sharpest edge was off my hunger.
Wilson and Scott had learned many a cooking tip in the
past, and, instead of the same old meal day by day, the
weekly ration was so manceuvred by a clever cook that it
was seldom quite the same meal. Sometimes pemmican
plain, or thicker pemmican with some arrowroot mixed
with it: at others we surrendered a biscuit and a half
apiece and had a dry hoosh, #.e. biscuit fried in pemmican

THE POLAR JOURNEY 331

with a little water added, and a good big cup of cocoa to
follow. Dry hooshes also saved oil. There were cocoa and
tea upon which to ring the changes, or better still ‘teaco’
which combined the stimulating qualities of tea with the
food value of cocoa. Then much could be done with the
dessert-spoonful of raisins which was our daily whack.
They were good soaked in the tea, but best perhaps in with
the biscuits and pemmicanasadry hoosh. “You are going
far to earn my undying gratitude, Cherry,” was a satisfied
remark of Scott one evening when, having saved, unbe-
knownst to my companions, some of their daily ration of
cocoa, arrowroot, sugar and raisins, I made a “chocolate
hoosh.”’ But I am afraid he had indigestion next morning.
There were meals when we had interesting little talks, as
when I find in my diary that: “we had a jolly lunch meal,
discussing authors. Barrie, Galsworthy and others are
personal friends of Scott. Some one told Max Beerbohm
that he was like Captain Scott, and immediately, so Scott
assured us, he grew a beard.”

But about three weeks out the topics of conversation
became threadbare. From then onwards it was often that
whole days passed without conversation beyond the routine
Campho! Allready? Packup. Spellho. The latter after
some two hours’ pulling. When man-hauling we used to
start pulling immediately we had the tent down, the sledge
packed and our harness over our bodies and ski on our feet.
After about a quarter of an hour the effects of the marching
would be felt in the warming of hands and feet and the
consequent thawing of our mitts and finnesko. We then
halted long enough for everybody to adjust their ski and
clothing: then on, perhaps for two hours or more, before
we halted again.

Since it had been decided to lighten the ponies’ weights,
we left at least 100 Ibs. of pony forage behind when we
started from One Ton on the night of November 16-17
on our first 13-mile march. This was a distinct saving, and
instead of 695 lbs. each with which the six stronger ponies
left Corner Camp, they now pulled only 625 lbs. Jehu had
only 455 lbs. and Chinaman 448 Ibs. The dog-teams had

332 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

860 lbs. of pony food between them, and according to
- plan the two teams were to carry 1570 lbs. from One Ton
between them. These weights included the sledges, with
straps and fittings, which weighed about 45 lbs.

Summer seemed long in coming for we marched into a
considerable breeze and the temperature was — 18°. Oates
and Seaman Evans had quite a crop of frost-bites. I
pointed out to Meares that his nose was gone; but he left
it, saying that he had got tired of it, and it would thaw out
by and by. The ponies were going better for their rest.
The next day’s march was over crusty snow with a layer of
loose powdery snow at the top, and a temperature of - 21°
was chilly. Towards the end of it Scott got frightened that
the ponies were not going as well as they should. Another
council of war was held, and it was decided that an average
of thirteen miles a day must be done at all costs, and that
another sack of forage should be dumped here, putting the
ponies on short rations later, if necessary. Oates agreed,
but said the ponies were going better than he expected:
that Jehu and Chinaman might go a week, and almost
certainly would go three days. Bowers was always against
this dumping. Meanwhile Scott wrote: “It’s touch and
go whether we scrape up to the glacier ; meanwhile we get
along somehow.” !

Asa result of one of Christopher’s tantrums Bowers re-
cords that his sledge-meter was carried away this morning:
“T took my sledge-meter into the tent after breakfast and
rigged up a fancy lashing with raw hide thongs so as
to give it the necessary play with security. A splendid
parhelia exhibition was caused by the ice-crystals. Round
the sun was a 22° halo [that is a halo 22° from the sun’s
image], with four mock suns in rainbow colours, and out-
side this another halo in complete rainbow colours. Above
the sun were the arcs of two other circles touching these
halos, and the arcs of the great all-round circle could be
seen faintly on either side. Below was a dome-shaped glare
of white which contained an exaggerated mock sun, which
was as dazzling as the sun himself. Altogether a fine

1 Score’s Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 468.

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THE POLAR JOURNEY 333

example of a pretty common phenomenon down here.”
And the next day: “‘ We saw the party ahead in inverted
mirage some distance above their heads.”

In the next three marches we covered our daily 13 miles,
for the most part without very great difficulty. But poor
Jehu was in a bad way, stopping every few hundred yards.
It was a funereal business for the leaders of these crock
ponies; and at this stage of the journey Atkinson, Wright
and Keohane had many more difficulties than most of us,
and the success of their ponies was largely due to their
patience and care. Incidentally big icicles formed upon
the ponies’ noses during the march and Chinaman used
Wright’s windproof blouse as a handkerchief. During the
last of these marches, that is on the morning of Novem-
ber 21, we saw a massive cairn ahead, and found there the
motor party, consisting of Lieutenant Evans, Day, Lashly
and Hooper. The cairn was in 80° 32’, and under the
name Mount Hooper formed our Upper Barrier Depét.
We left there three S (summit) rations, two cases of emer-
gency biscuits and two cases of oil, which constituted
three weekly food units for the three parties which were to
advance from the bottom of the Beardmore Glacier. This
food was to take them back from 80° 32’ to One Ton
Camp. We all camped for the night 3 miles farther on:
sixteen men, five tents, ten ponies, twenty-three dogs and
thirteen sledges.

The man-hauling party had been waiting for six days ;
and, having expected us before, were getting anxious about
us. They declared that they were very hungry, and Day,
who was always long and thin, looked quite gaunt. Some
spare biscuits which we gave them from our tent were car-
ried off with gratitude. The rest of us who were driving dogs
or leading ponies still found our Barrier ration satisfying.

We had now been out three weeks and had travelled
192 miles, and formed a very good idea as to what the
ponies could do. The crocks had done wonderfully :—
“We hope Jehu will last three days; he will then be fin-
ished in any case and fed to the dogs. It is amusing to see
Meares looking eagerly for the chance of a feed for his

334. WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

animals ; he has been expecting it daily. On the other
hand, Atkinson and Oates are eager to get the poor animal
beyond the point at which Shackleton killed his first beast.
Reports on Chinaman are very favourable, and it really
looks as though the ponies are going to do what is hoped
of them.” ! From first to last Nobby, who was rescued
from the floe, was the strongest pony we had, and was now
drawing a heavier load than any other pony by 50 lbs. He
was a well-shaped, contented kind of animal, misnamed
a pony. Indeed several of our beasts were too large to fit
this description. Christopher, of course, was wearing him-
self out quicker than most, but all of them had lost a lot of
weight in spite of the fact that they had all the oats and
oil-cake they could eat. Bowers writes of his pony:

“Victor, my pony, has taken to leading the line, like
his opposite number last season. He is a steady goer, and
as gentle as a dear old sheep. I can hardly realize the
strenuous times I had with him only a month ago, when it
took about four of us to get him harnessed to a sledge, and
two of us every time with all our strength to keep him
from bolting when in it. Even at the start of the journey
he was as nearly unmanageable as any beast could be, and
always liable to bolt from sheer excess of spirits. He is
more sober now after three weeks of featureless Barrier,
but I think Iam more fond of him than ever. He has lost
his rotundity, like all the other horses, and 1s a long-legged,
angular beast, very ugly as horses go, but still I would not
change him for any other.”’

The ponies were fed by their leaders at the lunch
and supper halts, and by Oates and Bowers during the
sleep halt about four hours before we marched. Several
of them developed a troublesome habit of swinging their
nosebags off, some as soon as they were put on, others in
their anxiety to reach the corn still left uneaten in the
bottom of the bag. We had to lash their bags on to their
headstalls. ‘‘ Victor got hold of his head rope yesterday,
and devoured it: not because he is hungry, as he won’t eat
all his allowance even now.’’?

1 Scott’s Last Expedition, vol. i. pp. 470, 471. 2 Bowers.

THE POLAR JOURNEY 335

The original intention was that Day and Hooper should
return from 80° 30’, but it was now decided that their unit
of four should remain intact for a few days, and constitute
a light man-hauling advance party to make the track.

The weather was much more pleasant and we saw the
sun most days, while I note only one temperature below

— 20° since leaving One Ton. The ponies sank in a cruel
distance some days, but we were certainly not overworking
them and they had as much food as they could eat. We
knew the grim part was to come, but we never realized how
grim it was to be. From this Northern Barrier Depdt the
ponies were mostly drawing less than 500 Ibs. and we had
hopes of getting through to the glacier without much
difficulty. All depended on the weather, and just now it
was glorious, and the ponies were going steadily together.
Jehu, the crockiest of the crocks, was led back along the
track and shot on the evening of November 24, having
reached a point at least 15 miles beyond that where
Shackleton shot his first pony. When it is considered that
it was doubtful whether he could start at all this must be
conceded to have been a triumph of horse-management in
which both Oates and Atkinson shared, though neither so
much as Jehu himself, for he must have had a good spirit
to have dragged his poor body so far. “A year’s care and
good feeding, three weeks’ work with good treatment, a
reasonable load and a good ration, and then a painless end.
If anybody can call that cruel I cannot either understand
it or agree with them.’”’ Thus Bowers, who continues:
“The midnight sun reflected from the snow has started to
burn my face and lips. I smear them with hazeline before
turning in, and find it a good thing. Wearing goggles has
absolutely prevented any recurrence of snow-blindness.
Captain Scott says they make me see everything through
rose-coloured spectacles.”’

We said good-bye to Day and Hooper next morning,
and they set their faces northwards and homewards.! ‘Two-

1 A note to Cape Evans is as follows:—My pear Simpson. This goes with Day
and Hooper now returning. We are making fair progress and the ponies doing fairly
well. I hope we shall get through to the glacier without difficulty, but to make sure I
am carrying the dog-teams farther than I intended at first—the teams may be late re-
turning, unfit for further work or non-existent. . . .—R. Scorr.

336 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

men parties on the Barrier are not much fun. Day had
certainly done his best about the motors and they had
helped us over a bad bit of initial surface. That night
Scott wrote: ‘Only a few more marches to feel safe in
getting to our goal.” + At the lunch halt on November 26,
in lat. 81° 35’, we left our Middle Barrier Depét, containing
one week’s provisions for each returning unit as at Mount
Hooper, a reduction of 200 Ibs. in our weights. The march
that day was very trying. ‘It is always rather dismal work
walking over the great snow plain when sky and surface
merge in one pall of dead whiteness, but it 1s cheering to
be in such good company with everything going on steadily
and well.” 2

There was no doubt that the animals were tiring, and
‘“‘a tired animal makes a tired man, I find.’”? The next
day (November 28) was no better: “‘the most dismal start
imaginable. Thick as a hedge, snow falling and drifting
with keen southerly wind.’’4

Bowers notes: “‘ We have now run down a whole
degree of latitude without a fine day, or anything but
clouds, mist, and driving snow from the south.” We
certainly did have some difficult marches, one of the worst
effects of which was that we knew we must be making a
winding course and we had to pick up our depéts on the
return somehow. Here is a typical bad morning from
Bowers’ diary:

“The first four miles of the march were utter misery
for me, as Victor, either through lassitude or because he
did not like having to plug into the wind, went as slow as
a funeral horse. ‘The light was so bad that wearing goggles
was most necessary, and the driving snow filled them up
as fast as you cleared them. I dropped a long way astern
of the cavalcade, could hardly see them at times through
the snow, but the fear that Victor, of all the beasts, should
give out was like a nightmare. I have always been used to
starting later than the others by a quarter of a mile, and
catching them up. At the four-mile cairn I was about fed

1 Scott’s Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 474. 2 Ibid. p. 4.75.
3 Ibid. p. 4.76. 4 Ibid. p. 4.76.

a —

THE POLAR JOURNEY 887

up to the neck with it, but I said very little as everybody
was so disgusted with the weather and things in general
that I saw that I was not the only one in tribulation.
Victor turned up trumps after that. He stepped out and
led the line in his old place, and at a good swinging pace
considering the surface, my temper and spirits improving
at every step. In the afternoon he went splendidly again,
and finished up by rolling in the snow when I had taken
his harness off, a thing he has not done for ten or twelve
days. It certainly does not look like exhaustion!”
Indeed these days we were fighting for our marches,
and Chinaman who was killed this night seemed well out
of it. He reached a point less than go miles from the
glacier, though this was small comfort to him.
Stumbling and groping our way along as we had been
during the last blizzard we were totally unprepared for the
sight which met us during our next march on November
29. The great ramp of mountains which ran to the west
of us, and would soon bar our way to the South, partly
cleared: and right on top of us it seemed were the triple
peaks of Mount Markham. After some 300 miles of
bleak, monotonous Barrier it was a wonderful sight indeed.
We camped at night in latitude 82° 21’ S., four miles
beyond Scott’s previous Farthest South in 1902. Then
they had the best of luck in clear fine weather, which
Shackleton has also recorded at this stage of his southern
journey. j
It is curious to see how depressed all our diaries become
when this bad weather obtained, and how quickly we must
have cheered up whenever the sun came out. There is no
doubt that a similar effect was produced upon the ponies.
Truth to tell, the mental strain upon those responsible was
very great in these early days, and there is little of outside
interest to relieve the mind. The crystal surface which was
an invisible carpet yesterday becomes a shining glorious
sheet of many colours to-day: the irregularities which
caused you so many falls are now quite clear and you step
on or over them without a thought: and when there is
added some of the most wonderful scenery in the world it
Z

338 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

is hard to recall in the enjoyment of the present how
irritable and weary you felt only twenty hours ago. The
whisper of the sledge, the hiss of the primus, the smell of
the hoosh and the soft folds of your sleeping-bag: how
jolly they can all be, and generally were.

I would that I could once again
Around the cooker sit

And hearken to its soft refrain
And feel so jolly fit.

Instead of home-life’s silken chains,
‘The uneventful round,

I long to be mid snow-swept plains,
In harness, outward bound.

With the pad, pad, pad, of fin’skoed feet,
With two hundred pounds per man,
Not enough hoosh or biscuit to eat,

Well done, lads! Up tent! Outspan.
(Nexson in The South Polar Times.)

Certainlyas we skirted these mountains, range upon range,
during the next two marches (November 30 and December
1), we felt we could have little cause for complaint. They
brought us to lat. 82° 47’ S., and here we left our last depot
on the Barrier, called the Southern Barrier Depét, with a
week’s ration for each returning party as usual. “The
man food is enough for one week for each returning unit
of four men, the next depot beyond being the Middle
Barrier Depét, 73 miles north. As we ought easily to do
over 100 miles a week on the return journey, there is little
likelihood of our having to go on short commons if all goes
well.’’? And this was what we all felt—until we found the
Polar Party. This was our twenty-seventh camp, and we
had been out a month.

It was important that we should have fine clear weather
during the next few days when we should be approaching
the land. On his previous southern journey Scott had been
prevented from reaching the range of mountains which ran
along to our right by a huge chasm. This phenomenon is
known to geologists as.a shear crack and is formed by the

1 Bowers.

THE POLAR JOURNEY 339

movement of a glacier away from the land which bounds
it. In this case a mass of many hundred miles of Barrier
has moved away from the mountains, and the disturbance
is correspondingly great. Shackleton has described how
he approached the Gateway, as he named the passage
between Mount Hope and the mainland, by means of
which he passed through on to the Beardmore Glacier. As
he and his companions were exploring the way they came
upon an enormous chasm, 80 feet wide and 300 feet deep,
which barred their path. Moving along to the right they
found a place where the chasm was filled with snow, and
here they crossed to the land some miles ahead. At our
Southern Barrier Depot we reckoned we were some forty-
four miles from this Gateway and in three more marches
we hoped to be camped under this land.

Christopher was shot at the depdt. He was the only
pony who did not die instantaneously. Perhaps Oates was
not so calm as usual, for Chris was his own horse though |
such a brute. Just as Oates fired he moved, and charged
into the camp with the bullet in his head. He was caught
with difficulty, nearly giving Keohane a bad bite, led back
and finished. We were well rid of him: while he was
strong he fought, and once the Barrier had tamed him, as
we were not able to do, he never pulled a fair load. He
could have gone several more days, but there was not
enough pony food to take all the animals forward. We
began to wonder if we had done right to leave so much
_ behind. Each pony provided at least four days’ food for
the dog-teams, some of them more, and there was quite a
lot of fat on them—even on Jehu. ‘This was comforting,
as going to prove that their hardships were not too great.
Also we put the undercut into our own hoosh, and it was
very good, though we had little oil to cook it.

We had been starting later each night, in order that the
transition from night to day marching might be gradual.
For we intended to march by day when we started pull-
ing up the glacier, and there were no ponies to rest when
the sun was high. It may be said-therefore that our next
march was on December 2.

340 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

Before we started Scott walked over to Bowers. “‘I
have come to a decision which will shock you.’ Victor
was to go at the end of the march, because pony food was
running so short. Birdie wrote at the end of the day:—
He ‘‘did a splendid march and kept ahead all day, and as
usual marched into camp first, pulling over 450 lbs. easily.
It seemed an awful pity to have to shoot a great strong
animal, and it seemed like the irony of fate to me, as I had
been downed for over-provisioning the ponies with need-
less excess of food, and the drastic reductions had been
made against my strenuous opposition up to the last. It is
poor satisfaction to me to know that I was right now that
my horse is dead. Good old Victor! He has always had a
biscuit out of my ration, and he ate his last before the
bullet sent him to his rest. Here ends my second horse in
83° S., not quite so tragically as my first when the sea-ice
broke up, but none the less I feel sorry for a beast that has
been my constant companion and care for so long. He has
done his share in our undertaking anyhow, and may I do
my share as well when I get into harness myself.

“The snow has started to fall over his bleak resting-
place, and it looks like a blizzard. The outlook is dark,
stormy and threatening.”

Indeed it had been a dismal march into a blank white
wall, and the ponies were sinking badly in the snow, leav-
ing holes a full foot deep. The temperature was + 17° and
the flakes of snow melted when they lay on the dark colours
of the tents and our furs. After building the pony walls
water was running down our windproofs.

I note ‘‘ we are doing well on pony meat and go to bed
very content.’ Notwithstanding the fact that we could not
do more than heat the meat by throwing it into the pemmi-
can we found it sweet and good, though tough. The man-
hauling party consisted of Lieut. Evans and Lashly who
had lost their motors, and Atkinson and Wright who had
lost their ponies. They were really quite hungry by now,
and most of us pretty well looked forward to our meals and
kept a biscuit to eat in our bags if we could. The pony
meat therefore came as a relief. I think we ought to have

THE POLAR JOURNEY 341

depdted more of it on the cairns. As it was, what we did
not eat was given to the dogs. With some tins of extra oil
and a depdted pony the Polar Party would probably have
got home in safety.

On December 3 we roused out at 2.30 a.m. It was
thick and snowy. As we breakfasted the blizzard started
from the south-east, and was soon blowing force 9, a full
gale, with heavy drift. ‘‘ The strongest wind I have known
here in summer.’’? It was impossible to start, but we
turned out and made up the pony walls in heavy drift, one
of them being blown down three times. By 1.30 p.m. the
sun was shining, and the land was clear. We started at 2,
with what we thought was Mount Hope showing up ahead,
but soon great snow-clouds were banking up and in two
hours we were walking in a deep gloom which made it
difficult to find the track made by the man-hauling party
ahead. By the time we reached the cairn, which was always
built at the end of the first four miles, it was blowing hard
from the N.N.W. of all the unlikely quarters of the com-
pass. Bowers and Scott were on ski.

“IT put on my windproof blouse and nosed out the
track for two miles, when we suddenly came upon the tent
of the leading party. They had camped owing to the
difficulty of steering a course in such thick weather. The
ponies, however, with the wind abaft the beam were going
along splendidly, and Scott thought it worth while to
shove on. We therefore carried on another four miles,
making ten in all, a good half march, before we camped.
On ski it was simply ripping, except for the inability to
see anything at all. With the wind behind, and the good
sliding surface made by the wind-hardened snow, one
fairly slithered along. Camping was less pleasant as it was
blowing a gale by that time. We are all in our bags again
now, with a good hot meal inside one, and blow high or
i low one might be in a worse place than a reindeer

com 2

It was all right for the people on ski (and this in itself

gave us a certain sense of grievance), but things had not

1 Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 483. 2 Bowers.

342 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

been so easy with the ponies, who were sinking very deeply —

in places, while we ourselves were sinking well over our
ankles. This day we began to cross the great undulations
in the Barrier, with the crests some mile apart, which here
mark the approach to the land. We had built the walls
to the north of the ponies on camping, because the wind
was from that direction, but by breakfast on December
4 it was blowing a thick blizzard from the south-east.
We began to feel bewildered by these extraordinary
weather changes, and not a little exasperated too. Again

”
‘
’

}

we could not march, and again we had to dig out the ©

sledges and ponies, and to move them all round to the
other side of the walls which we had partly to rebuild.
“Oh for the simple man-hauling life!” was our thought,
and ‘“‘poor helpless beasts—this 1s no country for live
stock.” By this time we could not see the neighbouring
tents for the drift. The situation was not improved by the
fact that our tent doors, the tents having been pitched for
the strong north wind then blowing, were now facing the
blizzard, and sheets of snow entered with each individual.
The man-hauling party came up just before the worst of
the blizzard started. The dogs alone were comfortable,
buried deep beneath the drifted snow. The sailors began to
debate who was the Jonah. They said he was the cameras.
The great blizzard was brewing all about us.

But at mid-day as though a curtain was rolled back, the
thick snow fog cleared off, while at the same time the wind
fell calm, and a great mountain appeared almost on the top

of us. Far away to the south-east we could distinguish, by —
looking very carefully, a break in the level Barrier horizon ©

—a new mountain which we reckoned must be at least in

latitude 86° and veryhigh. Towards it the ranges stretched _

away, peak upon peak, range upon range, as far as the eye ©
could see. “The mountains surpassed anything I have ©

ever seen: beside the least of these giants Ben Nevis _ :

would be a mere mound, and yet they are so immense as to ©
dwarf each other. They are intersected at every turn with
mighty glaciers and ice-falls and eternally ice-filled valleys
that defy description. So clear was everything that every

—

|

i
\

THE POLAR JOURNEY 343

rock seemed to stand out, and the effect of the sun as he
came round (between us and the mountains) was to make
the scene still more beautiful.” }

Altogether we marched eleven miles this day, and
camped right in front of the Gateway, which we reckoned
to be some thirteen miles away. We saw no crevasses but
crossed ten or twelve very large undulations, and estimated
that the dips between them were twelve to fifteen feet.
Mount Hope was bigger than we expected, and beyond it,
stretching out into the Barrier as far as we could see, was
a great white line of jagged edges, the chaos of pressure
which this vast glacier makes as it flows into the compara-
tively stationary ice of the Barrier.

My own pony Michael was shot after we came into
camp. He was as attractive a little beast as we had. His
light weight helped him on soft surfaces, but his small
hoofs let him in farther than most and I notice in Scott’s
diary that on November 19 the ponies were sinking half-
way to the hock, and Michael once or twice almost to the
hock itself. A highly strung, spirited animal, his off days
took the form of fidgets, during which he would be con-
stantly trying to stop and eat snow, and then rush forward
to catch up the other ponies. Life was a constant source
of wonder to him, and no movement in the camp escaped
his notice. Before we had been long on the Barrier he
developed mischievous habits and became a rope eater and
gnawer of other ponies’ fringes, as we called the coloured
tassels we hung over their eyes to ward off snow-blindness.
However, he was by no means the only culprit, and he lost
his own fringe to Nobby quite early in the proceedings. It
was not that he was hungry, for he never quite finished his
own feed. At any rate he enjoyed the few weeks before he
died, pricking up his ears and getting quite excited when
anything happened, and the arrival of the dog-teams each
morning after he had been tethered sent him to bed with
much to dream of. And I must say his master dreamed
pretty regularly too. Michael was killedright in front of the
Gateway on December 4, just before the big blizzard, which,

1 Bowers.

344 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

though we did not know it, was on the point of breaking
upon us, and he was untying his cloth and chewing up every-
thing he could reach to the last. “‘ It was decided after we
camped, and he had his feed already on: Meares reported
that he had no more food for the dogs. He walked away,
and rolled in the snow on the way down, not having done
so when we got in. He was just like a naughty child all the
way, and pulled all out. He has been a good friend, and
has a good record, 82° 23'S. He was a bit done to-day:
the blizzard had knocked him. Gallant little Michael!” ?

As we got into our bags the mountain tops were fuzzy
with drift. We wanted one clear day to get across the
chasm: one short march and the ponies’ task was done.
Their food was nearly finished. Scott wrote that night :

“We are practically through with the first stage of our —

journey.” ?

“Tuesday, December 5. Camp 30. Noon. We awoke
this morning to a raging howling blizzard. The blows we
have had hitherto have lacked the very fine powdering
snow, that especial feature of the blizzard. To-day we
have it fully developed. After a minute or two in the
open one is covered from head to foot. The temperature is
high, so that what falls or drives against one sticks. The
ponies—heads, tails, legs and all parts not protected by
their rugs—are covered with ice; the animals are standing
deep in snow, the sledges are almost covered, and huge
drifts above the tents. We have had breakfast, rebuilt the
walls, and are now again in our bags. One cannot see the
next tent, let alone the land. What on earth does such
weather mean at this time of year? It is more than our
share of ill-fortune, I think, but the luck may turn yet....

“tr p.m. It has blown hard all day with quite the
greatest snowfall I remember. The drifts about the tents
are simply huge. The temperature was +27° this fore-
noon, and rose to + 31° in the afternoon, at which time the
snow melted as it fell on anything but the snow, and, as a
consequence, there are pools of water on everything, the
tents are wet through, also the wind-clothes, night-boots,

1 My own diary. 2 Scott’s Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 486.

THE POLAR JOURNEY 345

etc. ; water drips from the tent poles and door, lies on the
floor-cloth, soaks the sleeping-bags, and makes everything
pretty wretched. Ifa cold snap follows before we have
had time to dry our things, we shall be mighty uncom-
fortable. Yet after all it would be humorous enough if it
were not for the seriousness of delay—we can’t afford that,
and it’s real hard luck that it should come at such a time.
The wind shows signs of easing down, but the temperature
does not fall and the snow is as wet as ever, not promising
signs of abatement.

“Wednesday, December 6. Camp 30. Noon. Miser-
able, utterly miserable. We have camped in the ‘Slough
of Despond.’ The tempest rages with unabated violence.
The temperature has gone to +33°; everything in the
tent is soaking. People returning from the outside look
exactly as though they had been 1n a heavy shower of rain.
They drip pools on the floor-cloth. The snow is steadily
climbing higher about walls, ponies, tents and sledges.
The ponies look utterly desolate. Oh! But this is too
crushing, and we are only 12 miles from the glacier. A
hopeless feeling descends on one and 1s hard to fight off.
What immense patience is needed for such occasions! ””!

Bowers describes the situation as follows :

“It is blowing a blizzard such as one might expect to
be driven at us by all the powers of darkness. It may be
interesting to describe it, as it is my first experience of a
really warm blizzard, and I hope to be troubled by cold
ones only, or at least moderate ones only, in future as
regards temperature.

“When I swung the thermometer this morning |
looked and looked again, but unmistakably the tempera-
ture was + 33° F., above freezing point (out of the sun’s
direct rays) for the first time since we came down here.
What this means to us nobody can conceive. We try to
treat it as a huge joke, but our wretched condition might
be amusing to read of it later. We are wet through, our
tents are wet, our bags which are our life to us and the
objects of our greatest care, are wet ; the poor ponies are

1 Scott’s Last Expedition, vol. i. pp. 486-489.

346 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

soaked and shivering far more than they would be ordin-
arily in a temperature fifty degrees lower. Our sledges—
the parts that are dug out—are wet, our food is wet, every-
thing on and around and about us is the same—wet as
ourselves and our cold, clammy clothes. Water trickles
down the tent poles and only forms icicles in contact with
the snow floor. ‘The warmth of our bodies has formed a
snow bath in the floor for each of us to lie in. This is a
nice little catchwater for stray streams to run into before
they freeze. This they cannot do while a warm human lies
there, so they remain liquid and the accommodating bag
mops them up. When we go out to do the duties of life,
fill the cooker, etc., for the next meal, dig out or feed the
ponies, or anything else, we are bunged up with snow.
Not the driving, sandlike snow we are used to, but great
slushy flakes that run down in water immediately and
stream off you. The drifts are tremendous, the rest of the
show is indescribable. I feel most for the unfortunate
animals and am thankful that poor old Victor is spared
this. I mended a pair of half mitts to-day, and we are
having two meals instead of three. This idleness when one
is simply jumping to go on is bad enough for most, but
must be worse for Captain Scott. I feel glad that he has
Dr. Bill (Wilson) in his tent; there is something always so
reassuring about Bill, he comes out best in adversity.” 4

“Thursday, December 7. Camp 30. The storm con-
tinues and the situation is now serious. One small feed
remains for the ponies after to-day, so that we must either
march to-morrow or sacrifice the animals. ‘That is not the
worst; with the help of the dogs we could get on, without
doubt. The serious part is that we have this morning
started our Summit rations—that is to say, the food cal-
culated from the Glacier Depét has been begun. The first
supporting party can only go on a fortnight from this date
and so forth.” ?

This day was just as warm, and wetter—much wetter.
The temperature was +35.5°, and our bags were like
sponges. The huge drifts had covered everything, includ-

1 Bowers. 2 Scott’s Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 489.

i. hs ie atlas Arceabs. en F HET, Bad |.

A PONY CAMP ON THE BARRIER

ene 9 PS.

THE DOG TEAMS LEAVING THE BEARDMORE GLAZIER

THE POLAR JOURNEY 344

ing most of the tent, the pony walls and sledges. At inter-
vals we dug our way out and dug up the wretched ponies,
and got them on to’ the top again. “‘ Henceforward our
full ration will be 16 oz. biscuit, 12 oz. pemmican, 2 oz.
butter, 0.57 0Z. cocoa, 3.0 oz. sugar and 0.86 oz. tea.
This is the Summit ration, total 34.43 oz., with a little
onion powder and salt. I am all for this: Seaman Evans
and others are much regretting the loss of chocolate, raisins
and cereals. For the first week up the glacier we are to go
one biscuit short to provision Meares on the way back.
The motors depdted too much and Meares has been
brought on far farther than his orders were originally
bringing him. Originally he was to be back at Hut Point
on December 10. The dogs, however, are getting all the
horse that is good for them, and are very fit. He has to
average 24 miles a day going back. Michael is well out of
this: we are now eating him. He was in excellent condi-
tion and tastes very good, though tough.” ?

By this time there was little sleep left for us as we lay in
our sleeping-bags. Threedays generally see these blizzards
out, and we hoped much from Friday, December 8. But
when we breakfasted at 10 a.M. (we were getting into day-
marching routine) wind and snow were monotonously the
same. The temperature rose to +34.3°. These tempera-
tures and those recorded by Meares on his way home
must be a record for the interior of the Barrier. So far as
we were concerned it did not much matter now whether
it was +40° or +34°. Things did look really gloomy that
morning.

But at noon there came a gleam of comfort. The wind
dropped, and immediately we were out plunging about,
always up to our knees in soft downy snow, and often
much farther. First we shifted our tents, digging them up
with the greatest care that the shovel might not tear them.
The valances were encased in solid ice from the water
which had run down. ‘Then we started to find our sledges
which were about four feet down: they were dragged out,
and everything on them was wringing wet. There was a

1 My own diary.

348 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

gleam of sunshine, which soon gave place to snow and
gloom, but we started to make experiments in haulage.
Four men on ski managed to move a sledge with four
others sitting upon it. Nobby was led out, but sank to
his belly. As for the drifts I saw Oates standing behind
one, and only his head appeared, and this was all loose
snow.

“We are all sitting round now after some tea—it is
much better than getting into the bags. I can hardly think
that the ponies can pull on, but Titus thinks they can pull
to-morrow ; all the food is finished, and what they have
had to-day was only what they would not eat out of their
last feed yesterday. It is a terrible end—driven to death
on no more food, to be then cut up, poor devils. I have
swopped the Little Minister with Silas Wright for Dante’s
Inferno!”’1 The steady patter of the falling snow upon
the tents was depressing as we turned in, but the tempera-
ture was below freezing.

The next morning (Saturday, December 9) we turned
out to a cloudy snowy day at 5.30 a.m. By 8.30 we had
hauled the sledges some way out of the camp and started
to lead out the ponies. “The horses could hardly move,
sank up to their bellies, and finally lay down. They had to
be driven, lashed on. It was a grim business.’’?

My impressions of that day are of groping our way, for
Bowers and I were pulling a light sledge ahead to make
the track, through a vague white wall. First a confused
crowd of men behind us gathered round the leading pony
sledge, pushing it forward, the poor beast barely able to
struggle out of the holes it made as it plunged forward.
The others were induced to follow, and after a start had
been made the regular man-hauling party went back to
fetch their load. There was not one man there who would
willingly have caused pain to a living thing. But what
else was to be done—we could not leave our pony depét in
that bog. Hour after hour we plugged on: and we dare
not halt for lunch, we knew we could never start again.
After crossing many waves huge pressure ridges suddenly

1 My own diary. 2 Ibid.

THE POLAR JOURNEY 349

showed themselves all round, and we got on to a steep rise
with the coastal chasm on our right hand appearing as a
great dip full of enormous pressure. Scott was naturally
worried about crevasses, and though we knew there was
a way through, the finding of it in the gloom was most
difficult. For two hours we zig-zagged about, getting
forward it is true, but much bewildered, and once at any
rate almost bogged. Scott joined us, and we took off our
ski so as to find the crevasses, and if possible a hard way
through. Every step we sank about fifteen inches, and
often above our knees. Meanwhile Snatcher was saving
the situation in snow-shoes, and led the line of ponies.
Snippets nearly fell back into a big crevasse, into which his
hind quarters fell: but they managed to unharness him,
and scramble him out.

I do not know how long we had been going when Scott
decided to follow the chasm. We found a big dip with
hard ice underneath, and it was probably here that we
made the crossing: we could now see the ring of pressure
behind us. Almost it was decided to make the depét here,
but the ponies still plugged on in the most plucky way,
though they had to be driven. Scott settled to go as far
as they could be induced to march, and they did won-
derfully. Wehad never thought that they would goa mile:
but painfully they marched for eleven hours without a long
halt, and covered a distance which we then estimated at
seven miles. But our sledge-meters were useless being
clogged with the soft snow, and we afterwards came to
believe the distance was not so great: probably not more
than five. When we had reached a point some two miles
from the top of the snow divide which fills the Gateway we
camped, thankful to rest, but more thankful still that we
need drive those weary ponies no more. Their rest was
near. It was a horrid business, and the place was known as
Shambles Camp.

Oates came up to Scott as he stood in the shadow of
Mount Hope. “Well! I congratulate you, Titus,” said
Wilson. “And J thank you, Titus,”’ said Scott.

And that was the end of the Barrier Stage.

CHAPTER X

THE POLAR JOURNEY (continued)

The Southern Journey involves the most important object of the
Expedition. . . . One cannot affect to be blind to the situation: the
scientific public, as well as the more general public, will gauge the result of
the scientific work of the Expedition largely in accordance with the success
or failure of the main object. With success all roads will be made easy, all
work will receive its proper consideration. With failure even the most
brilliant work may be neglected and forgotten, at least for a time.—ScortrT.

Il. THe BearpDMoRE GLACIER

Tue ponies had dragged twenty-four weekly units of food
for four men to some five miles from the bottom of the
glacier, but we were late. For some days we had been
eating the Summit ration, that 1s the food which should
not have been touched until the Glacier Depot had been
laid, and we were still a day’s run from the place where this
was to be done: it was of course the result of the blizzard
which no one could have expected in December, usually
one of the two most settled months. Still more serious was
the deep snow which lay like down upon the surface, and
into which we sank commonly to our knees, our sledges
digging themselves in until the crosspieces were plough-
ing through the drift. Shackleton had fine weather, and
found blue ice in the bottom reaches of the glacier, and
Scott lamented what was unquestionably bad luck.

It was noon of December Io before we had made the
readjustments necessary for man-hauling. We left here
pony meat for man and dog food, three ten-foot sledges,
one twelve-foot sledge, and a good many oddments of

350

THE POLAR JOURNEY 351

clothing and pony gear. We started with three four-man
teams, each pulling for these first few miles about 500 lbs.,
as follows: (I) Scott, Wilson, Oates, Seaman Evans: (II)
Lieut. Evans, Atkinson, Wright, Lashly: (III) Bowers,
Cherry-Garrard, Crean, Keohane. The team numbered
(II) had been man-hauling together some days, and two
members of it, Lieut. Evans and Lashly, had already been
man-hauling since the breakdown of the second motor at
Corner Camp; it was certainly not so fit as the other two.
In addition tothese three sledges the two dog-teams, which
had been doing splendid work, were carrying 600 Ibs. of
our weight as well as the provisions for the Lower Glacier
Depét, weighing 200 lbs. It began to look as if Amundsen
had chosen the right form of transport.

The Gateway is agapin the mountains, a side door, as it
were, to the great tumbled glacier. By lunch we were on
the top of the divide, but it took six hours of the hardest
hauling to cover the mile which formed the rise. As long
as possible we stuck to ski, but we reached a point at which
we could not move the sledges on ski: once we had taken
them off we were up to our knees, and the sledges were
ploughing the snow which would not support them. But
our gear was drying in the bright sunshine, our bags were
spread out at every opportunity, and the great jagged cliffs
of red granite were welcome to the eyes after 425 statute
miles of snow. The Gateway 1s filled by a giant snow-
drift which has been formed between Mount Hope on our
left and the mainland on our right. From Shackleton’s
book we gathered that the Beardmore was a very bad
glacier indeed. Once on the top of the divide we lunched,
and we descended in the evening, camping at midnight on
the edge of the glacier, which we found, as we had feared,
covered with soft snow which was so deep as to give no
indication whatever of the hard ice which Shackleton found
here. ‘‘We camped in considerable drift and a blizzard
wind, which is still blowing, and I hope will go on, for
every hour it is sweeping away inches of this soft powdery
snow into which we have been sinking all day.” 4

1 My own diary.

352 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

Before setting out on December 11 we rigged up the
Lower Glacier Depot, three weekly Summit units of pro-
visions, two cases of emergency biscuit which was the
ration for three weekly units, and two cans of oil. These
provisions were calculated to carry the three returning
parties as far as the Southern Barrier Depét. We also left
one can of spirit, used for lighting the primus, one bottle
of medical brandy and certain spare and personal gear not
required. On the sledges themselves we stowed eighteen
weekly Summit units, besides the three ready bags con-
taining the ration for the current week, and the comple-
ment of biscuit, for this was ten cases in addition to the
three boxes of biscuit which the three parties were using.
Then there were eighteen cans of oil, with two cans of
lighting spirit and a little additional Christmas fare which
Bowers had packed. Every unit of food was worked out
for four men for one week.

During this time of deep snow the sledge-meters would
not work and we were compelled to estimate the distance
marched each day. “It has been a tremendous slog, but
I think a most hopeful day. Before starting it took us
about two hours to make the depét and then we got
straight into the midst of the big pressure. The dogs,
with ten cases of biscuit, came behind and pulled very
well. We soon caught sight of a big boulder, and Bill and
I roped up and went over to it. It was a block of very
coarse granite, nearly gneiss, with large crystals of quartz
in it, rusty outside and quite pinkish when chipped, and
with veins of quartz running through it. It was a vast
thing to be carried along on the ice, and looked very
typical of the rock round. Instead of keeping under the
great cliff where Shackleton made his depét, we steered for
Mount Kyffin, that is towards the middle of the glacier,
until lunch, when we had probably done about two or
three miles. ‘There was a crevasse wherever we went, but
we managed to pull on ski and had no one down, and the
deep snow saved the dogs.” The dog-teams were cer-
tainly running very big risks that morning. They turned

1 My own diary.

THE’ POLAR JOURNEY 353

back after lunch, having been brought on far longer than
had been originally intended, for, as I have said, they were
to have been back at Hut Point before now, and their
provision allowance would not allow of further advance.
Perhaps we rather overestimated the dogs’ capacities when
Bowers wrote: “The dogs are wonderfully fit and will
rush Meares and Dimitri back like the wind. I expect he
will be nearly back by Christmas, as they will do about
thirty miles a day.”” But Meares told us when we got back
to the hut that the dogs had by no means had an easy
journey home. Now, however, “with a whirl and a rush
they were off on the homeward trail. I could not see them
(being snow-blind), but heard the familiar orders as the
last of our animal transport left us.” }

Our difficulties during the next four days were in-
creased by the snow-blindness of half the men. The
evening we reached the glacier Bowers wrote: “ I am
afraid [ am going to pay dearly for not wearing goggles
yesterday when piloting the ponies. My right eye has
gone bung, and my left one is pretty dicky. If Iam in for
a dose of snow glare it will take three or four days to leave
me, and I am afraid I am in the ditch this time. It is pain-
ful to look at this paper, and my eyes are fairly burning
as if some one had thrown sand into them.”’ And then:
“T have missed my journal for four days, having been
enduring the pains of hell with my eyes as well as doing
the most back-breaking work I have ever come up against.
. . . | was as blind as a bat, and so was Keohane in my
team. Cherry pulled alongside me, with Crean and Keo-
hane behind. By sticking plaster over my glasses except
one small central spot I shut off most light and could see
the points of my ski, but the glasses were always fogged
with perspiration and my eyes kept on streaming water
which cannot be wiped off on the march as a ski stick is
held in each hand; and so heavy were our weights [we
had now taken on the weights which had been on the dog
sledges] that if any of the pair slacked a hand even, the
sledge stopped. It was all we could do to keep the sledge

1 Bowers.

2A

354 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

moving for short spells of a few hundred yards, the whole
concern sinking so deeply into the soft snow as to form a
snow-plough. ‘The starting was worse than pulling as it
required from ten to fifteen desperate jerks on the harness
to move the sledge at all.”” Many others were also snow-
blind, caused partly by the strain of the last march of the
ponies, partly by not having realized that now that we
were day-marching the sun was more powerful and more
precautions should be taken. The cocaine and zinc sul-
phate tablets which we had were excellent, but we also
found that our tea leaves, which had been boiled twice and
would otherwise have been thrown away, relieved the pain
if tied into some cotton and kept pressed against the eyes.
The tannic acid in the tea acted as an astringent. A snow-
blind man can see practically nothing anyhow and so he is
not much worse off if a handkerchief is tied over his eyes.

“ Beardmore Glacier. Just a tiny note to be taken back
by the dogs. Things are not so rosy as they might be, but
we keep our spirits up and say the luck must turn. This is
only to tell you that I find I can keep up with the rest as
well as of old.” ?

Then for the first time we were left with our full loads
of 800 Ibs. a sledge. Even Bowers asked Scott whether he
was going to try it without relaying. That night Scott’s
diary runs:

“It was a very anxious business when we started after
lunch, about 4.30. Could we pull our full loads or not?
My own party got away first, and, to my joy, I found we
could make fairly good headway. Every now and again
the sledge sank in a soft patch, which brought us up, but
we learned to treat such occasions with patience. We got
sideways to the sledge and hauled it out, Evans (P.O.)
getting out of his ski to get better purchase. The great
thing is to keep the sledge moving, and for an hour or
more there were dozens of critical moments when it all
but stopped, and not a few when it brought up altogether.
The latter were very trying and tiring.” ? Altogether it
was an encouraging day and we reckoned we had made

1 Scott. * Scott’s Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 4.97.

LHe: POLAR’ JOURNEY 355

seven miles. Generally it was not Scott’s team which made
the heaviest weather these days but on December 12 they
were in greater difficulties than any of us. It was indeed
a gruelling day, for the surface was worse than ever and
many men were snow-blind. After five hours’ work in the
morning we were about half a mile forward. We wereina
sea of pressure, the waves coming at us from our starboard
bow, the distance between the crests not being very great.
We could not have advanced at all had it not been for our
ski: “on foot one sinks to the knees, and if pulling on a
sledge to half way between knee and thigh.” 4

On December 13, “ the sledges sank in over twelve
inches, and all the gear, as well as the thwartship
pieces, were acting as breaks. The tugs and heaves we
enjoyed, and the number of times we had to get out of our
ski to upright the sledge, were trifles compared with the
strenuous exertion of every muscle and nerve to keep the
wretched drag from stopping when once under weigh ;
and then it would stick, and all the starting operations had
to be gone through afresh. We did perhaps half a mile in
the forenoon. Anticipating a better surface in the after-
noon we got a shock. Teddy [Evans] led off half an hour
earlier to pilot a way, and Captain Scott tried some fake
with his spare runners [he lashed them under the sledge to
prevent the cross-pieces ploughing the snow] that in-
volved about an hour’s work. We had to continually turn
our runners up to scrape the ice off them, for in these
temperatures they are liable to get warm and melt the
snow on them, and that freezes into knobs of ice which
act like sandpaper or spikes on a pair of skates. We bust
off second full of hope having done so well in the forenoon,
but pride goeth [before a fall]. We stuck ten yards from
the camp, and nine hours later found us little more than
half a mile on. I have never seen a sledge sink so. I have
never pulled so hard, or so nearly crushed my inside into my
backbone by the everlasting jerking with all my strength
on the canvas band round my unfortunate tummy. We
were all in the same boat however.

1 Scot?’s Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 499.

356 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

“T saw Teddy struggling ahead and Scott astern, but
we were the worst off as the leading team had topped the
rise and I was too blind to pick out a better trail. We
fairly played ourselves out that time, and finally had to
give it up and relay. Halving the load we went forward
about a mile with it, and, leaving that lot, went back for
the remainder. So done were my team that we could do
little more than pull the half loads. ‘Teddy’s team did the
same, and though Scott’s did not, we camped practically
the same time, having gone over our distance three times.
Mount Kyffin was still ahead of us to the left: we seemed
as if we can never come up with it. To-morrow Scott
decided that if we could not move our full loads we would
start relaying systematically. It was a most depressing
outlook after such a day of strenuous labour.” + We got
soaked with perspiration these days, though generally
pulling in vest, pants, and windproof trousers only.
Directly we stopped we cooled quickly. Two skuas
appeared at lunch, attracted probably by the pony
flesh below, but it was a long way from the sea for them
to come. On Thursday December 14, Scott wrote:
“Indigestion and the soggy condition of my clothes kept
me awake for some time last night, and the exceptional
exercise gives bad attacks of cramp. Our lips are getting
raw and blistered. The eyes of the party are improving,
I am glad to say. We are just starting our march with no
very hopeful outlook.”

But we slogged along with much better results. “Once
into the middle of the glacier we had been steering more
or less for the Cloudmaker and by supper to-day were
well past Mount Kyffin and were about 2000 feet up
after an estimated run of I1 or 12 statute miles. But the
most cheering sign was that the blue ice was gradually
coming nearer the surface; at lunch it was two feet down,
and at our supper camp only one foot. In pitching our
tent Crean broke into a crevasse which ran about a foot
in front of the door and there was another at Scott’s door.
We threw an empty oil can down and it echoed for a

1 Bowers.

THE POLAR JOURNEY 357

terribly long time.” 1 We spent the morning of December
15 crossing a maze of crevasses though they were well
bridged; 1 believe all these lower reaches of the glacier
are badly crevassed, but the thick snow and our ski kept
us from tumbling in. There was a great deal of competi-
tion between the teams which was perhaps unavoidable
but probably a pity. This day Bowers’ diary records,
“Did a splendid bust off on ski, leaving Scott in the
lurch, and eventually overhauling the party which had left
some time before us. All the morning we kept up a steady,
even swing which was quite a pleasure.’ But the same day
Scott wrote, “ Evans’ is now decidedly the slowest unit,
though Bowers’ is not much faster. We keep up and over-
haul either without difficulty.”” Bowers’ team considered
themselves quite good, but both teams were satisfied of
their own superiority; as a matter of fact Scott’s was the
faster, as it should have been for it was certainly the heavier
of the two.

“It was a very bad light all day, but after lunch it
began to get worse, and by 5 o’clock it was snowing hard
and we could see nothing. We went on for nearly an hour,
steering by the wind and any glimpse of sastrugi, and then,
very reluctantly, Scott camped. It looks better now. The
surface is much harder and more wind-swept, and asa rule
the ice is only six inches underneath. We are beginning
to talk about Christmas. We get very thirsty these days
in the warm temperatures: we shall feel it farther up
when the cold gets into our open pores and sunburnt hands
and cracked lips. I am plastering some skin on mine to-
night. Our routine now is: turn out 5.30, lunch 1, and
camp at 7, and we get a short 8 hours’ sleep, but we are so
dead tired we could sleep half into the next day: we get
about 93 hours’ march. Tea at lunch a positive godsend.
We are raising the land to the south well, and are about
2500 feet up, latitude about 84° 8’ S.”’?

The next day, December 16, Bowers wrote: “We
have had a really enjoyable day’s march, except the latter
end of the afternoon. At the outset in the forenoon my

1 My own diary. * Ibid.

358 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

sledge was a bit in the lurch, and Scott drew steadily away
from us. I knew I could ordinarily hold my own with him,
but for the first two hours we dropped till we were several
hundred yards astern; try as I would to rally up my team
we could gain nothing. On examining the runners how-
ever we soon discovered the cause by the presence of a thin
film of ice. After that we ran easily. The thing one must
avoid doing is to touch them with the hand or mitt, as any-
thing damp will make ice on them. We usually turn the
sledge on its side and scrape one runner at a time with the
back of our knives so as to avoid any chance of cutting or
chipping them. In the afternoon either the tea or the
butter we had at lunch made us so strong that we fairly
overran the other team.” !

‘“We must push on all we can, for we are now 6 days
behind Shackleton, all due to that wretched storm. So far, —
since we got among the disturbances we have not seen such
alarming crevasses as I had expected; certainly dogs could
have come up as far as this.” 2

‘““At lunch we could see big pressure ahead having
done first over five miles. Soon after lunch, having gone
down a bit, we rose among very rough stuff. We plugged
on until 4.30, when ski became quite impossible, and we
put them on the sledges and started on foot. We imme-
diately began putting legs down: one step would be on
blue ice and the next two feet down into snow: very hard
going. The pressure ahead seemed to stretch right into a
big glacier next the Keltie Glacier to the east, and so we
altered course for a small bluff point about two-thirds of
the way along the base of the Cloudmaker. We were to
camp at 6, but did not do so until about 6.30, the last 13
hours in big pressure, crossing big and smaller waves, and
hundreds of crevasses which one of us generally found.
We are now camped in very big pressure, and with diffi-
culty we found a patch big enough to pitch the tent free
from crevasses. We are pretty well past the Keltie Glacier
which is a vast tumbled mass: there is a long line of ice

falls ahead, and I think there is a hard day ahead of us to-

1 Bowers. 2 Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 506.

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THE; POLAR JOURNEY 359

morrow among that pressure which must be enormous.
We can’t go farther inshore here, being under the north
end of the Cloudmaker, and a fine mountain it is, rising
precipitously above us.

“Sunday, December 17. Nearly 11 miles. Temp.
12.5°. 3500 feet. We have had an exciting day—this
morning was just like the scenic railway at Earl’s Court.
We got straight on to the big pressure waves, and headed
for the humpy rock at the base of the Cloudmaker. It was
a hard plug up the waves, very often standing pulls, and
all that we could do for a course was a very varied direction.
Going down the other side was the exciting part: all we
could do was to set the sledge straight, hang on to the
straps, give her a little push and rush down the slope,
which was sometimes so sheer that the sledge was in the
air. Sometimes there was no chance to brake the sledge,
and we all had to get on to the top, and we rushed down
with the wind whistling in our ears. After three hours of
this it levelled out again a bit, and we took the top of a
wave, and ran south along it on blue ice : enormous
pressure to our right, largely I think caused by the Keltie
Glacier. Then we ascended a rise, snowy and crevassed,
and camped after doing just under five miles, with big
pressure ahead.” ?

“Tn the afternoon we had a hard surface. Scott started
off at a great speed, Teddy [Evans] and I following.
There was something wrong with my team or my sledge,
as we had a desperate job to keep up at first. We did keep
up all right, but were heartily glad when after about 25
hours Scott stopped for a spell. I rearranged our harness,
putting Cherry and myself on the long span again, which
we had temporarily discarded in the morning. We were
both winded and felt wronged. The rearrangement was
a success however, and the remainder of the march was a
pleasure instead of a desperate struggle. It finished up on
fields of blue rippled ice with sharp knife edges, and snow
patches few and far between. Weareall camped ona small
snow patch in the middle of a pale blue rippled sea, about

1 My own diary. 2 Tbid.

360 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

3600 feet above sea level and past the Cloudmaker, which
means that we are half way up the Glacier.”1 We had
done 124 miles (statute).

The Beardmore Glacier 1s twice as large as the Mala-
spina in Alaska, which was the largest known glacier until
Shackleton discovered the Beardmore. Those who knew
the Ferrar Glacier professed to find the Beardmore un-
attractive, but to me at any rate it was grand. Its very
vastness, however, tends to dwarf its surroundings, and
great tributary glaciers and tumbled ice-falls, which any-
where else would have aroused admiration, were almost
unnoticed in a stream which stretched in places forty
miles from bank to bank. It was only when the theodolite
was levelled that we realized how vast were the mountains
which surrounded us: one of which we reckoned to be
well over twenty thousand feet in height, and many of the
others must have approached that measurement. Lieu-
tenant Evans and Bowers were surveying whenever the
opportunity offered, whilst Wilson sat on the sledge or
on his sleeping-bag, and sketched.

Before leaving on the morning of December 18 we
bagged off three half-weekly units and made a depét
marked by a red flag on a bamboo which was stuck into a
small mound. Unfortunately it began to snow in the night
and no bearings were taken until the following morning
when only the base of the mountains on the west side was
visible. We knew we might have difficulty in picking up
this depét again, and certainly we all did.

‘“‘It was thick, with low stratus clouds in the morn-
ing, and snow was falling in large crystals. Our socks
and finnesko, hung out to dry, were covered with most
beautiful feathery crystals. In the warm weather one gets
fairly saturated with perspiration on the march, and foot-
gear is always wet, except the outside covering which is as
a rule more or less frozen according to existing tempera-
ture. On camping at night I shift to night foot-gear as
soon as ever the tent is pitched, and generally slip on my
windproof blouse, as one cools down like smoke after the

1 Bowers.

THE POLAR JOURNEY 361

exertion of man-hauling a heavy sledge for hours. At
lunch camp one’s feet often get pretty cold, but this goes
off as soon as some hot tea is got into the system. Asarule,
even when snowing, one’s socks, etc., will dry if there is a
bit ofa breeze. They are always frozen stiff in the morning
and can best be thawed out by bundling the lot [under
one’s] jersey during breakfast. They can then be put on
tolerably warm even if wet.

“We started off on a hard rippled blue surface like a
sea frozen intact while the wind was playing on it. It soon
got worse and we had to have one and sometimes two
hands back to keep the sledge from skidding. Of course
it was easy enough stuff to pull on, but the ground was
very uneven, and sledges constantly capsized. It did not
improve the runners either. There were few crevasses.

“All day we went on in dull cloudy weather with
hardly any land visible, and the glacier to be seen only
for a short distance. In the afternoon the clouds lifted
somewhat and showed us the Adam Mountains. The
surface was better for the sledges but worse for us, as
there were countless cracks and small crevasses, into which
we constantly trod, barking our shins. As the afternoon
sun came round the perspiration fairly streamed down, and
it was impossible to keep goggles clear. ‘The surface was
so slippery and uneven that it was difficult to keep one’s
foothold. However we did 124 miles, and felt that we had
really done a good day’s work when we camped. It was
not clear enough to survey in the evening, so I took the
sledge-meter in hand and worked at it half the night to
repair Christopher’s damage.t I ended up by making a
fixing of which I was very proud, but did not dare to look
at the time, so I don’t know how much sleep I missed.

“There is no doubt that Scott knows where to aim for
in a glacier, as it was just here that Shackleton had two or
three of his worst days’ work, in such a maze of crevasses
that he said that often a slip meant death for the whole
party. He avoids the sides of the glacier and goes nowhere
near the snow: he often heads straight for apparent chaos

1 See p. 332.

362 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

and somehow, when we appear to have reached a cul-de-
sac, we find it an open road.”’+- However, we all found
the trouble on our way back.

“On our right we have now a pretty good view of
the Adam, Marshall and Wild Mountains, and their
very curious horizontal stratification. Wright has found,
amongst bits of wind-blown débris, an undoubted bit of
sandstone and a bit of black basalt. We must get to know
more of the geology before leaving the glacier finally.” *

December 19, +7°. Total height 5800 feet. ‘‘ Things
are certainly looking up, seeing that we have risen 1100
feet, and marched 17 to 18 statute miles during the
day, whereas Shackleton’s last march was 13 statute. It
was still thick when we turned out at 5.45, but it soon
cleared with a fresh southerly wind, and we could see
Buckley Island and the land at the head of the glacier just
rising. We started late for Birdie wanted to get our sledge-
meter dished up: it has been quite a job to-day getting it
on, but it rode well this afternoon. We started over the
same crevassed stuff, but soon got on to blue ice, and for
two hours had a most pleasant pull, and then up a steepish
rise sometimes on blue ice and sometimes on snow. After
the pleasantest morning we have had, we completed 84
miles.

‘Angles and observations were taken at lunch, and
quite a lot of work was done. There is a general getting
squared up with gear, for we know that those going on
will not have many more days of warm temperatures. At
one time to-day I think Scott meant trying the right hand
of the island or nunatak, but as we rose this was ob-
viously impossible, for there is a huge mass of pressure
coming down there. From here the Dominion Range also
looks as if it were a nunatak. Some of these mountains,
which don’t look very big, are huge (since the six thousand
feet which we have risen have to be added on to them),
and many of them are very grand indeed. The Mill
Glacier is a vast thing, with big pressure across it. There
also seems to be a big series of ice-falls between Buckley

1 Bowers. 2 Scott’s Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 509.

THE POLAR JOURNEY 363

Island and the Dominion Range, for the centre of which
Scott is going to-morrow. A pretty hard plug this after-
noon, but no disturbance, and gradually we have left the
bare ice, and are mostly travelling on zévé. Much of the
ice is white. I have been writing down angles and times
for Birdie, and writing this in the intervals. Scott’s heel is
troubling him again. [‘I have bad bruises on knee and
thigh’],1 and generally there has been a run on the medical
cases for chafes, and minor ailments. There is now a keen
southerly wind blowing. It gets a little colder each day,
and we are already beginning to feel it on our sunburnt
faces and hands.” ?

Of the crevasses met in the morning Bowers wrote:
“So far nobody has dropped down the length of his
harness, as I did on the Cape Crozier journey. On this
blue ice they are pretty conspicuous, and as they are
mostly snow-bridged one is well advised to step over any
line of snow. With my short legs this was strenuous work,
especially as the weight of the sledge would often stop me
with a jerk just before my leading foot quite cleared a
crevasse, and the next minute one would be struggling out
so as to keep the sledge on the move. It is fatal to stop the
sledge as nobody waits for stragglers, and you have to pick
up your lost ground by strenuous hurry. Of course some
one often gets so far down a hole that it is necessary to stop
and help him out.”’

December 20. “’T’o-day has been a great march—over
two miles an hour, and on the whole rising a lot. Soon
after starting we got on to the most beautiful icy surface,
smooth except for cracks and only patches of snow, most
of which we could avoid. We came along at a great rate.

“The most interesting thing to see was that the Mill
Glacier is not, as was supposed, a tributary, but prob-
ably is an outlet falling from this glacier, and a great
size. However it was soon covered up with dense black
cloud, and there were billows of cloud behind us and below.

“At lunch Birdie made the disastrous discovery that
the registering dial of his sledge-meter was off. A screw

1 Scott’s Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 510. 2 My own diary.

364 .WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

had shaken out on the bumpy ice, and the clockwork had
fallen off. This is serious for it means that one of the three
returning parties will have to go without, and their navi-
gation will be much more difficult. Birdie is very upset,
especially after all the trouble he has taken with it, and the
hours which he has sat up. After lunch he and Bill walked
back near two miles in the tracks, but could not see it. It
was then getting very thick, coming over from the north.”
“Tt appeared to be blizzing down the glacier, though clear
to the south. The northerly wind drove up a back-draught
of snow, and very soon fogged us completely. However we
found our way back to camp by the crampon tracks on the
blue ice and then packed up to leave.” ?

“We started, making a course to hit the east side of
the island where there seems to be the only break in the
ice-falls which stretch right across. ‘The weather lifted, and
we are now camped with the island just to our right, the
long strata of coal showing plainly 1n it, and just in front
of us is this steep bit up through the falls. We have done
nearly 23 statute miles to-day, pulling 160 lbs. a man.

“This evening has been rather a shock. As I was
getting my finnesko on to the top of my ski beyond the
tent Scott came up to me, and said that he was afraid he

had rather a blow for me. Of course I knew what he was ~

going to say, but could hardly grasp that I was going back
—to-morrow night. The returning party is to be Atch,
Silas, Keohane and self.

“Scott was very put about, said he had been thinking
a lot about it but had come to the conclusion that the sea-
men with their special knowledge, would be needed: to
rebuild the sledge, I suppose. Wilson told me it was a toss-
up whether Titus or I should go on: that being so I think
Titus will help him more than I can. I said all I could
think of—he seemed so cut up about it, saying “I think,
somehow, it is specially hard on you.’ I said I hoped I
had not disappointed him, and he caught hold of me
and said ‘No—no—No,’ so if that is the case all is well.
He told me that at the bottom of the glacier he was

1 My own diary. 2 Bowers.

NIGHT CAMP. BUCKLEY ISLAND
December, 20, 1911

Printed by Emery Walker Ltd, London

THE POLAR JOURNEY 365

hardly expecting to go on himself: I don’t know what
the trouble is, but his foot is troubling him, and also, I
think, indigestion.” 4

Scott just says in his diary, “I dreaded this necessity of
choosing—nothing could be more heartrending.” And
then he goes on to sum up the situation, “I calculated our
programme to start from 85° 10’ with 12 units of food and
eight men. We ought to be in this position to-morrow
night, less one day’s food. After all our harassing trouble
one cannot but be satisfied with such a prospect.” 2

December 21. Upper Glacier Depdt. “Started off
with a nippy S.Wly. wind in our faces, but bright sun-
shine. One’s nose and lips being chapped and much
skinned with alternate heat and cold, a breeze in the face
is absolute agony until you warm up. This does not take
long, however, when pulling a sledge, so after the first
quarter of an hour more or less one is comfortable unless
the wind is very strong.

““We made towards the only place where it seemed
possible to cross the mass of pressure ice caused by the
junction of the plateau with the glacier, and congested
between the nunatak [Buckley Island] and the Dominion
Range. Scott had considered at one time going up to
westward of the nunatak, but this appeared more chaotic
than the other side. We made for a slope close to the end
of the island or nunatak, where Shackleton must have got
up also; it is obviously the only place when you look at it
from a commanding rise. We did not go quite so close to
the land as Shackleton did, and therefore, as had been the
case with us all the way up the glacier, found less diffi-
culties than he met with. Scott is quite wonderful in his
selections of route, as we have escaped excessive dangers
and difficulties all along. In this case we had fairly good
going, but got into a perfect mass of crevasses into which
we all continually fell; mostly one foot, but often two,
and occasionally we went down altogether, some to the
length of their harness to be hauled out with the Alpine
rope. Most of them could be seen by the strip of snow on

1 My own diary. 2 Score’s Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 511-512.

366 WORST JOURNEY ‘IN THE WORLD

the blue ice. They were often too wide to jump though,
and the only thing was to plant your feet on the bridge and
try not to tread heavily. Asa rule the centre of a bridged
crevasse is the safest place, the rotten places are at the
edges. We had to go over dozens by hopping right on to
the bridge and then over on to the ice. It is a bit of a jar
when it gives way under you, but the friendly harness is
made to trust one’s life to. The Lord only knows how deep
these vast chasms go down, they seem to extend into blue
black nothingness thousands of feet below.

‘Before reaching the rise we had to go up and down
many steep slopes, and on the one side the sledges were
overrunning us, and on the other it fairly took the juice
out of you to reach the top. We saw the stratification on
the nunatak which Shackleton supposed to be coal: there
was also much sandstone and red granite. I should like
to have scratched round these rocks: we may get a chance
on our return journey. As we topped each rise we found
another one beyond it, and so on.

‘‘About noon some clouds settled in a fog round us,
and being fairly in a trough of crevasses we could not get
on. Fortunately we found a snow patch to pitch the tents
on, but even there were crevasses under us. However, we
enjoyed a hearty lunch, and I improved the shining hour
by preparing my rations for the Upper Glacier Depét.

‘“* At 3 p.m. it cleared, and Mount Darwin, a nunatak
to the S.W. of the others, could be seen. This we made
for, and some two miles on exchanged blue ice for the new
snow which was much harder pulling. Scott was fairly
wound up, and he went on and on. Every rise topped
seemed to fire him with a desire to top the next, and every
rise had another beyond and above it. We camped at
8 p.m., all pretty weary, having come up nearly 1 500 feet,
and done over eleven miles in a S.W. direction. We were
south of Mount Darwin in 85° 7’ S., and our corrected
altitude proved to be 7000 feet above the Barrier. I
worked up till a very late hour getting the depdt stores
ready, and also weighing out and arranging allowances
for the returning party, and arranging the stores and dis-

THE POLAR JOURNEY 367

tribution of weights of the two parties going on. The
temperature was down to zero to-day, the lowest it has
been for some time this summer weather.” }

“There is a very mournful air to-night—those going
on and those turning back. Bill came in while I was
cooking, to say good-bye. He told me he fully expected to
come back with the next party: that he could see Scott
was going to take on the strongest fellows, perhaps three
seamen. It would bea great disappointment if Bill did not
Bo on.’ *

We gave away any gear which we could spare to those
going on, and I find the following in my diary:

“I have been trying to give away my spare gear where
it may be most acceptable: finnesko to Birdie, pyjama
trousers to Bill, and a bag of baccy for Bill to give Scott
on Christmas Day, some baccy to Titus, jaeger socks and
half my scarf to Crean, and a bit of handkerchief to Birdie.
Very tired to-night.”

Scott wrote: ‘We are struggling on, considering all
things against odds. The weather is a constant anxiety,
otherwise arrangements are working exactly as planned.

‘Here we are practically on the summit and up to date
in the provision line. We ought to get through.” 3

1 Bowers. 2 My own diary. 3 Scott’s Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 513.

CHAPTER XI
THE POLAR JOURNEY (continued)

People, perhaps, still exist who believe that it is of no importance to
explore the unknown polar regions. ‘This, of course, shows ignorance. It
is hardly necessary to mention here of what scientific importance it is that
these regions should be thoroughly explored. he history of the human
race is a continual struggle from darkness towards light. It is, therefore,
to no purpose to discuss the use of knowledge ; man wants to know, and
when he ceases to do so, he is no longer man.— Nansen.

Ill. THe Pratreau rrom Mount Darwin To

LAT 8G 32) ws

First Sledge Second Sledge
SCOtus, LigEuT. EVANS
WILSON BOWERS
OATES LASHLY
SEAMAN EVANS CREAN

For the first week on the plateau Bowers wrote a full
diary, which I give below. After December 28 there
are little more than fragmentary notes until January 19,
the day the party started to return from the Pole. From
then until January 25, he wrote fully ; nothing after
that until January 29, followed by more fragments
to ‘February 3rd (I suppose).”’ That is the last entry he
made.

But this is not surprising, even in a man of Bowers’
energy. The time a man can give to writing under such
conditions is limited, and Bowers had a great deal of it to
do before he could think of a diary—the meteorological
log; sights for position as well as rating sights for time;
and all the routine work of weights, provisions and depéts.

368

the POUCAR JOURNEY 369

He wrote no diary at the Pole, but he made a very full
meteorological report while there in addition to working
out sights. The wonder is that he kept a diary at all.

From Bowers’ Diary
December 22. Midsummer Day. We have had a

brilliant day with a temperature about zero and no wind,
altogether charming conditions. I rigged up the Upper
Glacier Depot after breakfast. Wedepéted two half-weekly
units for return of the two parties, also all crampons and
glacier gear, such as ice-axes, crowbar, spare Alpine rope,
etc., personal gear, medical, and in fact everything we could
dispense with. I left my old finnesko, wind trousers and
some other spare gear in a bag for going back.

The two advance parties’ weights amounted to 190 lbs.
per man. They consisted of the permanent weights, twelve
weeks’ food and oil, spare sledge runners, etc. We said
good-bye and sent back messages and photo films with the
Hirst Returning Party, which consisted of Atch, Cherry,
Silas and Keohane. It was quite touching saying farewell
to our good pals—they wished us luck, and Cherry, Atch
and Silas quite overwhelmed me.

We went forward, the Owner’s team as before consist-
ing of Dr. Bill, Titus and [Seaman] Evans, and [ Lieut. ]
Teddy Evans and Lashly coming over to my sledge and
tent to join up with Crean and myself. We all left the
depot cairn marked with two spare 10-feet sledge runners
and a large black flag on one. Our morning march was
not so long as usual owing to making up the depét, but
we did five miles uphill, hauling our heavier loads more
easily than the lighter ones yesterday. A fall in the tem-
perature had improved the surface. We had also sand-
papered our runners after the tearing up they had had on
the glacier; this made a tremendous difference. The
afternoon march brought our total up to 10.6 miles for
the day on a S.W. course.

Weare steering S.W. with a view to avoiding ice-falls
which Shackleton met with. We came across very few cre-
vasses ; the few we found were as broad as a street, and

a5

370 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

crossing them the whole party, sledge and all, would be on
the bridge at once. They only gave way at the edges, and
we did nothing worse than put our feet through now and
then. The surface is all snow now, névé and hard sastrugi,
which seem to point to a strong prevalent S.S.E. wind here.

We are well clear of the land now, and it is a beauti-
ful evening. I have just taken six photographs of the
Dominion Range. We can see many new mountains. Our
position by observation is 85° 13’ 29” S., 161° 54’ 45” E.,
variation being 175° 45’.

December 23. Turned out at usual time, 5.45 A.M.
I am cook this week in our tent. After breakfast built two
cairns to mark spot and shoved off at quarter to eight.

We started up a big slope ona S. W. course to avoid the
pressure which lay across our track to the southward. It
was a pretty useful slog up the rise, at one time 1t seemed
as if we would never top the slope. We stopped for five
minutes to look round after 24 hours’ hard plugging and
about 14 hours later reached the top, from which we could
see the distant mountains which have so recently been our
companions. They are beginning to look pretty magni-
ficent. The top of the great pressure ridge was running
roughlyS.E.and N.W.: itwas one of a succession of ridges
which probably cover an area of fifty or sixty square miles.
In this neighbourhood Shackleton met them almost to 863°
south. At the top of the ridge were vast crevasses into
which we could have dropped the Terra Nova easily. The
bridges were firm, however, except at the sides, though we
had frequent stumbles into the conservatory roof, so to
speak. The sledges were rushed over them without mishap.
We had to head farther west to clear disturbances, and at
one time were going W.N.W.

At lunch camp we had done 8} miles, and in the after-
noon we completed fifteen on a S.W. course over improved
ground. Our routine is to actually haul our sledges for nine
hours a day; five in the morning, 7.15 a.m. till I P.M. 3
and four in the afternoon, 2.30 p.M.-6.30 P.M. We turn
out at 5.45 A.M. just now. The loads are still pretty heavy,
but the surface is remarkably good considering all things.

THE POLAR JOURNEY 371

One gets pretty weary towards the end of the day; all my
muscles have had their turn at being [stiffened] up. These
hills are giving my back ones a reminder, but they will
ache less to-morrow and finally cease to do so, as is the case
with legs, etc., which had their turn first.

December 24. Christmas Eve. We started off heading
due south this morning, as we are many miles to the west-
ward of Shackleton’s course and should if anywhere be
clear of the ice-falls and pressure. Of course no mortals
having been here, one can only conjecture ; as a matter of
fact, we found later in the day that we were not clear by
any means, and had to do a bit of dodging about to avoid
disturbances, as well as mount vast ridges with the tops of
them a chaos of crevasses. The tops are pretty hard ice-
snow, over which the sledges run easily ; it is quite a holi-
day after slogging up the slopes on the softer surface with
our heavy loads, which amount to over 190 lbs. per man.

We mark our night camp by two cairns and our lunch
camp by single ones. It is doubtful, however, among these
ridges, if we will ever pick them up again, and it does not
really matter, as we have excellent land for the Upper
Glacier Depdt. We completed fourteen miles and turned
in as usual pretty tired.

December 25. Christmas Day. A strange and strenu-
ous Christmas for me, with plenty of snow to look at and
very little else. The breeze that had blown in our faces all
yesterday blew more freshly to-day, with surface drift. It
fairly nipped one’s nose and face starting off—auntil one
got warmed up. We had to pull in wind blouses, as though
one’s body kept warm enough on the march the arms got
numbed with the penetrating wind no matter how vigor-
ously they were swung. Another thing is that one cannot
stop the team on the march to get clothes on and off, so it
is better to go the whole hog and be too hot than cause
delays. We had the addition of a little pony meat for
breakfast to celebrate the day. I am the cook of our tent
this week.

We steered south again and struck our friends the
crevasses and climbed ridges again. About the middle of

372. WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

the morning we were all falling in continually, but Lashly
in my team had the worst drop. He fell to the length of
his harness and the trace. I was glad that having noticed
his rope rather worn, I had given him a new one a few days
before. He jerked Crean and me off our feet backwards,
and Crean’s harness being jammed under the sledge, which
was half across an eight-feet bridge, he could do nothing.
I was a little afraid of sledge and all going down, but
fortunately the crevasse ran diagonally. We could not
see Lashly, for a great overhanging piece of ice was over
him. Teddy Evans and I cleared Crean and we all three
got Lashly up with the Alpine rope cut into the snow sides
which overhung the hole. We then got the sledge into
safety.

To-day is Lashly’s birthday ; he is married and has a
family ; is 44 years of age, and due for his pension from
the service. He is as strong as most and is an undefeated
old sportsman. Being a chief stoker, R.N., his original job
was charge of one of the ill-fated motor sledges.

[The following is Lashly’s own account :

“Christmas Day and a good one. We have done 15
miles over a very changing surface. First of all it was very
much crevassed and pretty rotten ; we were often in difh-
culties as to which way we should tackle it. I had the mis-

fortune to drop clean through, but was stopped with a jerk —

when at the end of my harness. It was not of course a very
nice sensation, especially on Christmas Day, and being my
birthday as well. While spinning round in space like I was
it took me a few seconds to gather together my thoughts
and see what kind of a place I was in. It certainly was not
a fairy’s place. When I had collected myself I heard some
one calling from above, ‘Are you all right, Lashly?’ I
was all right it is true, but I did not care to be dangling in
the air on a piece of rope, especially when I looked round

and saw what kind of a place it was. It seemed about 50 ~
feet deep and 8 feet wide, and 120 feet long. This infor- —

mation | had ample time to gain while dangling there. I
could measure the width with my ski sticks, as I had them
on my wrists. It seemed a long time before I saw the rope

THE POLAR JOURNEY 373

come down alongside me with a bowline in it for me to put
my foot in and get dragged out. It was not a job I should
care to have to go through often, as by being in the crevasse
I had got cold and a bit frost-bitten on the hands and face,
_ which made it more difficult for me to help myself. Any-
how Mr. Evans, Bowers and Crean hauled me out and
Crean wished me many happy returns of the day, and of
course I thanked him politely and the others laughed, but
all were pleased I was not hurt bara bit of ashake. It was
funny although they called to the other team to stop they
did not hear, but went trudging on and did not know until
they looked round just in time to see me arrive on top
again. They then waited for us to come up with them.
The Captain asked if I was all right and could go on again,
which I could honestly say ‘ Yes’ to, and at night when we
stopped for dinner I felt I could do two dinners in. Any-
how we had a pretty good tuck-in. Dinner consisted of
pemmican, biscuits, chocolate éclair, pony meat, plum
pudding and crystallized ginger and four caramels each.
We none of us could hardly move.” *]

We had done over eight miles at lunch. I had managed
to scrape together from the Barrier rations enough extra
food to allow us a stick of chocolate each for lunch, with
two spoonfuls of raisins each in our tea. In the afternoon
we got clear of crevasses pretty soon, but towards the end
of the afternoon Captain Scott got fairly wound up and
went on and on. The breeze died down and my breath
kept fogging my glasses, and our windproofs got oppress-
ively warm and altogether things were pretty rotten. At
last he stopped and we found we had done 147 miles. He
said, ‘“ What about fifteen miles for Christmas Day?” so
we gladly went on—anything definite is better than indefi-
nite trudging.

We had a great feed which I had kept hidden and out
of the official weights since our departure from Winter
Quarters. It consisted of a good fat hoosh with pony meat
and ground biscuit; a chocolate hoosh made of water,
cocoa, sugar, biscuit, raisins, and thickened with a spoonful

1 Lashly’s diary.

374 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

of arrowroot. (Thisis the most satisfying stuff imaginable.)
Then came 23 square inches of plum-duff each, and a good
mug of cocoa washed down the whole. In addition to this
we had four caramels each and four squares of crystallized
ginger. I positively could not eat all mine, and turned in
feeling as if I had made a beast of myself. I wrote up my
journal—in fact I should have liked somebody to put me
to bed.

December 26. We have seen many new ranges of
mountains extending to the S.E. of the Dominion Range.
They are very distant, however, and must evidently be the
top of those bounding the Barrier. They could only be
seen from the tops of the ridges as waves up which we are
continually mounting. Our height yesterday morning by
hypsometer was 8000 feet. That is our last hypsometer
record, as I had the misfortune to break the thermometer.
The hypsometer was one of my chief delights, and nobody
could have been more disgusted than myself at its breaking.
However, we have the aneroid to check the height. Weare
going gradually up and up. As one would expect, a con-
siderable amount of lassitude was felt over breakfast after
our feed last night. The last thing on earth I wanted to do
was to ship the harness round my poor tummy when we
started. As usual a stiff breeze from the south and a tem-
perature of — 7° blew in our faces. Strange to say, how-
ever, we don’t get frost-bitten. I suppose it is the open-air
life.

I could not tell if I had a frost-bite on my face now, as
it is all scales, so are my lips and nose. A considerable
amount of red hair is endeavouring to cover up matters.
We crossed several ridges, and after the effects of over-
feeding had worn off did a pretty good march of thirteen
miles.

[No more Christmas Days, so no more big hooshes."]

December 27. There is something the matter with
our sledge or our team, as we have an awful slog to keep up
with the others. I asked Dr. Bill and he said their sledge
ran very easily. Ours is nothing but a desperate drag with

1 Lashly’s diary.

THE POLAR JOURNEY 375

constant rallies to keep up. We certainly manage to do so,
but I am sure we cannot keep this up for long. We are all
pretty well done up to-night after doing 13.3 miles.

Our salvation is on the summits of the ridges, where
hard névé and sastrugi obtain, and we skip over this slip-
pery stuff and make up lost ground easily. In soft snow
the other team draw steadily ahead, and it is fairly heart-
breaking to know you are putting your life out hour after
hour while they go along with little apparent effort.

December 28. The last few days have been absol-
utely cloudless, with unbroken sunshine for twenty-four
hours. It sounds very nice, but the temperature never
comes above zero and what Shackleton called “the pitiless
increasing wind” of the great plateau continues to blow at
all times from the south. It never ceases, and all night it
whistles round the tents, all day it blows in our faces.
Sometimes it is S.S.E., or S.E. to S., and sometimes even
S. to W., but always southerly, chiefly accompanied by low
drift which at night forms quite a deposit round thesledges.
We expected this wind, so we must not growl at getting it.
It will be great fun sailing the sledges back before it. As
far as weather is concerned we have had remarkably fine
days up here on this limitless snow plain. I should like to
know what there is beneath us—mountains and valleys
simply levelled off to the top with ice? We constantly
come across disturbances which I can only imagine are
caused by the peaks of ice-covered mountains, and no
doubt some of the ice-falls and crevasses are accountable
tothe same source. Our coming west has not cleared them,
as we have seen more disturbances to the west, many miles
away. However, they are getting less and less, and are now
nothing but featureless rises with apparently no crevasses.
Our first two hours’ pulling to-day... .

From Lashly’s Diary

December 29, 1911. A nasty head wind all day and
low drift which accumulates in patches and makes it the
deuce of a job to get along. We have got to put in long
days to do the distance.

376 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

December 30, 1911. Sledges going heavy, surface
and wind the same as yesterday. We depdted our ski to-
night, that is the party returning to-morrow, when we march
in the forenoon and camp to change our sledge runners
into 10 feet. Done 11 miles but a bit stiff.

December 31, 1911. After doing 7 miles we camped
and done the sledges which took us until 11 P.m., and we
had to dig out to get them done by then, made a depot and
saw the old year out and the new year in. We all wondered
where we should be next New Year. It was so still and
quiet ; the weather was dull and overcast all night, in fact
we have not seen much of the sun lately; it would be so
nice if we could sometimes get a glimpse of it, the sun is
always cheering.

January 1912. New Year's Day. .We pushed on as
usual, but were rather late getting away, 9.10—something
unusual for us to be as late. The temperature and wind is
still very troublesome. We are now ahead of Shackleton’s
dates and have passed the 87th parallel, so it is only 180
miles to the Pole.

January 2, 1912. The dragging is still very heavy
and we seem to be always climbing higher. We are now
over 10,000 feet above sea level. It makes it bad as we
don’t get enough heat in our food and the tea is not strong
enough to run out of the pot. Everything gets cold so
quickly, the water boils at about 196° F.

Scott’s own diary of this first fortnight on the plateau
shows the immense shove of the man: he was getting every
inch out of the miles, every ounce out of his companions.
Also he was ina hurry, he always was. That blizzard which
had delayed him just before the Gateway, and the resulting
surfaces which had delayed him in the lower reaches of the
glacier! One can feel the averages running through his
brain: so many miles to-day: so many more to-morrow.
When shall we come to an end of this pressure? Can we
go straight or must we go more west? And then the great
undulating waves with troughs eight miles wide, and the
buried mountains, causing whirlpools in the ice—how

THE POLAR JOURNEY 377

immense, and how annoying. The monotonous march:
the necessity to keep the mind concentrated to steer
amongst disturbances : the relief of a steady plod when
the disturbances cease for a time: then more pressure and
more crevasses. Always slog on,slog on. Alwaysa fraction
of a mile more. . . . On December 30 he writes, ‘‘ We
have caught up Shackleton’s dates.” }

They made wonderful marches, averaging nearly fifteen
statute miles (13 geog.) a day for the whole-day marches
until the Second Return Party turned back on January 4.
Scott writes on December 26, “It seems astonishing to be
disappointed with a march of 1 ¢ (statute) miles when I had
contemplated doing little more than 10 with full loads.” ?

The Last Returning Party came back with the news
that Scott must reach the Pole with the greatest ease. This
seemed almost a certainty: and yet it was, as we know now,
a false impression. Scott’s plans were based on Shackle-
ton’s averages over the same country. The blizzard came
and put him badly behind: but despite this he caught
Shackleton up. No doubt the general idea then was that
Scott was going to have a much easier time than he had
expected. We certainly did not realize then, and I do
not think Scott himself had any notion of, the price which
had been paid.

Of the three teams of four men each which started from
the bottom of the Beardmore, Scott’s team was a very long
way the strongest : it was the team which, with one addi-
tion, went to the Pole. Lieutenant Evans’ team had mostly
done a lot of man-hauling already: it was hungry and I
think a bit stale. Bowers’ team was fresh and managed to
keep up for the most part, but it was very done at the end
of the day. Scott’s own team went along with comparative
ease. From the top of the glacier two teams went on during
the last fortnight of which we have been speaking. The
first of them was Scott’s unit complete, just as it had pulled
up the glacier. The second team consisted, I believe, of the
men whom Scott considered to be the strongest ; two from
Evans’ team, and two from Bowers’. All Scott’s team were

1 Scott’s Last Expedition, vol. i. p. §25. Abide ps 5216

378 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

fresh to the extent that they had done no man-hauling until
we started up the glacier. But two of the other team,
Lieutenant Evans and Lashly, had been man-hauling since
the breakdown of the second motor on November 1. They
had man-hauled four hundred statute miles farther than the
rest. Indeed Lashly’s man-hauling journey from Corner
Camp to beyond 87° 32’ S., and back, is one of the great
feats of polar travelling.

Surely and not very slowly, Scott’s team began to wear
down the other team. They were going easily when the
others were making heavy weather and were sometimes far
behind. During the fortnight they rose, according to the
corrected observations, from 7151 feet (Upper Glacier
Depét) to 9392 feet above sea level (Three Degree Depot).
The rarefied air of the Plateau with its cold winds and
lower temperatures, just now about - 10° to — 12° at night
and — 3° during the day, were having their effect on the
second team, as well as the forced marches. This is quite
clear from Scott’s diary, and from the other diaries also.
What did not appear until after the Last Returning Party
had turned homewards was that the first team was getting
worn out too. This team which had gone so strong up the
glacier, which had done those amazingly good marches on
the plateau, broke up unexpectedly and in some respects
rapidly from the 88th parallel onwards.

Seaman Evans was the first man to crack. He was the
heaviest, largest, most muscular man we had, and that was
probably one of the main reasons: for his allowance of
food was the same as the others. But one mishap which
contributed to his collapse seems to have happened during
this first fortnight on the plateau. On December 31 the
12-feet sledges were turned into 10-feet ones by stripping
off the old scratched runners which had come up the glacier
and shipping new 1o-feet ones which had been brought for
the purpose. This job was done by the seamen, and Evans
appears to have had some accident to his hand, which 1s
mentioned several times afterwards.

Meanwhile Scott had to decide whom he was going to
take on with him to the Pole,—for it was becoming clear

THE POLAR JOURNEY 379

that in all probability he wou/d reach the Pole: ‘‘ What
castles one builds now hopefully that the Pole is ours,” he
wrote the day after the supporting party left him. The
final advance to the Pole was, according to plan, to have
been made by four men. We were organized in four-man
units: our rations were made up for four men fora week:
our tents held four men: our cookers held four mugs, four
pannikins and four spoons. Four days before the Support-
ing Party turned, Scott ordered the second sledge of four
men to depot their ski. It is clear, I suppose, that at this
time he meant the Polar Party to consist of four men. I
think there can be no doubt that he meant one of those men
to be himself: “for your own ear also, I am exceedingly
fit and can go with the best of them,” he wrote from the
top of the glacier.?

He changed his mind and went forward a party of five:
Scott, Wilson, Bowers, Oates and Seaman Evans. I am
sure he wished to take as many men as possible to the Pole.
He sent three men back: Lieutenant Evans in charge, and
two seamen, Lashly and Crean. It is the vivid story of
those three men, who turned on January 4 in latitude
87° 32’, which is told by Lashly in the next chapter. Scott
wrote home: ‘A last note from a hopeful position. I
think it’s going to be all right. We have a fine party going
forward and arrangements are all going well.” ?

Ten months afterwards we found their bodies.

1 Scott’s Last Expedition, vol. i. p. §13.- 2 Ibid. p. 529.

CHAP PRR. XU

THE POLAR JOURNEY (continued)

THE peviL. And these are the creatures in whom you discover what
you calla Life Force!

DON JuAN. Yes; for now comes the most surprising part of the
whole business.

THE STATUE. What’s that?

pon juan. Why, that you can make any of these cowards brave by
simply putting an idea into his head.

THE sTATUE. Stuff! As an old soldier I admit the cowardice:
it’s as universal as sea sickness, and matters just as little. But that about
putting an idea into a man’s head is stuff and nonsense. In a battle all
you need to make you fight is a little hot blood and the knowledge that
it’s more dangerous to lose than to win.

pon juaN. That is perhaps why battles are so useless. But men
never really overcome fear until they imagine they are fighting to further
a universal purpose—fighting for an idea, as they call it.

BernarpD SHAaw, Maz and Superman.

IV. Rerurninc Partiks

Two Dog Teams (Meares and Dimitri) turned back from
the bottom of the Beardmore Glacier on December 11,
1911. They reached Hut Point on January 4, 1912.

First Supporting Party (Atkinson, Cherry-Garrard,
Wright, Keohane) turned back in lat. 85° 1 5’0n December
22, 1911. They reached Hut Point January 26, 1912.

Last Supporting Party (Lieut. Evans, Lashly, Crean)
turned back in lat. 87° 32’ on January 4, 1912. They
reached Hut Point February 22, 1912.

Of the three teams which started up the Beardmore
Glacier the first to return, a fortnight after starting the
Summit Rations, was known as the First Supporting

380

THE POLAR JOURNEY 381

Party: the second to return, a month after starting the
Summit Rations, was known as the Last Supporting Party.
Of the two dog-teams under Meares, which had already
turned homewards at the bottom of the glacier after having
been brought forward farther than had been intended, I
will speak later.+

I am going to say very little about the First Return
Party, which consisted of Atkinson, Wright, Keohane and
myself. Atkinson was in command, and before we left
Scott told him to bring the dog-teams out to meet the Polar
Party if, as seemed likely, Meares returned home. Atkin-
son is a naval surgeon and you will find this party referred
to in Lashly’s diary as ‘‘ the Doctor’s.”’

“It was a sad job saying good-bye. It was thick, snow-
ing and drifting clouds when we started back after making
the depét, and the last we saw of them as we swung the
sledge north was a black dot just disappearing over the
next ridge and a big white pressure wave ahead of them.
. . . Scott said some nice things when we said good-bye.
Anyway he has only to average seven miles a day to get to
the Pole on full rations—it’s practically a cert for him. I
do hope he takes Bill and Birdie. The view over the ice-
falls and pressure by the Mill Glacier from the top of the
ice-falls is one of the finest things I have ever seen. Atch
is doing us proud.” 2

No five hundred mile journey down the Beardmore and
across the Barrier can be uneventful, even in midsummer.
We had the same dreary drag, the same thick weather,
fears and anxieties which other parties have had. A touch
of the same dysentery and sickness: the same tumbles and
crevasses: the same Christmas comforts, a layer of plum
pudding at the bottom of our cocoa, and some rocks col-
lected from a moraine under the Cloudmaker: the same
groping for tracks: the same cairns lost and found, the
same snow-blindness and weariness, nightmares, food
dreams. ... Why repeat ? Comparatively speaking it was
avery little journey: and yet the distance from Cape Evans

1 See pp. 382, 383, 410, 412.
2 My own diary, December 22, rgrI.

382 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

to the top of the Beardmore Glacier and back is 1164
statute miles. Scott’s Southern Journey of 1902-3 was
9 50 statute miles.

One day only is worth recalling. We got into the same
big pressure above the Cloudmaker which both the other
parties experienced. But where the other two parties made
east to get out of it, we went west at Wright’s suggestion :
west was right. The day really lives in my memory because
of the troubles of Keohane. He fell into crevasses to the
full length of his harness eight times in twenty-five minutes.
Little wonder he looked a bit dazed. And Atkinson went
down into one chasm head foremost: the worst crevasse
fall ’'ve ever seen. But luckily the shoulder straps of his
harness stood the strain and we pulled him up little the
worse.

All three parties off the plateau owed a good deal to
Meares, who, on his return with the two dog-teams, built
up the cairns which had been obliterated by the big bliz-
zard of December 5-8. The ponies’ walls were drifted level
with the surface, and Meares himself had an anxious time
finding his way home. The dog tracks also helped us a
good deal: the dogs were sinking deeply and making heavy
weather of it.

At the Barrier Depdts we found rather despondent
notes from Meares about his progress. To the Southern
Barrier Depdt he had uncomfortably high temperatures
and a very soft surface, and found the cairns drifted up and
hard to see. At the Middle Barrier Depdét we found a note
from him dated December 20. “Thick weather and bliz-
zards had delayed him, and once he had got right off the
tracks and had been out from his camp hunting for them.
They were quite well : a little eye strain from searching for
cairns. He was taking a little butter from each bag [of the
three depdted weekly units], and with this would have
enough to the next depét on short rations.””? At the Upper
Glacier Depét [ Mount Hooper]the news from Meares was
dated Christmas Eve, in the evening: “The dogs were
going slowly but steadily in very soft stuff, especially his

1 My own diary.

Moron seh a ae AcE A
i :

ADAMS MOUNTAINS

Cherry-Garrard, Keohane, Atkinson

FIRST RETURN PARTY

Printed by Emery Walker Ltd. London

THE POLAR JOURNEY 383

last two days. He was running short of food, having only
biscuit crumbs, tea, some cornflour, and half a cup of pem-
mican. He was therefore taking fifty biscuits, and a day’s
provisions for two men from each of our units. He had
killed one American dog some camps back: if he killed
more he was going to kill Krisravitza who he said was
the fattest and laziest. We shall take on thirty biscuits
short.’’1 Meares was to have turned homewards with the
two dog-teams in lat. 81°15’. Scott took him on toapproxi-
mately 83° 35’. The dogs had the ponies on which to feed:
to make up the deficiency of man-food we went one biscuit
a day short when going up the Beardmore: but the dogs
went back slower than was estimated and his provisions were
insufficient. It was evident that the dog-teams would arrive
too late and be too done to take out the food which had
still to be sledged to One Ton for the three parties return-
ing from the plateau. It was uncertain whether a man-
hauling party with such of this food as they could drag
would arrive at the depdt before us.2, We might have to
travel the 130 geographical miles from One Ton to Hut
Point on the little food which was already at that depét and
we were saving food by going on short rations to meet this
contingency if it arose. Judge therefore our joy when we
reached One Ton in the evening of January 1¢ to find
three of the five XS rations which were necessary for the
three parties. A man-hauling party consisting of Day,
Nelson, Hooper and Clissold had brought out this food ;
they left a note saying the crevasses near Corner Camp
were bad and open. Day and Hooper had reached Cape
Evans from the Barrier ? on December 21: they started
out again on this depdt-laying trip on December 26.

It is a common experience for men who have been
hungry to be ill after reaching plenty of food. Atkinson
was not at all well during our journey in to Hut Point,
which we reached without difficulty on January 26.

When I was looking for data concerning the return of
the Last Supporting Party of which no account has been
published, | wrote to Lashly and asked him to meet and

1 My own diary. 2 See p. 412. SE SES psieg ss

384 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

tell me all he could remember. He was very willing, and
added that somewhere or other he had a diary which he
had written: perhaps it might be of use? I asked him
to send it me, and was sent some dirty thumbed sheets of
paper. And this is what I read:

3rd Fanuary 1912.

Very heavy going to-day. This will be our last night
together, as we are to return to-morrow after going on in
the forenoon with the party chosen for the Pole, that is
Capt. Scott, Dr. Wilson, Capt. Oates, Lieut. Bowers and
Taff Evans. The Captain said he was satisfied we were all
in good condition, fit to do the journey, but only so many
could go on, so it was his wish Mr. Evans, Crean and my-
self should return. He was quite aware we should have a
very stiff job, but we told him we did not mind that, pro-
viding he thought they could reach the Pole with the assist-
ance we had been able to give them. The first time I have
heard we were having mules coming down to assist us next
year. I was offering to remain at Hut Point, to be there if
any help was needed, but the Captain said it was his and
also Capt. Oates’ wish if the mules arrived I was to take
charge of and look after them until their return; but if
they did not arrive there was no reason why I should not
come to Hut Point and wait their return. We had a long
talk with the owner [Scott] in our tent about things in
general and he seemed pretty confident of success. He
seemed a bit afraid of us getting hung up, but as he said
we had a splendid navigator, who he was sure he could
trust to pull us through. He also thanked us all heartily
for the way we had assisted in the Journey and he should
be sorry when we parted. We are of course taking the
mail, but what a time before we get back to send it. We
are nearly as far as Shackleton was on his Journey. I shall
not write more to-night, it is too cold.

4th Fanuary 1912.
We accompanied the Pole party for about five miles
and everything seemed to be going pretty well and Capt.
Scott said they felt confident they could pull the load quite

THE POLAR JOURNEY 385

well, so there was no more need for us to go on farther ; so
we stopped and did all the talking we could in a short time.
We wished them every success and a safe return, and asked
each one if there was anything we could do for them when
we got back, but they were all satisfied they had left
nothing undone, so the time came for the last handshake
and good-bye. I think we all felt it very much. They then
wished us a speedy return and safe, and then they moved
off. We gave them three cheers, and watched them for a
while until we began to feel cold. Then we turned and
started for home. We soon lost sight of each other. We
travelled a long time so as to make the best of it while the
weather was suitable, as we have to keep up a good pace on
the food allowance. It wont do to lay up much. One thing
since we left Mt. Darwin, we have had weather we could
travel in, although we have not seen the sun much of late.
We did 13 miles as near as we can guess by the cairns we
have passed. We have not got a sledge meter so shall have
to go by guess all the way home.

[Owing to the loss of a sledge meter on the Beardmore
Glacier one of the three parties had to return without one.
A sledge meter gives the navigator his dead reckoning, in-
dicating the miles travelled, like the log of a ship. To be
deprived of it in a wilderness of snow without landmarks
adds enormously to the difficulties and anxieties of a sledge
party. |

5th Fanuary 1912.

We were up and off this morning, the weather being
fine but the surface is about the same, the temperature
keeps low. We have got to change our pulling billets.
Crean has become snow-blind to-day through being leader,
so I shall have the job to-morrow, as Mr. Evans seems to
get blind rather quickly, so if I lead and he directs me from
behind we ought to get along pretty well. I hope my eyes
will keep alright. We made good 17 miles and camped.

6th Fanuary 1912.
We are making good progress on the surface we have
to contend with. We picked up the 3 Degree Depét soon
2G

386 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

after noon, which puts us up to time. We took our pro-
vision for a week. We have got to reach Mt. Darwin
Depot, a distance of 120 miles, with 7 days’ provisions,
We picked up our ski and camped for the night. We have
been wondering if the others have got the same wind as us.
If so it is right in their face, whereas it is at our back, a treat
to what it is facing it. Crean’s eyes are pretty bad to-night.
Snow-blindness is an awful complaint, and no one! can
assure you looks forward with pleasure when it begins to
attack.

7th Fanuary 1gi2.

We have had a very good day as far as travelling goes,
the wind has been behind us and is a great help tous. We
have been on ski all day for the first time. It seems a good
change to footing it, the one thing day after day gets on
one’s nerves. Crean’s eyes are a bit better to-day, but far
from being well. The temperature is pretty low, which
dont improve the surface for hauling, but we seem to be
getting along pretty well. We have no sledge meter so we
have to go by guess. Mr. Evans says we done 174 miles,
but I say 164. I am not going to over-estimate our day’s
run, as I am taking charge of the biscuits so that we dont
over-step the mark. This we have all agreed to so that we
should exactly know how we stand, from day to day. Iam
still leading, not very nice as the light is bad. We caught a
glimpse of the land to the east of us, but could only have
been a mirage.

8th Fanuary 1912.

On turning out this morning we found it was blowing
a bliz. so it was almost a case of having to remain in camp,

but on second thoughts we thought it best to kick off as —

we cant afford to lay up on account of food, so thought it
best to pushon. I wonderif the Pole Party have experienced
this. Ifso they could not travel as it would be in their face,
where we have got it at our back. We have lost the outward
bound track, so have decided to make a straight line to Mt.
Darwin, which will be on Shackleton’s course according to

his and Wild’s Diary.

THE POLAR JOURNEY 387

[Each of the three parties which went forward up the
Beardmore Glacier carried extracts from the above diaries.
Wild was Shackleton’s right-hand man in his Southern
Journey in 1908.]

oth Fanuary 1912.

Travelling is very difficult, bad light and still blizzing ;
it would have been impossible to keep in touch with the
cairns in this weather. Iam giving 12 miles to-night. The
weather have moderated a bit and looks a bit more pro-
mising. Can see land at times.

10th Fanuary 1912.

The light is still very bad, with a good deal of drift, but
we must push on as we are a long way from our depét, but
we hope to reach it before our provisions run out. I am
keeping a good eye on them. Crean’s eyes have got alright
again now.

11th Fanuary 1912.

Things are a bit better to-day. Could see the land
alright and where to steer for. It is so nice to have some-
thing to look at, but I am thinking we shall all have our
work cut out to reach the depot before our provisions run
short. 1am deducting a small portion each meal so that we
shall not have to go without altogether if we don’t bring
up at the proper time. Have done about 14 miles.

12th Fanuary 1912.

The day has been full of adventure. At first we got
into some very rough stuff, with plenty of crevasses. Had
to get rid of the ski and put our thinking cap on, as we had
not got under way long before we were at the top of some
ice-falls ; these probably are what Shackleton spoke of. We
could see it meant a descent of 600/700 feet, or make a big
circuit, which meant a lot of time and a big delay, and this
we cant afford just now, so we decided on the descent into
the valley. This proved a difficult task, as we had no cram-
pons, having left them at Mt. Darwin Depst; but we
managed after a time by getting hold of the sledge each
side and allowing her to run into a big lump of pressure

388 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD
which was we knew a risky thing to do. It took us up to
lunch time to reach the valley, where we camped for lunch,
where we all felt greatly relieved, having accomplished the
thing safely, no damage to ourselves or the sledge, but we
lost one of Crean’s ski sticks. Some of the crevasses we
crossed were 100 to 200 feet wide, but well bridged in the
centre, but the edges were very dangerous indeed. This is
where the snow and ice begins to roll down the glacier.
After starting on our way again we found we had to climb
the hill. Things dont look very nice ahead again to-night.
We dont seem to be more than a day’s run from the depét,
but it will surprise me if we reach it by to-morrow night ;
if not we shall have to go on short rations, as our supply is
nearly run out, and we have not lost any time, but we knew
on starting we had to average 1 54 miles per day to reach it
in time.
13th Fanuary 1912.

This has been a very bad day for us, what with ice-falls
and crevasses. We feel all full up to-night. The strain is
tremendous some days. We are camped, but not at the
depét, but we hope to pick it up some time to-morrow.
We shall be glad to get off the Summit, as the temperature
is very low. We expected the party would have reached the
Pole yesterday, providing they had anything of luck.

[Scott reached the Pole on January 17.]

14th Fanuary 1912.

Sunday, we reached the Mt. Darwin Depét at 2 p.m.
and camped for lunch. We had just enough now for our
meal ; this is cutting it a bit fine. We have now taken our
34, days’ allowance, which has got to take us another 57
miles to the Cloudmaker Depét. This we shall do if we all
keep as fit as we seem just now. We left a note at the depot —
to inform the Captain of our safe arrival, wishing them the —
best of ajourney home. Weare quite cheerful here to-night,
after having put things right at the depot, where we found
the sugar exposed to the sun ; it had commenced to melt,
but we put everything alright before we left, and picked up —

THE POLAR JOURNEY 389

our crampons and got away as soon as we could. We know
there is not much time to spare. We are now beginning to
descend rapidly. To-night it is quite warm, and our tea
and food is warmer. Things are going pretty favourable.
We are looking forward to making good runs down the
glacier. We have had some very heavy dragging lately
[up] the sharp rises we found on the outward journey.
After a sharp rise we found a long gradual run down, two
and three miles in length. We noticed this on our outward

_ journey and remarked on it, but coming back the long up-
hill drag we found out was pretty heavy work.

15th January 1gi2.
Had a good run to-day but the ice was very rough and
very much crevassed, but with crampons on we made
splendid progress. We did not like to stop, but we thought
it would not be advisable to overdo our strength as it is a
long way to go yet.
16th Fanuary 1912.

We made good headway again to-day, but to-night we
camped in some very rough ice and pressure ridges. We
are under the impression we are slightly out of our proper
course, but Mr. Evans thinks we cant be very far out either
way, and Crean and I are of the same opinion according to
the marks on the land. Anyhow we hope to get out of it in
the morning and make the Cloudmaker Depét by night.
We shall then feel safe, but the weather dont look over pro-
mising again to-night, lam thinking. So far we have not
had to stop for weather. We have wondered if the Pole

Party have been as lucky with the weather as we have.
They ought by nowto be homeward bound. We have more
chance now of writing as the temperature is much better
down here. To-night we have been discussing how the
dogs got home, and also the progress made by the Doctor’s
[Atkinson] Party. They ought to be nearing home. We
have thought of the time it will take us to reach it at the
rate we are getting along now.

390 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

17th Fanuary 1912.

We have to-day experienced what we none of us ever
wants to be our lot again. I cannot describe the maze we
got into and the hairbreadth escapes we have had to pass
through to-day. This day we shall remember all our lives.
The more we tried to get clear the worse the pressure got ;
at times it seemed almost impossible for us to get along,
and when we had got over the places it was more than we
could face to try and retreat ; so we struggled on for hours __
|

|

to try and free ourselves, but everything seemed against us.
I was leading with a long trace so that I could get across
some of the ridges when we thought it possible to get the
sledge over without being dashed down into the fathom-
less pits each side of us which were too numerous to think
of. Often and often we saw openings where it was possible
to drop the biggest ship afloatinand loose her. ‘This is what
we have travelled over all day. It has been a great strain on
us all, and Mr. Evans is rather down and thinks he has led
us into such a hole, but as we have told him it is no fault of
his, as it is impossible for anyone coming down the glacier |
to see what is ahead of them, so we must be thankful that i
we are so far safe. To-night we seem to be ina better place.
We have camped not being able to reach the depot, which _
we are certain is not far off. Dont want many days like this.

18th Fanuary 1912.

We started off all in good spirits trusting we should be
able to reach the depot all in good time, but we had not got
far before we came into pressure far worse than we were
in yesterday. My God ! what a day this have been for us
all. I cannot describe what we really have to-day come
through, no one could believe that we came through with
safety, if we had only had a camera we could have obtained
some photographs that would havesurprised anyone living.
We travelled all day with very little food, as we are a day
and a half overdue, but when we got clear, I can say
“‘clear”’ now because I am dotting down this at the depot
where we have arrived. I had managed to keep behind just
a small amount of biscuit and a drop of tea to liven us up to

uopuoy ‘pyy] tayyVAy Arauigq Aq payug

YaHAVNGNOTO AHL MOTHEA

THE POLAR JOURNEY 391

try and reach the depét, which we reached at 11 P.M. after
one of the most trying days of my life. Shall have reason
to never forget the 17 and 18 of January, 1912. To-night
Mr. Evans is complaining of his eyes, more trouble ahead !

19th Fanuary 1912.

After putting the depdt in order and re-arranging
things, we kicked off again for D. [Lower Glacier] Depot.
Mr. Evans’ eyes were very bad on starting this morning,
but we made a pretty goodstart. I picked some rock to-day
which I intend to try and get back with, as it is the only
chance we have had of getting any up to the present, and it
seemed a funny thing: the rock I got some pieces of looked
as if someone before me had been chipping some off. I
wonder if it was the Doctor’s party, but we could not see
any trace of their sledge, but we could account for that, as
it was all blue ice and not likely to leave any marks behind.
After travelling for some distance we got on the same ridge
as we ran along on the outward Journey and passed what
we took to be the Doctor’s Xmas Camp. We had not gone
far past before we got into soft snow, so we decided to
camp for lunch. Mr. Evans’ eyes being very bad indeed,
we are travelling now on our own, I am leading and telling
him the course I am steering, that is the different marks on
the mountains, but we shall keep on this ridge for some
distance yet. After lunch to-day we did not proceed far
before we decided to camp, the surface being so bad and
Mr. Evans’ eyes so bad, we thought it would do us all good
to havearest. Last night we left a note for Capt. Scott, but
did not say much about our difficulties just above the
Cloudmaker, as it would be better to tell him when we see
him.

20th Fanuary 1912.

We did not get away very smart to-day, but as we
found the surface very soft, we decided to go onski. Mr.
Evans is still suffering with his eyes and badly, after get-
ting his ski on we tied him on to the trace so that he could
help to drag a bit, when we were troubling about the
ridges we came over on our outward Journey, but strange

392 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

to say we never encountered any ridges at all and the sur-
face, although very soft, was the best I have ever sledged
over ever since I have been at it. We fancied on our left or
to the west we saw what we took to be the ridges what we
seem to have missed altogether, although Mr. Evans have
been blind and could not see anything at all we have made
splendid progress and covered at least 20 miles, as near as
we can guess. We passed to-day one of the Doctor’s home-
ward bound camps, and kept on their track for some time,
but finally lost it. We are camped to-night and we all feel
confident we shall, if the weather remains good, reach the
depét to-morrow night.
21st Fanuary 1912.

Sunday : We started off as usual, again on ski, the
weather again being favourable. Mr. Evans’ eyes is still
bad, but improving. It will be a good job when they are
better. I picked up our outward bound course soon after
we started this morning and asked Mr. Evans if I should
try and keep it, as it will save him the trouble of directing
me, and another thing we came out without going through
any crevasses and I have noticed a good many crevasses
to-day what seems to be very dangerous ones, and on two
occasions where our sledges [on the outward journey] had
gone over, two of the crevasses had fallen through. We
accomplished the journey from the Cloudmaker to this
depét in three days. We all feel quite proud of our per-
formance. Mr. Evans is a lot better to-night and old Tom
is giving us a song while he is covering up the tent with
snow. We have re-arranged the depét and left our usual
note for Capt. Scott, wishing them a speedy return. To-
morrow we hope to see and reach the Barrier, and be clear
of the Beardmore for ever. We none of us minds the
struggle we have been through to attain the amount of
success so far reached. It is all for the good of science, as
Crean says. We reached the depét at 6.45 p.m.

22nd Fanuary 1912.

We made a good start this morning and Mr. Evans’
eyes is got pretty well alright again, so things looks a bit

La |
sf ‘5

THE POLAR JOURNEY 393

brighter. After starting we soon got round the corner
from the Granite Pillars to between the mainland and Mt.
Hope, on rising up on the slope between the mountain and
the mainland, as soon as we sighted the Barrier, Crean let
go one huge yell enough to frighten the ponies out of their
graves of snow, and no more Beardmore for me after this.
When we began to descend on to the Barrier it only re-
quired one of us to drag the sledge down to within a mile
of the pony and sledge depét, after exchanging our sledge
as arranged, picking up a small amount of pony meat, and
fitted up bamboo for mast so that we shall be able to fix up
a sail when favourable, we proceeded on our way to cross
the Barrier. We have now 360 miles to travel geographic-
ally to get to Hut Point. Mr. Evans complained to me
while outside the tent that he had a stiffness at the back of
his legs behind the knees. I asked him what he thought it
was, and he said could not account for it, so if he dont soon
get rid of it | am to have a look and see if anything is the
matter with him, as I know from what I have seen and been
told before the symptoms of scurvy is pains and swelling
behind the knee round theankle and loosening of the teeth,
ulcerated gums. To-night I watched to see his gums, and
I am convinced he is on the point of something anyhow,
and this I have spoken to Crean about, but he dont seem
to realise it. But I have asked him to wait developments
for a time. It seems we are in for more trouble now, but
lets hope for the best.

237d Fanuary 1912.

We got away pretty well and did a good journey,
having covered about 14 miles over a fairly good surface.
We have passed the Blizzard Camp and glad of it too,
again to-day we saw in several places where the bridges on
the crevasses had fallen through. A good job they none of
them fell through when we were going over them as the
width would have taken all through with them, and in
every case where they had fallen through was where we
had gone over, as the mark of the sledge was very distinct
in each case. Mr. Evans seems better to-day.

394 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

24th Fanuary 1912.

Did a good run to-day over a good surface. The
weather have been very warm, not much to write to-night
as everything is going well.

25th Fanuary 1912.

Started off in very thick weather, the temperature is
very high and the snow 1s wet and clogging all day on our
ski, which made dragging heavy, and towards evening it
got worse. After lunch we got a good breeze for an hour,
when it changed to a blizzard and almost rained. We saw
the depdt ahead sometimes, so we tried to reach it as we
thought we might be in for another few days like we had
near the land on our outward journey. Anyhow we reached
it after a tremendous struggle owing to the wet and bad
light. I took off my ski and carried them on my shoulder
to finish up the last half a mile. The blizzard died down
after we had camped and turned in for the night. Looked
at the thermometer which showed 34.

26th Fanuary 1912.

This have been a most wonderful day for surface. This
morning when we started the thermometer stood at 34,
much too high for sledging. We were on ski or we might
have been on stilts for the amount of snow clogging on our
ski, dont know how we should have got on without our
ski, as the snow was so very soft we sank right in when we
tried to go on foot, but we were fortunate to get the wind
behind us and able to make use of the sail. We made a very
good day of it, did 13 miles: 8 of this after lunch. I did
not feel well outside the tent this morning. I came over
quite giddy and faint, but it passed off quickly and have
felt no more of it all day.

27th Fanuary 1912.

We had a good run to-day with the sail up. It only
required one of us to keep it straight, no need whatever to
pull, but it was very hot, anyone could take off all their
clothes and march. It is really too hot for this part of the
world, but I daresay we shall soon get it a bit colder. Did

THE POLAR JOURNEY 395

144 miles, it is nice to be able to see the tracks and cairns
of our outward journey. We feel satisfied when we have
done a good day and in good time. Mr. Evans is now
suffering from looseness of the bowels. Crean had a touch
of it a few days ago, but he is quite alright again.

28th Fanuary 1912.

To-day it have been a very heavy drag. The snow is
still very soft and the sun very hot, it fairly scorches any-
one’s face. We are almost black now and our hair is long
and getting white through being exposed to the light, it
gets bleached. I am glad to say it is cooler to-night, gener-
ally. We got over 124 miles again to-day. Mr. Evans is
still very loose in his bowels. ‘This, of course, hinders us,
as we have had to stop several times. Only another few
more Sundays and we hope to be safely housed at Hut
Point, or Cape Evans. We have now been out 97 days.

29th Fanuary 1912.

Another good day was helped by the sail all day. One
man could again manage for about two hours. The weather
is still very warm, plus 20 again. Did 164 miles, only 14
to the next depot. Mr. Evans is still suffering from the
same complaint: have come to the conclusion to stop
his pemmican, as I feel that it have got something to do
with him being out of sorts. Anyhow we are going to try
it. Gave him a little brandy and he is taking some chalk
and opium pills to try and stop it. His legs are getting
worse and we are quite certain he is suffering from scurvy,
at least he is turning black and blue and several other
colours as well.

30th SFanuary 1912.

Very bad light but fair wind, picked up the depot this
evening. Did the 14 miles quite in good time, after taking
our food we found a shortage of oil and have taken what
we think will take us to the next depot. There seems to
have been some leakage in the one can, but how we could
not account for that we have left a note telling Capt. Scott
how we found it, but they will have sufficient to carry them
on to the next depdt, but we all know the amount of oil

396 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

allowed on the Journey is enough, but if any waste takes
place it means extra precautions in the handling of it. Mr.
Evans is still without pemmican and seems to have some-
what recovered from the looseness, but things are not by a
long way with him as they should be. Only two more
depdts now to pick up.
31st Fanuary 1912.

Another very good run to-day but the light being very
bad we had to continually stop and steer by compass. This
a difficult task, especially as there was no wind to help keep
on the course, but it have cleared again to-night, the tem-
perature is plus 20 in the day and Io at night just now.
Did 13 miles. Mr. Evans is allowed a little pemmican as
the work is hard and it wants a little warm food to put life
into anyone in this part of the world.

1st February 1912.

We had a very fine day but a very heavy pull, but we
did 13 miles. Mr. Evans and myself have been out 100
days to-day. I have had to change my shirt again. This is
the last clean side I have got. I have been wearing two
shirts and each side will now have done duty next the skin,
as I have changed round each month, and I have certainly
found the benefit of it, and on the point we all three agree.
Mr. Evans is still gradually worse: it is no good closing
our eyes to the fact. We must push on as we have a long
way to go yet.

2nd February 1912.

A very bad light again to-day: could not make much
progress, only did 11 miles, but we must think ourselves
lucky we have not had to lay up and get delayed, but we
have had the wind and more behind us, otherwise we
should have had to stop. Mr. Evans is no better but seems
to be in great pain, but he keeps quite cheerful we are
pleased to say.

3rd February 1912.

This morning we were forced to put Mr. Evans on his
ski and strap him on, as he could not lift his legs. I looked
at them again and found they are rapidly getting worse,

THE POLAR JOURNEY 397

things are looking serious on his part, but we have been
trying to pump him up he will get through alright, but he
begins to think different himself, but if we get to One Ton
and can get a change of food it may relieve him. He is a
brick, there is plenty of pluck: one cannot but admire
such pluck. The light have been dreadful all day and I
seemed to have got a bit depressed at times, not being able
to see anything to know where I was on the course or not
and not getting a word from Mr. Evans. I deliberately
went off the course to see if anyone was taking notice but
to my surprise I was quickly told I was off the course. This
I thought, but wanted to know if he was looking out, which
he was. It came on to bliz after we camped, we ought to
reach Mt. Hooper to-morrow night.
4th February 1912.

Started in splendid weather, but the surface was bad
and dragging was very heavy, but it improved as the day
went on, and we arrived at the depét at 7.40 p.m. Weare
now 180 miles from Hut Point, and this Sunday night we
hope to be only two more Sundays on the Barrier. No im-
provement in Mr. Evans, much worse. We have taken out
our food and left nearly all the pemmican as we dont re-
quire it on account of none of us caring for it, therefore we
are leaving it behind for the others. They may require it.
We have left our note and wished them every success on
their way, but we have decided it is best not to say any-
thing about Mr. Evans being ill or suffering from scurvy.
This old cairn have stood the weather and is still a huge

thing.

5th February 1912.

Had a very fine day and a good light all day, which
makes things much more cheerful. Did not get away
before 9 o’clock but we did 114 miles, it is gradually get-
ting colder. Mr. Evans is still getting worse, to-day he is
suffering from looseness in the bowels: shall have to stop
his pemmican.

6th February 1912.

Another fine day but sun was very hot and caused us to

sweat a good deal, but we dont mind as we are pretty used

398 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

to such changes. We shall soon be looking for land ahead,
which will be Mt. Discovery or Mt. Erebus, we have 155
miles to go to Hut Point: done alright again 134 miles,
we do wonderfully well especially as Mr. Evans have got
to go very slowly first off after stopping until he gets the
stiffness out of his legs, but he is suffering a good deal and
in silence, he never complains, but he dont get much sleep.
We shall all be.glad when we arrive at One Ton, where
there is a change of food for us all. ‘The pemmican is too
much, especially when the weather is warm.

7th February 1912.

A very fine day but heavy going. We are bringing the
land in sight. The day have been simply lovely, did 12
miles. No better luck with our patient, he gets along with-
outa murmur. We have got to help him in and out of the
tent, but we have consulted on the matter and he is deter-
mined to go to the last, which we know is not far off, as
it is difficult for him to stand, but he is the essence of a
brick to keep it up, but we shall have to drag him on the
sledge when he cant go any further.

8th February 1912.

To-day have been very favourable and fine, we had a
good breeze and set sail after lunch. If we get a good day
to-morrow we hope to reach One Ton. Mr. Evans have
passed a good deal of blood to-day, which makes things
look a lot worse. I have to do nearly everything for him
now.

gth February 1912.

A very fine day and quite warm. Reached the depot at

|

5.5 p.m. and we all had a good feed of oatmeal. Oh, what

a God-send to get a change of food! We have taken
enough food for 9 days, which if we still keep up our
present rate of progress it ought to take us in to Hut Point.
We cannot take too heavy a load, as there is only the two of
us pulling now, and this our last port of call before we
reach Hut Point, but things are not looking any too favour-
able for us, as our leader is gradually getting lower every

THE POLAR JOURNEY 399

day. It is almost impossible for him to get along, and we
are still 120 miles from Hut Point.
10th February 1912.
We did a good march, 1n very thick weather. To-night
we are camped and I am sorry to say Mr. Evans is in a very
bad state. If this is scurvy I am sorry for anyone it attacks.
We shall do our utmost to get him back alive, although he
is so ill, he is very cheerful, which is very good and tries
to do anything to help us along. Weare thinking the food,
now we have got a change, may improve things. I am very
pleased to say Crean and myself are in the best of health,
which we are thankful for.
11th February 1912.
To-day we built a cairn and left all our gear we could
do without, as it is impossible for us to drag the load now,
and Mr. Evans we think is doing well as long as he can
keep on his legs. We have had a very bad light all day, and
to-night we have a bliz on us, so we had to camp early.
Our day’s run has been 11 miles. We are now about 99
miles from our base.
12th February 1912.
We did not get away until 10 o’clock on account of bad
weather, but after we put Mr. Evans on his ski he went on
slowly. It is against our wish to have to send him on a
little in advance, but it is best as we shall have to drag him
out of this we are certain. He has fainted on two or three
occasions, but after a drop of brandy he has been able to
proceed, but it is very awkward, especially as the tempera-
ture is so low. We are afraid of his getting frost-bitten.
Our progress is very slow, the light is very bad, and it is
seldom we see the land.
13th February 1912.
We got away in good time, but progress was slow, and
Mr. Evans could not go, and we consulted awhile and came
to the conclusion it would be best to put him on the sledge,
otherwise he may not pull through, so we stopped and
camped, and decided to drop everything we can possibly
do without, so we have only got our sleeping bags, cooker,
and what little food and oil we have left. Our load is not

7
ni

much, but Mr. Evans on the sledge makes it pretty heavy
work for us both, but he says he is comfortable now. This
morning he wished us to leave him, but this we could not
think of. We shall stand by him to the end one way or
other, so we are the masters to-day. He has got to do as
we wish and we hope to pull him through. This morning
when we depoted all our gear I changed my socks and got
my foot badly frostbitten, and the only way was to fetch it
round. So although Mr. Evans was so bad he proposed to
stuff it on his stomach to try and get it right again. I did
not like to risk such a thing as he is certainly very weak,
but we tried it, and it succeeded in bringing it round,
thanks to his thoughtfulness, and I shall never forget the
kindness bestowed on me at a critical time in our travels,
but I think we could go to any length of trouble to assist
one another; in such time and such a place we must trust
in a higher power to pull us through. When we pack up
now and have to move off we have to get everything ready
before we attempt to move the tent, as it 1s impossible for
our leader now to stand, therefore it is necessary to get him
ready before we start. We then pull the sledge alongside
his bag and lift him on to it and strap him on. It 1s a pain-
ful piece of work and he takes it pretty well, but we can’t
help hurting him, as it is very awkward to lift him, the |
snow being soft and the light so bad, but he dont complain.
The only thing we hear him grind his teeth.

400 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

14th February 1912.

Another good start after the usual preparation, we have
not got much to pack, but it takes us some time to get our
invalid ready, the surface is very bad and our progress is
very slow, but we have proposed to go longer hours and
try to cover the distance, that is if we can stick it ourselves.

15th February 1912.

We started in fine weather this morning, but it soon
came over thick and progress became slow. We had to |
continually consult the compass, as we have had no wind to
assist us, but after awhile the sun peeped out and the wind

SSS

THE POLAR JOURNEY 401

sprang up and we were able to set sail, which helped us put
in a good march.
16th February 1912.

To-day it have —— a very heavy drag all day, and the
light is very bad, but we had the pleasure of seeing Castle
Rock and Observation Hill. We uncovered Mr. Evans to
let him have a look and we have reduced our ration now
to one half as it is impossible for us to reach Hut Point
under four days, that is if everything goes favourable
with us.

17th February 1912.

To-day it has been thick, this morning soon after we
started we saw what we thought was the dog tent [the two
dog-teams going out to meet the Polar Party], a thing we
had been looking for to try and get relief, but when we
came up to it we found it was only a piece of biscuit box
stuck on an old camp for a guide. It shows how deceiving
the things here are. I can tell you our hopes were raised,
but on reaching it they dropped again considerably. We
were able to see the land occasionally, and during one of
the breaks this afternoon we spotted the motor. Oh, what
joy! We again uncovered Mr. Evans to let him have a
look and after trudging along for another three hours we
brought up alongside it and camped for the night. We are
now only a little over 30 miles from Hut Point: if we could
only see the dogs approaching us, but they, we think, may
have passed us while the weather have been thick. Mr.
Evans is getting worse every day, we are almost afraid to
sleep at night as he seems very weak. If the temperature
goes much lower it will be a job to keep him warm. We
have found some biscuits here at the motor but nothing

_ else, but that will assist greatly on our way. The slogging

have been heavy all day. We are pretty tired to-night. [
dont think we have got the go in us we had, but we must
try and push on.

18th February 1912.
I started to move Mr. Evans this morning, but he com-

_ pletely collapsed and fainted away. Crean was very upset

and almost cried, but I told him it was no good to create a
2D

402 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

scene but put up a bold front and try to assist. I really
think he thought Mr. Evans had gone, but we managed to
pull him through. We used the last drop of brandy. After
awhile we got him on the sledge and proceeded as usual,
but finding the surface very bad and we were unable to
make less than a mile an hour, we stopped and decided to
camp. We told Mr. Evans of our plans, which were:
Crean should proceed, it being a splendid day, on foot to
Hut Point to obtain relief if possible. This we had agreed
to between ourselves. I offered to do the Journey and
Crean remain behind, but Tom said he would much rather
I stayed with the invalid and look after him, so I thought
it best I should remain, and these plans were agreed to by
all of us, so after we had camped the next thing was the
food problem. We had about a day’s provisions with extra
biscuit taken from the motor, and a little extra oil taken
from the same place, so we gave Crean what he thought he
could manage to accomplish the Journey of 30 miles geo-
graphical on, which was a little chocolate and biscuits. We

put him up a little drink, but he would not carry it. What —

a pity we did not have some ski, but we dumped them to
save weight. So Crean sailed away in splendid weather for
a try to bring relief. I was in a bit of a sweat all day and
remained up to watch the weather till long after midnight.
I was afraid of the weather, but it kept clear and I thought
he might have reached or got within easy distance of Hut
Point; but there was the possibility of his dropping down
a crevasse, but that we had to leave to chance, but none the
more it was anxious moments as if it comes on to drift the
weather is very treacherous in these parts. After Crean
left I left Mr. Evans and proceeded to Corner Camp which
was about a mile away, to see if there was any provisions
left there that would be of use to us. I found a little butter,
a little cheese, and a little treacle that had been brought
there for the ponies. I also went back to the motor and got
a little more oil while the weather was fine. I also gota large
piece of burbery and tied on a long bamboo and stuck up
a big flag on our sledge so that anyone could not pass our
way without seeing us or our flag. I found a note left at

V

Corner Camp by Mr. Day saying there was a lot of very
bad crevasses between there and the sea ice, especially off
White Island. This put me in a bit of a fix, as I, of course,
at oncethought of Crean. He being on foot was more likely
to go down than he would had he been on ski. I did not
tell Mr. Evans anything about the crevasses, as I certainly
thought it would be best kept from him. I just told him
the note was there and all was well.

THE POLAR JOURNEY 4.03

19th February 1912.

To-day Mr. Evans seems a bit better and more cheer-
ful, the rest will do him good and assist in getting a little
strength. We have been wondering when relief will reach
us, but we cannot expect it for at least a day or two yet at
the earliest. It was very thick this morning and also very
cold. The temperature is dropping rapidly. Our tent was
all covered in frost rime to-day, a sure sign of colder
weather. It was very thick this morning but cleared as the
day advanced, but we could not see Hut Point. I wonder
if poor old Tom reached alright. We have very little food
now except biscuit, but oil is better. We have got 4 gallon
and if relief dont come for some time we shall be able to
have hot water when all other things are gone. I have
thought out a plan for the future, in case of no relief coming,
but of course we took all things into consideration in case
of failure, but we must hope for the best. Of course I know
it is no use thinking of Mr. Evans being able to move any
further as he cant stand at all, the only thing is, we may
have missed the dogs, if so there is still a chance of some-
one being at Hut Point. I am cold now and cannot write
more to-night. We lose the sun at midnight now. [f all
had went well we should have been home by now.

20th February 1912.

Tuesday not a nice day. A low drift all the morning
and increased to a blizzard at times. Have had to remain
in the tent all day to try and keep warm. Have not got
much food except biscuits. Mr. Evans is about the same
but quite cheerful. We have had whole journey over and

404 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

over : it have passed these three days away. We have won-
dered how they are getting on behind us ; we have worked
it out and they ought to be on the Barrier now, with any-
thing of luck. We have been gambling on the condition of
the ice and the possibility of the open water at Hut Point
at any time now, and also about what news of home,
although home is one of the foremost thoughts we hardly
ever mention it, only what we are going to have to eat when
we do arrive there. I think we have got everything that is
good down on our list. Of course New Zealand have got
to be answerable for a good deal: plenty of apples we are
going to have and some nice home-made cake, not too rich,
as we think we can eat more. I wonder if the mules will
have arrived, as I am to look after them till Capt. Oates
returns, as Anton will be gone home, or at least going soon.
We shall have to hurry up as the ship is to leave again on
the 2nd of March, as it is not safe to remain longer in these
regions. I am now too cold to write, and I dont seem
settled at all and the weather is still pretty bad outside, so
we are not going to look for anything to come along to-
night. ‘‘ Hark!” from us both. “ Yes, it is the dogs near.
Relief at last. Whoisthere?” I did not stay to think more
before I was outside the tent. ‘‘ Yes, sir, itis alright.” The
Doctor and Dimitri. “‘ How did you see us?” “The flag
Lash,” says Dimitri. The Doctor, “* How is Mr, Evans?”
“Alright, but low.” But this had a good effect on him.
After the first few minutes we got their tent pitched and
the food they brought us I was soon on the way preparing
a meal for us all, but Mr. Evans cannot have pemmican,
but the Doctor have brought everything that will do him
good, some onions to boil and several other things. Dimitri
brought along a good lump of cake: we are in clover. To-
night after the Doctor had examined my patient and we
got through a good deal of talk about everything we could.
think of, especially home news and the return parties and
the ship and those in her. We were sorry to hear she had
not been able to get very near, and that the mules had
arrived, and I dont know what, we now settled down fora
good night. It seems to me we are in a new world, a weight

THE POLAR JOURNEY 405

is off my mind and I can once more see a bright spot in the
sky for us all, the gloom is now removed. The bliz is bad
outside, and Doctor and Dimitri is gone and turned in, so
will [I] once more, but sleep is out of the question.

21st February 1912.

The day have been very bad and we are obliged to re-
main until it clears. We are going to move off as soon as it
clears, the day have been very cold, so we have had to re-
main in our bags, but things are alright and we have got
plenty to eat now. We have all retired for the night as the
bliz is still raging outside.

22nd February 1912.

The wind went down about 9 p.m., so we began to
move and were ready to kick off at 10, and proposed to do
the journey in two stages. It was fearful heavy going for
the poor dogs, we arranged so that Mr. Evans was on
Dimitri’s sledge and Doctor and myself was on the other.
We have done about half the journey and are now camped
for a rest for the dogs and ourselves. We had a stiff 16
miles: the Doctor and myself, we took turns in riding on
the sledge and walking and running to keep up to the dogs.
Sometimes we sank in up to the knees, but we struggled
through it. My legs is the most powerful part of me now,
but I am tired and shall be glad when it is over. I must lie
down now, as we are starting again soon for Hut Point,
but the surface is getting better as we have passed White
Island and can see so plainly the land. Castle Rock and
good old Erebus look so stately with the smoke rolling out.
It is so clear and calm and peaceful. What a change in our
surroundings of a few days ago and also our prospects.
Doctor and Dimitri have done everything they could for us.

22nd February 1912.

We started off after a rest for the dogs and reached here
at Hut Point at 1 p.m. where we can rest in peace for a
time. Dimitri and Crean are going to Cape Evans: the
ship is nowhere in sight. Have had to get some seal meat
and ice and prepare a meal. Mr. Evans is alright and

406 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

asleep. We are looking for a mail now. How funny we
should always be looking for something else, now we are

safe,
[End of Lashly’s Diary.]

Crean has told me the story of his walk as follows:

He started at 10 on Sunday morning and “the surface
was good, very. good surface indeed,” and he went about
sixteen miles before he stopped. Good clear weather. He
had three biscuits and two sticks of chocolate. He stopped
about five minutes, sitting on the snow, and ate two biscuits
and the chocolate, and put one biscuit back in his pocket.
He was quite warm and not sleepy.

He carried on just the same and passed Safety Camp on
his right some five hours later, and thinks it was about
twelve-thirty on Monday morning that he reached the edge
of the Barrier, tired, getting cold in the back and the
weather coming on thick. It was bright behind him but
it was coming over the Bluff, and White Island was ob-

scured though he could still see Cape Armitage and Castle —

Rock. He slipped a lot on the sea-ice, having several falls
on to his back and it was getting thicker all the time. At
the Barrier edge there was a light wind, now it was blowing
a strong wind, drifting and snowing. He made for the Gap

and could not get up at first. To avoid taking a lot out of —

himself he started to go round Cape Armitage ; but soon
felt slush coming through his finnesko (he had no cram-
pons) and made back for the Gap. He climbed up to the
left of the Gap and climbed along the side of Observation
Hill to avoid the slippery ice. When he got to the top it was
still clear enough to see vaguely the outline of Hut Point,
but he could see no sledges nor dogs. He sat down under
the lee of Observation Hill, and finished his biscuit with a
bit of ice : “‘ I was very dry,”’—-slid down the side of Obser-
vation Hill and thought at this time there was open water
below, for he had no goggles on the march and his eyes
were strained. But on getting near the ice-foot he found it
was polished sea-ice and made his way round to the hut
under the ice-foot. When he got close he saw the dogs and

a

THE POLAR JOURNEY 407

sledges on the sea-ice, and it was now blowing very hard
with drift. He walked in and found the Doctor and Dimitri
inside. ‘‘He gave me a tot first, and then a feed of por-
ridge—but I couldnt keep it down: thats the first time in
my life that ever it happened, and it was the brandy that
gid it.”

CHAPTER XU

SUSPENSE

All the past we leave behind ;

We debouch upon a newer, mightier world, varied world ;

Fresh and strong the world we seize, world of labour and the march,
Pioneers ! O pioneers !

We detachments steady throwing,
Down the edges, through the passes, up the mountains steep,
Conquering, holding, daring, venturing, as we go, the unknown ways,
Pioneers ! O pioneers !
Watt WuitTMan.

Ler us come back to Cape Evans after the return of the
First Supporting Party.

Hitherto our ways had always been happy: for the most
part they had been pleasant. Scott was going to reach the
Pole, probably without great difficulty, for when we left
him on the edge of the plateau he had only to average
seven miles a day to go there on full rations. We ourselves
had averaged 14.2 geographical miles a day on our way
home to One Ton Depét, and there seemed no reason to
suppose that the other two parties would not do likewise,
and the food was not only sufficient but abundant if such
marches were made. Thus we were content as we wan-
dered over the cape, or sat upon some rock warmed by the
sun and watched the penguins bathing in the lake which
had formed in the sea-ice between us and Inaccessible
Island. All round us were the cries of the skua gulls as
they squabbled among themselves, and we heard the swish
of their wings as they swooped down upon a man who wan-
dered too near their nests. Out upon the sea-ice, which was

408

SUSPENSE 409

soggyand dangerous, lay several seal, and the bubblingsand
whistlings and gurglings which came from their throats
chimed musically in contrast to the hoarse aak, aak, of the
Adélie penguins : the tide crack was sighing and groaning
all the time: it was very restful after the Barrier silence.

Meanwhile the Terra Nova had been seen in the dis-
tance, but the state of the sea-ice prevented her approach.
It was not until February 4 that communication was opened
with her and we got our welcome mails and news of the
world during the last year. We heard that Campbell’s
party had been picked up at Cape Adare and landed at
Evans Coves. We started unloading on February 9, and
this work was continued until February 14: there was
about three miles of ice between the ship and the shore and
we were doing more than twenty miles a day. In the case
of men who had been sledging much, and who might be
wanted to sledge again, this was a mistake. Latterly the
ice began to break up, and the ship left on the 15th,
to pick up the Geological Party on the western side of
McMurdo Sound. But she met great obstacles, and her
record near the coasts this year is one of continual fights
against pack-ice, while the winds experienced as the season
advanced were very strong. On January 13 the fast ice
at the mouth of McMurdo Sound extended as far as
the southern end of the Bird Peninsula: ten days later
they found fast ice extending for thirty miles from the
head of Granite Harbour. Later in the season the most
determined efforts were made again and again to penetrate
into Evans Coves in order to pick up Campbell and his
men, until the ice was freezing all round them, and many
times the propeller was brought up dead against blocks
pm ice.1

The expedition was originally formed for two years
from the date of leaving England. But before the ship left
after landing us at Cape Evans in January 1911 the possi-
bility of a third year was considered, and certain requests
for additional transport and orders for stores were sent
home. ‘Thus it came about that the ship now landed not

1 See Introduction, pp. 1, lii-lix.

410 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

only new sledges and sledging stores but also fourteen
dogs from Kamchatka and seven mules, with their food and
equipment. The dogs were big and fat, but the only ones”
which proved of much service for sledging were Snowy, a
nice white dog, and Bullett. It was Oates’ idea that mules
might prove a better form of transport on the Barrier than
ponies. Scott therefore wrote to Sir Douglas Haig, then
C.-in-C. in India, that if he failed to reach the Pole in the ©
summer of 1911-12, “it is my intention to makea second _
attempt in the following season provided fresh transport
can be brought down: the circumstances making it neces-
sary to plan to sacrifice the transport animals used in any
attempt. |

‘ Before directing more ponies to be sent down I have —
thoroughly discussed the situation with Captain Oates, and
he has suggested that mules would be better than ponies —
for our work and that trained Indian Transport Mules
would be ideal. It is evident already that our ponies have —
not a uniform walking pace and that in other small ways
they will be troublesome to us although they are handy |
little beasts.’

The Indian Government not only sent seven mules but
when they arrived we found that they had been most care- _
fully trained and equipped. In India they were in the
charge of Lieutenant George Pulleyn, and the care and
thought which had been spent upon them could not have
been exceeded : the equipment was also extremely good and
well adapted to the conditions, while most of the improve-
ments made by us as the result of a year’s experience were
already foreseen and provided. The mules themselves, by
name Lal Khan, Gulab, Begum, Ranee, Abdullah, Pyaree
and Khan Sahib, were beautiful animals.

Atkinson would soon have to start on his travels again.
Before we left Scott at the top of the Beardmore he gave
him orders to take the two dog-teams South in the event
of Meares having to return home, as seemed likely. This
was not meant in any way to be a relief journey. Scott
said that he was not relying upon the dogs; and that
in view of the sledging in the following year, the dogs

SUSPENSE 4it

were not to be risked. Although it was settled that some
members of the expedition would stay, while others re-
turned to New Zealand, Scott and several of his compan-
ions had left undecided until the last moment the question
of whether they would themselves remain in the South for
another year. In the event of Scott deciding to return home
the dog-teams might make the difference between catching
or missing the ship. I had discussed this question with
Wilson more than once, and he was of opinion that the busi-
ness affairs of the expedition demanded Scott’s return if
possible: Wilson himself inclined to the view that he him-
self would stay if Scott stayed, and return if Scott returned.
I think that Oates meant to return, and am sure that Bowers
meant to stay: indeed he welcomed the idea of one more
year in a way which I do not think was equalled by any
other member of the expedition. For the most part we felt
that we had joined up for two years, but that if there was to
bea third year we would rather see the thing through than
return home.
I hope I have made clear that the primary object of this
journey with the dog-teams was to hurry Scott and his com-
panions home so that they might be in time to catch the
ship if possible, before she was compelled by the close
of the season to leave McMurdo Sound. Another thing
which made Scott anxious to communicate with the ship
if possible before the season forced her to leave the Sound
was his desire to send back news. From many remarks
which he made, and also from the discussions in the hut
during the winter, it was obvious that he considered it
was of the first importance that the news of reaching the
Pole, if it should be reached, be communicated to the
world without the delay of another year. Of course he
would also wish to send news of the safe return of his party
to wives and relations as soon as possible. It is necessary
to emphasize the fact that the dog-teams were intended to
hasten the return of the Polar Party, but that they were
never meant to form a relief journey.
But now Atkinson was left in a rather difficult position.
I note in my diary, after we had reached the hut, that

a

412 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

“Scott was to have sent back instructions for the dog
party with us, but these have, it would seem, been for-
gotten’’; butit may be that Scott considered that he had
given these instructions in a conversation he had with Atkin-
son at the top of the Beardmore Glacier, when Scott said,
“with the depdt [of dog-food] which has been laid come
as far as you can.”

According to the plans for the Polar Journey the food
necessary to bring the three advance parties of man-haulers
back from One ‘Ton Depét to Hut Point was to be taken
out to One Ton during the absence of these parties. This
food consisted of five weekly units of what were known as
XS rations. It was also arranged that if possible a depét of
dog-biscuit should be taken out at the same time: this was
the depot referred to above by Scott. In the event of the
return of the dog-teams in the first half of December, which
was the original plan, the five units of food and the dog- ~
biscuit would have been run out by them to One Ton. If
the dog-teams did not return in time to do this a man-
hauling party from Cape Evans was to take out three of
the five units of food.

It has beenshown that the dog-teams were taken farther
on the Polar Journey than was originally intended,! indeed
they. were taken from 81° 15’, where they were to have
turned back, as far as 83° 35’. Nor were they able to make
the return journey in the fast time which had been expected
of them, and the dog-drivers were running very short of
food and were compelled to encroach to some extent upon
the supplies left to provide for the wants of those who were
following in their tracks.2. The dog-teams did not arrive
back at Cape Evans until January 4.

Meanwhilea man-hauling party from Cape Evans, con-
sisting of Day, Nelson, Clissold and Hooper, had already,
according to plan, taken out three of the five XS rations for
the returning parties. The weights of the man-hauling
party did not allow for the transport of the remaining two
XS rations, nor for any of the dog-food. ‘Thus it was that
when Atkinson came to make his plans to go South with

1 See pp. 353, 383. 2 See pp. 382, 383.

SUSPENSE 413

the dogs he found that there was no dog-food south of
Corner Camp, and that the rations for the return of the
Polar Party from One Ton Depot had still to be taken out.
That is to say, the depot of dog-food spoken of by Scott did
not exist. ‘There was, however, enough food already at One
Ton to allow the Polar Party to come in on reduced rations.
This meant that what the dog-teams could do was limited,
and was much less than it might have been had it been pos-
sible to take out the depdt of dog-food to One Ton. Also
the man-food for the Polar Party had to be added to the
weights taken by the dogs.

To estimate even approximately at what date a party
will reach a given point after a journey of this length
when the weather conditions are always uncertain and the
number of travelling days unknown, was a most difh-
cult task. The only guide was the average marches per
diem made by our own return party, and the average of
the second return party if it should return before the dog
party set out. A week one way or the other was certainly
not a large margin. A couple of blizzards might make this
much difference.

In the plan of the Southern Journey Scott, working on
Shackleton’s averages, mentions March 27 as a possible
date of return to Hut Point, allowing seven days in from
One Ton. Whilst on the outward journey I heard Scott
discuss the possibility of returning in April; and the
Polar Party had enough food to allow them to do this on
full rations.

Atkinson and Dimitri with the two dog-teams left Cape
Evans for Hut Point on February 13 because the sea-ice,
which was our only means of communication between these
places, and so to the Barrier, was beginning to break up.
Atkinson intended to leave Hut Point for the Barrier in
about a week’s time. At 3.30 a.m. on February 19 Crean
arrived with the astounding news that Lieutenant Evans,
still alive but at his last gasp, was lying out near Corner
Camp, and that Lashly was nursing him; that the Last
Supporting Party had consisted of three men only, a possi-
bility which had never been considered ; and that they had

4q

414. WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

left Scott, travelling rapidly and making good averages,
only 148 geographical miles from the Pole. Scott was so
well advanced that it seemed that he would be home much
earlier than had been anticipated.

A blizzard which had been threatening on the Barrier,
and actually blowing at Hut Point, during Crean’s solitary
journey, but which had lulled as he arrived, now broke with
full force, and nothing could be done for Evans until it
took off sufficiently for the dog-teams to travel. But in the
meantime Crean urgently wanted food and rest and warmth.
As these were supplied to him Atkinson learned bit by bit
the story of the saving of Evans’ life, told so graphically
in Lashly’s diary which is given in the preceding chapter,
and pieced together the details of Crean’s solitary walk of
thirty-five statute miles. This effort was made, it should
be remembered, at the end of a journey of three and a half
months, and over ground rendered especially perilous by
crevasses, from which a man travelling alone had no chance
of rescue in case of accident. Crean was walking for
eighteen hours, and it was lucky for him, as also for his
companions, that the blizzard which broke half an hour
after his arrival did not come a little sooner, for no power
on earth could have saved him then, and the news of Evans’
plight would not have been brought.

The blizzard raged all that day, and the next night and
morning, and nothing could be done. But during the after-
noon of the 20th the conditions improved, and at 4.30 P.M.
Atkinson and Dimitri started with the two dog-teams,
though it was still blowing hard and very thick. They tray-
elled, with one rest for the dogs, until 4.30 p.m. the next
day, but had a very hazy idea where they were most of the
time, owing to the vile weather: once at any rate they seem
to have got right in under White Island. When they
camped the second time they thought they were in the
neighbourhood of Lashly’s tent, and in a temporary clear-
ance they saw the flag which Lashly had put up on the
sledge. Evans was still alive, and Atkinson was able to give
him immediately the fresh vegetables, fruit, and seal meat
which his body wanted. Atkinson has never been able to

express adequately the admiration he feels for Lashly’s care
and nursing.

All that night and the next day the blizzard continued
and made a start impossible, and it was not until 3 a.m.
on the morning of the 22nd that they could start for
Hut Point, Evans being carried in his sleeping-bag on the
sledge. Lashly has told how they got home.

At Cape Evans we knew nothing of these events, which
had made reorganization inevitable. It was clear that
Atkinson, being the only doctor available, would have to
stay with Evans, who was very seriously ill: indeed Atkin-
son told me that another day, or at the most two, would
have finished him. In fact he says that when he first saw
him he thought he must die. It was a considerable sur-
prise then when Dimitri with Crean and one dog-team
reached Cape Evans about mid-day on February 23 with
a note from Atkinson, who said that he thought he had
better stay with Lieutenant Evans and that some one else
should take out the dogs. He suggested that Wright or
myself should take them. This was our first intimation
that the dogs had not already gone South.

Wright and I started for Hut Point by 2 p.m. the same
day and on our arrival it was decided by Atkinson that I
was to take out the dogs. Owing to the early departure
of our meteorologist, Simpson, Wright, who had special
qualifications for this important work, was to remain at
Cape Evans. Dimitri having rested his dog-team over-
night at Cape Evans arrived at Hut Point on the morning
of the 24th.

Now the daily distance which every 4-man party had
to average from Hut Point to its turning-point and back
to Hut Point, so as to be on full rations all the way, was
only 8.4 geographical miles. From Hut Point to the lati-
tude in which he was last seen, 87° 32’ S., Scott had aver-
aged more than ten geographical miles a day.

Taking into consideration the advanced latitude, 87°
32’ S., at which the Second Return Party had left Scott,
and the extremely good daily averages these two parties
had marched on the plateau up to this point, namely 12.3

SUSPENSE 41S

416 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

geographical miles a day ; seeing also that the First Return
Party had averaged 14.2 geographical miles on their return
from 85° 3’ S. to One Ton Depét; and the Second Return
Party had averaged 11.2 geographical miles on their return
from 87° 32’ S. to the same place, although one of the
three men was seriously ill; it was supposed that all the
previous estimates made for the return of the Polar Party
were too late, and that the opportunity to reach One Ton
Camp before them had been lost. Meanwhile the full
rations for their return over the 140 miles (statute) from
One Ton to Hut Point were still at Hut Point.

My orders were given me by Atkinson, and were verbal,
as follows:

1. To take 24 days’ food for the two men, and 21
days’ food for the two dog-teams, together with the food
for the Polar Party.

2. To travel to One Ton Depét as fast as possible and
leave the food there.

3. If Scott had not arrived at One Ton Depét before
me I was to judge what to do.

4. That Scott was not in any way dependent on the
dogs for his return.

5. That Scott had given particular instructions that the
dogs were not to be risked in view of the sledging plans
for next season.

Since it had proved impossible to take the depdt of
dog-food, together with the full Polar Party rations, to One
Ton before this; considering the unforeseen circumstances
which had arisen ; and seeing that this journey of the dog-
teams was not indispensable, being simply meant to bring
the last party home more speedily, I do not believe that
better instructions could have been given than these of
Atkinson.

I was eager to start as soon as the team which had come
back from Cape Evans was rested, but a blizzard pre-
vented this. On the morning of the 2 5th it was thick as a
hedge, but it cleared enough to pack sledges in the after-
noon, and when we turned into our bags we could see
Observation Hill. We started at 2 a.m. that night.

SUSPENSE 417

I confess I had my misgivings. I had never driven one
dog, let alone a team of them; | knew nothing of naviga-
tion ; and One Ton was a hundred and thirty miles away,
out in the middle of the Barrier and away from landmarks.
And so as we pushed our way out through the wind and
drift that night I felt there was a good deal to be hoped
for, rather than to be expected. But we got along very
well, Dimitri driving his team in front, as he did most of
this journey, and picking up marks very helpfully with his
sharp eyes. In the low temperatures we met, the glasses
which I must wear are almost impossible, because of fog-
ging. We took three boxes of dog-biscuit from Safety
Camp and another three boxes from a point sixteen miles
from Hut Point. Here we rested the dogs for a few hours,
and started again at 6 p.m. All day the light was appalling,
and the wind strong, but to my great relief we found Corner
Camp after four hours’ more travelling, the flag showing
plainly, though the cairn itself was invisible when a hun-
dred yards away. This was the last place where there was
any dog-food on the route, and the dogs got a good feed
after doing thirty-four miles (statute) for the day’s run.
This was more than we had hoped: the only disquieting
fact was that both the sledge-meters which we had were
working wrong: the better of the two seemed however to
be marking the total mileage fairly correctly at present,
though the hands which indicated more detailed informa-
tion were quite at sea. We had no minimum thermometer,
but the present temperature was - 4°.

“* February 2'7.. Mount Terror has proved our friend to-
day, for the slope just above the Knoll has remained clear
when everything else was covered, and we have steered by
that—behind us. It seemed, when we started in low drift,
that we should pick up nothing, but by good luck, or good
I don’t know what, we have got everything: first the motor,
then pony walls at 10 miles, where we stopped and had a
cup of tea. I wanted to do 15 miles, but we have done 184
miles on the best running surface I have ever seen. After
lunch we got a cairn which we could not see twenty yards
away after we had reached it, but which we could see

2E

418 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

for a long way on the southern horizon, against a thin
strip of blue sky. We camped just in time to get the tent
pitched before a line of drift we saw coming out of the
sky hit us. It is now blowing a mild blizzard and drifting.
Forty-eight miles in two days is more than I expected: |
may our luck continue. Dogs pulling very fit and not
done up.

“ February 28. I had my first upset just after starting,
the sledge capsizing on a great sastrugus like the Ramp.
Dimitri was a long way ahead and all behind was very
thick. I had to unload the sledge for I could not right it
alone. Just as I righted it the team took charge. I missed
the driving-stick but got on to the sledge with no hope of
stopping them, and I was carried a mile to the south, leay-
ing four boxes of dog-food, the weekly bag, cooker, and
tent poles on the ground. The team stopped when they
reached Dimitri’s team, and by then the gear was out of
sight. We went back for it, and made good 163 miles for
the day on a splendid surface. The sun went down at
11.15 (10.15 A.T.), miraged quite flat on top. After he
had gone down a great bonfire seemed to blaze out from
the horizon. Now — 22° and we use a candle for the first
time.

“< February 29. Bluff Depot. If anybody had told me
we could reach Bluff Depét, nearly ninety miles, in four
days, I would not have believed it. We have had a good
clear day with much mirage. Dogs a bit tired.” 4

The next three days’ run took us to One Ton. On the
day we left Bluff Depét, which had been made a little more
than a year ago, when certain of the ponies were sent home
on the Depdt Journey,? but which no longer contained
any provisions, we travelled 12 miles; there was a good
light and it was as warm as could be expected in March.
The next day (March 2) we did 9 miles after a cold and
sleepless night, — 24° and a mild blizzard from N.W. and
quite thick. On the night of March 3 we reached One Ton,
heading into a strongish wind with a temperature of — 24°.
These were the first two days on which we had cold weather,

1 My own diary. ay See. panics

SUSPENSE 419

but it was nothing to worry about for us, and was certainly
not colder than one could ordinarily have expected at this
time of year.

Arrived at One Ton my first feeling was one of relief
that the Polar Party had not been to the Depdt and that
therefore we had got their provisions out in time. The
question of what we were todo in the immediate future was
settled for us; for four days out of the six during which we
were at One Ton the weather made travelling southwards,
that is against the wind, either entirely impossible or such
that the chance of seeing another party at any distance was
nil. On the two remaining days I could have run a day
farther South and back again, with the possibility of miss-
ing the party on the way. I decided to remain at the Depédt
where we were certain to meet.

On the day after we arrived at One Ton (March 4)
Dimitri came to me and said that the dogs ought to be
given more food, since they were getting done and were
losing their coats: they had, of course, donea great deal of
sledging already this year. Dimitri had long experience of
dog-driving and I had none. I thought and I still think
he was right. I increased the dog ration therefore, and this
left us with thirteen more days’ dog-food, including that
for March 4.

The weather was bad when we were at One Ton, for
when it was blowing the temperature often remained com-
paratively low, and when it was not blowing it dropped
considerably, and I find readings in my diary of - 34°
and - 37° at 8 p.m. Having no minimum thermometer
we did not know the night temperatures. On the other
hand I find an entry: ‘‘’To-day 1s the first real good one
we have had, only about —- 10° and the sun shining,—and
we have shifted the tent, dried our bags and gear a lot, and
been pottering about all day.”’ At this time, however, when
we were at One Ton I looked upon these conditions as
being a temporary cold snap: there was no reason then to
suppose these were normal March conditions in the middle
of the Barrier, where no one had ever been at this time of
year. I believe now they are normal: on the other hand,

420 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

in our meteorological report Simpson argues that they were
abnormal for the Barrier at this time of year.

Since there was no depot of dog-food at One Ton it was
not possible to go farther South (except for the one day
mentioned above) without killing dogs. My orders on this
point were perfectly explicit ; I saw no reason for disobey-
ing them, and indeed it appeared that we had been wrong
to hurry out so soon, before the time that Scott had reck-
oned that he would return, and that the Polar Party would
really come in at the time Scott had calculated before start-
ing rather than at the time we had reckoned from the data
brought back by the Last Return Party.

From the particulars already given it will be seen that I
had no reason to suspect that the Polar Party could be in
want of food. The Polar Party of five men had according
to our rations plenty of food either on their sledge or in
the depots. In addition they had a lot of pony meat de-
poted at Middle Glacier Depot and onwards from there.
Though we did not know it, the death of Evans at the foot
of the Beardmore Glacier provided an additional amount
of food for the four men who were then left. The full
amount of oil for this food had been left in the depéts ;
but we know now what we did not know then, that some
of it had evaporated. ‘These matters are discussed in greater
detail in the account of the return of the Polar Party and
aiten.-

Thus I felt little anxiety for the Polar Party. But I was
getting anxious about my companion. Soon after arrival
at One Ton it was clear that Dimitri was feeling the cold.
He complained of his head ; then his right arm and side
were affected ; and from this time onwards he found that
he could do less and less with his right side. Still I did not
worry much about it, and my decision as to our move-
ments was not affected by this complication. I decided to
allow eight days’ food for our return, which meant that we
must start on March Io.

“March to. Pretty cold night: - 33° when we turned

1 British Antarctit” Expedition, rgro—1g13, “* Meteorology,” by G. C. Simpson,
vol. i. pp. 28-30. 2 See pp. 550-556.

SUSPENSE 421

out at 8 a.m. Getting our gear together, and the dogs
more or less into order after their six days was cold
work, and we started in minus thirties and a head wind.
The dogs were mad,—stark, staring lunatics. Dimitri’s
team wrecked my sledge-meter, and I left it lying on the
ground a mile from One Ton. All we could do was to hang
on to the sledge and let them go: there wasn’t a chance to go
back, turn them or steer them. Dimitri broke his driving-
stick: my team fought as they went: once I was dragged
with my foot pinned under my driving-stick, which was
itself jammed in the grummet: several times I only man-
aged to catch on anywhere: this went on for six or seven
miles, and then they got better.” 4

Our remaining sledge-meter was quite unreliable, but
following our outward tracks (for it became thick and over-
cast), and judging by our old camping sites, we reckoned
that we had donean excellent run of 23 to24 miles (statute)
for the day. The temperature when we camped was only
— 14°. However it became much colder in the night, and
when we turned out it was so thick that I decided we must
wait. At 2 p.M.on March 11 there was one small patch of
blue sky showing, and we started to steer by this : soon it
was blowing a mild blizzard, and we stopped after doing
what I reckoned was eight miles, steering by trying to
keep the wind on my ear: but I think we were turning
circles much of the time. It blew hard and was very cold
during the night, and we turned out on the morning of
March 12 toa blizzard with a temperature of - 33°: this
gradually took off, and at 10 a.m. Dimitri said he could see
the Bluff, and we were right into the land, and therefore
the pressure. This was startling, but later it cleared enough
to reassure me, though Dimitri was so certain that during
the first part of our run that day I steered east a lot. We
did 25 to 30 miles this day in drift and a temperature
of - 28°.

By now I was becoming really alarmed and anxious
about Dimitri, who seemed to be getting much worse, and
to be able to do less and less. Sitting on a sledge the next

1 My own diary.

q

422 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

day with a head wind and the temperature - 30° was cold.
The land was clear when we turned out and I could see
that we must be far outside our course, but almost immedi-
ately it became foggy. We made in towards the land a good
deal, and made a good run, but owing to the sledge-meter
being useless and the bad weather generally during the
last few days, I had a very hazy idea indeed where we were
when we camped, having been steering for some time by
the faint gleam of the sun through the mist. Just after
camping Dimitri suddenly pointed to a black spot which
seemed to wave to and fro: we decided that it was the flag
of the derelict motor near Corner Camp which up to that
time I thought was ten to fifteen miles away: this was a
great relief, and we debated packing up again and going to
it, but decided to stay where we were.

It was fairly clear on the morning of March 14, which
was lucky, for it was now obvious that we were miles from
Corner Camp and much too near the land. The flag we
had seen must have been a miraged piece of pressure, and
it was providential that we had not made for it, and found
worse trouble than we actually experienced. Try all I
could that morning, my team, which was leading, insisted
on edging westwards. At last I saw what I thought was a -
cairn, but found out just in time that it was a haycock or
mound of ice formed by pressure: by its side was a large
open crevasse, of which about fifty yards of snow-bridge
had fallen in. For several miles we knew that we were
crossing big crevasses by the hollow sound, and it was with
considerable relief that I sighted the motorand then Corner
Camp some two or three miles to the east of us. “ Dimitri
had left his Alpine rope there, and also I should have liked
to have brought in Evans’ sledge, but it would have meant
about five miles extra, and I left it. I hope Scott, finding
no note, will not think we are lost.” 4

Dimitri seemed to be getting worse, and we pushed on
until we camped that night only fifteen miles from Hut
Point. My main anxiety was whether the sea-ice between
us and Hut Point was in, because I felt that the job of get-

1 My own diary.

SUSPENSE 423

ting the teams up on to the Peninsula and along it and
down the other side would be almost more than we could
do: there was an ominous open-water sky ahead.

On March 15 we were held up all day by a strong bliz-
zard. But by 8 a.m. the next morning we could see just the
outline of White Island. I was very anxious, for Dimitri
said that he had nearly fainted, and | felt that we must get
on somehow, and chance the sea-ice being in. He stayed
inside the tent as long as possible, and my spirits rose as
the land began to clear all round while I was packing up
both sledges. From Safety Camp the mirage at the edge
of the Barrier was alarming, but as we approached the edge
to my very great relief I found that the sea-ice was still in,
and that what we had taken for frost smoke was only drift
over Cape Armitage.

Pushing into the drift round the corner I found Atkin-
son on the sea-ice, and Keohane in the hut behind. Ina
few minutes we had the gist of one another’s news. The
ship had made attempt after attempt to reach Campbell
and his five men, but they had not been taken off from
Evans Coves when she finally left McMurdo Sound on
March 4: she would make another effort on her way to
New Zealand. Evans was better and was being taken
home. Meanwhile there were four of us at Hut Point and
we could not communicate with our companions at Cape
Evans until the Sound froze over, for the open sea was
washing the feet of Vince’s Cross.

We were not unduly alarmed about the Polar Party at
present, but began to make arrangements for further sledg-
ing if necessary. It was useless to think of taking the dogs
again for they were thoroughly done. The mules and the
new dogs were at Cape Evans. ‘“‘In four or five days
Atkinson wishes to start South again to see what we can
do man-hauling, if the Polar Party is notin. I agree with
him that to try and go west to meet Campbell is useless just
now. If we can go north, they can come south, and to put
two parties there on the new sea-ice is to double the risk.”

“ March 17. A blizzard day but only about force 5-6. I

424 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

think they will have been able to travel all right on the
Barrier. Atkinson thinks of starting on the 22nd: my view
is that allowing three weeks and four days for the Summit,
and ten days for being hung up by weather, we can give
them five weeks after the Last Return Party (¢.e. to March
26) to get in, having been quite safe and sound all the
way. We feel anxious now, but I do not think there is
need for alarm till then, and they might get in well after
that, and be all right.

“Now our only real chance of finding them, if we go
out, is from here to ten miles south of Corner Camp. After
that we shall do all we can, but it would be no good, because
there isnoverydefiniteroute. ‘Therefore I wouldstart outon
March 27, when we wouldtravel that part with most chance
of meeting them there if they have any trouble. I have put
this to Atkinson and will willingly do what he decides. I
am feeling pretty done up, and have rested. The prospect
of what will be a hard journey, feeling as I do, is rather bad.
I don’t think there is really cause for alarm.”

“March 18 and 19. We are very anxious, though the
Pole Party could not be in yet. Also I am very done, and
more so than [ at first thought: I am afraid it is a bit doubt-
ful whether I can get out again yet, but to-day I feel better
and have been for a short walk. I am taking all the rest
Itcan.”’

“March 20. Last night a very strong blizzard blew,
wind force 9 and big snowfall and drift. This morning the
doors and windows are all drifted up, and we could hardly
get out: a lot of snow had got inside the hut also: I was
feeling rotten, and thought that to go out and clear the
window and door would do me good. This I did, but came
back in a big squall, passing Atkinson as I came in. Then
I felt myself going faint, and remember pushing the door
to get in if possible. I knew no more until I came to on
the floor just inside the door, having broken some tendons
in my right hand in falling.” ?

Two days afterwards the dogs sang at breakfast-time:
they often did this when a party was approaching, even

1 My own diary.

'

when it was still far away, and they had done so when
Crean came in on his walk from Corner Camp. We were
cheered by the noise. But no party arrived, and the sing-
ing of the dogs was explained later by some seal appear-
ing on the new ice in Arrival Bay. Atkinson decided
to go out on to the Barrier man-hauling with Keohane on
the 26th. It was obvious that I could not go with them:
he told me afterwards that when I came in with the dog-
teams he was sure I could not go out again.

“ March25.'Thewind cameaway yesterday evening, first
S.W. and then S.E. but not bad, though very thick. It was
a surprise to find we could see the Western Mountains this
morning, and I believe it has been a good day on the Bar-
rier, though it is still blowing with low drift this evening.
We are now on the days when I expect the Polar Party
in: pray God I may be right. Atkinson and I look at
one another, and he looks, and I feel, quite haggard with
anxiety. He says he does not think they have scurvy. We
both, I think, feel quite comfortable, in comparison, about
Campbell: he only wants to exercise care, and his great
care was almost a byword on the ship. They are fresh and
they have plenty of seal. He discussed with Pennell both
the possibility of shipwreck and that of the ship being un-
able to get to him, and for this reason landed an extra
month’s rations asa depot; also he contemplated the idea of
living on seal. He knows of the Butter Point Depot, and
knows thata party has been sledging in that neighbourhood:
though he does not know of the depéts they left at Cape
Roberts and Cape Bernacchi, they are right out on the
Points and Taylor says he could not miss them on his way
down the coast.” 2

This day Atkinson thought he saw Campbell’s party
coming in, and the next day Keohane and Dimitri came in
great excitement and said they could see them, and we
were out on the Point and on the sea-ice in the drift for
quite a long time. “Last night we had turned in about
two hours when five or six knocks were hit on the little

SUSPENSE 425

1 As a matter of fact this was not the case.
y own diary.

426 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

window over our heads. Atkinson shouted ‘Hullo!’ and
cried, ‘Cherry, they’re in.’ Keohane said, * Who’s cook ?’
Some one lit a candle and left it in the far corner of the hut
to give them light, and we all rushed out. But there was
no one there. It was the nearest approach to ghost work
that I have ever heard, and it must have been a dog which
sleeps in that window. He must have shaken himself, hit-
ting the window with his tail. Atkinson thought he heard
footsteps |’?

On Wednesday, March 27, Atkinson started out.on
to the Barrier with one companion, Keohane. During the
whole of this trip the temperatures were low, and both men

obtained but little sleep, finding of course that a tent occu- —

pied by two men only is a very cold place. The first two
days they made nine miles each day, on March 29 they

pushed on in thick weather for eleven miles, when the

weather cleared enough to show them that they had got —

intothe White Island pressure. On March 30 they reached

a point south of Corner Camp, when “taking into con-_—

sideration the weather, and temperatures, and the time of |

the year, and the hopelessness of finding the party except
at any definite point like a depot, I decided to return from
here. We depdted the major portion of a week’s provisions

to enable them to communicate with Hut Point in case they |
should reach this point. At this date in my own mind [| ©
was morally certain that the party had perished, and in fact _

on March 29 Captain Scott, 11 miles south of One Ton
Depét, made the last entry in his diary.” 2

“They arrived back on April 1. Yesterday evening at
6.30 p.M. Atkinson and Keohane arrived. It was pretty
thick here and blowing too, but they had had a fair day on
the Barrier. They had been out to Corner Camp and eight
miles farther. Their bags were bad, their clothes very bad
after six days: they must have had minus forties constantly.
It is a moral certainty that to go farther south would serve
no purpose, and for two men would bea useless risk. They

did quite right to come back. They are much in want of

1 My own diary.
2 Atkinson in Scott’s Last Expedition, vol. il. p. 309.

SUSPENSE 427

sleep, poor devils, and I do hope Atkinson will allow him-
self to rest: he looks as though he might knock up. Keo-
hane did well, and is very fit. They came in over fifteen
miles yesterday, and have brought in the sledge of the
Second Return Party, the one they took out being very
heavy pulling. They had no day on which they could not
travel. Here it has been blowing and drifting half the time
he has been absent,” and a few days later, ‘‘ We have got
to face it now. The Pole Party will not in all probability
ever get back. And there is no more that we can do. The
next step must be to get to Cape Evans as soon as it is
possible. There are fresh men there: at any rate fresh
compared to us.” }

Atkinson was the senior officer left, and unless Camp-
bell and his party came in, the command of the Main Party
devolved upon him. It was not a position which any one
could envy even if he had been fresh and fit. Amidst all his
anxieties and responsibilities he looked after me with the
greatest patience and care. I was so weak that sometimes |
could only keep on my legs with difficulty: the glands of
my throat were swollen so that I could hardly speak or
swallow: my heart was strained and I had considerable pain.
At such a time I was only a nuisance, but nothing could
have exceeded his kindness and his skill with the few drugs
which we possessed.

Again and again in these days some one would see one
or other of the missing parties coming in. It always proved
to be mirage, a seal or pressure or I do not know what,
but never could we quite persuade ourselves that these
excitements might not have something in them, and every
time hope sprang up anew. Meanwhile the matter of
serious importance was the state of the ice in the bays be-
tween us and Cape Evans: we must get help. All the ice in
the middle of the Sound was swept out by the winds of
March 30 to April 2, and on the following day Atkinson
climbed Arrival Heights to see how the remaining ice
looked. The view over the Sound from here is shown

1 My own diary.

428 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

in the frontispiece to this book. “‘The ice in the two bays

to Cape Evans is quite new—formed this morning, I sup-
pose, with the rest that is in the Sound. There are open
leads between Glacier Tongue and Cape Evans, inside the
line joining the ends of the two. There is a big berg in —
between Glacier ‘Tongue and the Islands, and also a flat ©
one off Cape Evans.” } |

We had some good freezing days after this, and on _
April 5 “we tried the ice this afternoon. It is naturally —
slushy and salt, but some hundred yards from the old ice ~
it is six inches thick: probably it averages about this thick-
ness all over the Sound.” 2 Then we had a hard blizzard,
on the fourth day of which it was possible to get up the
Heights again and see for some distance. As far as could
be judged the ice in the two bays had remained firm: these —
bays are those formed on either side of Glacier Tongue, by
the Hut Point Peninsula on the south, and by Cape Evans
and the islands on the north.

On April to Atkinson, Keohane and Dimitri started
for Cape Evans, meaning to travel along the Peninsula to —
the Hutton Cliffs, and thence to cross the sea-ice in these
bays, if it proved to be practicable. The amount of day-
light was now very restricted, and the sun would disap-
pear for the winter a week hence. Arrived at the Hutton
Cliffs, where it was blowing as usual, they lost no time in
lowering themselves and their sledge on to the sea-ice, and
were then pleasantly surprised to find how slippery it was.
“We set sail before a strong following breeze and, all sit-
ting on the sledge, had reached the Glacier Tongue in
twenty minutes. We clambered over the Tongue, and, our
luck and the breeze still holding, we reached Cape Evans,
completing the last seven miles, all sitting on the sledge,
in an hour,”

“There I called together all the members and ex-
plained the situation, telling them what had been done, and
what I then proposed to do; also asking them for their
advice in this trying time. The opinion was almost unani-
mous that all that was possible had been already done.

1 My own diary. 2 Ibid.

Inaccessible Island Cape Evans Slopes of Erebus
Tent Island Frozen sea Open sea Razorback Is.
: = . ; a

CAPE ROYDS FROM CAPE BARNE

SUSPENSE 429

‘Owing to the lateness of the year, and the likelihood of our
being unable to make our way up the coast to Campbell,
‘one or two members suggested that another journey might
‘be made to Corner Camp. Knowing the conditions which
‘had lately prevailed on the Barrier, I took it upon myself
‘to decide the uselessness of this.” 1

All was well at Cape Evans. Winds and temperatures
‘had both been high, the latter being in marked contrast to
‘the low temperatures we had experienced at Hut Point,
which averaged as much as 15° lower than those that were
‘recorded in the previous year. ‘The seven mules were well,
but three of the new dogs had died: we were always being
troubled by that mysterious disease.

| Before she left for New Zealand the following members
of our company joined the ship: Simpson, who had to re-
turn to his work in India; Griffith Taylor, who had been
lent to us by the Australian Government for only one year;
Ponting, whose photographic work was done ; Day, whose
work with the motors was done ; Meares, who was recalled
by family affairs ; Forde, whose hand had never recovered
the effects of frost-bite during the spring ; Clissold, who
fell off a berg and concussed himself; and Anton, whose
work with the ponies was done. Lieutenant Evans was in-
_valided home.

_ Archer had been landed to take Clissold’s place as cook;
another seaman, Williamson, was landed to take Forde’s
place, and of our sledging companions he was the only
fresh man. Wright was probably the most fit after him,
and otherwise we had no one who, under ordinary circum-
stances, would have been considered fit to go out sledging
again this season, especially at a time when the sun was just
leaving us for the winter. We were sledged out.

The next few days were occupied in making prepara-
tions for a further sledge journey, and on April 13 a party
started toreturn to Hut Point bythe Hutton Cliffs. Atkin-
son, Wright, Keohane and Williamson were to try and
sledge up the western coast to help Campbell: Gran and
Dimitri were to stay with me at Hut Point. The surface of

1 Atkinson in Scott’s Last Expedition, vol. ii. p. 31.

430 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD |

the sea-ice was now extremely slushy and bad for pulling;
the ice had begun to extrude its salt. A blizzard started in
their faces, and they ran for shelter to the lee of Little
Razorback Island. The weather clearing they pushed on
to the Glacier Tongue, and camped there for the night
somewhat frost-bitten. Some difficulty was experienced the
next morning in climbing the ice-cliff on to the Peninsula,
but Atkinson, using his knife as a purchase, and the sledge
held at arm’s-length by four men as a ladder, succeeded
eventually in getting a foothold.

Meanwhile I was left alone at Hut Point, where bliz-
zards raged periodically with the usual creakings and
groanings of the old hut. Foolishly I accompanied my
companions, when they started for Cape Evans, as far as
the bottom of Ski Slope. When I left them I found I could
not keep my feet on the slippery snow and ice patches, and
I had several nasty falls, in one of which 1 gave my shoulder"
a twist. It was this shaking combined with the rather
desperate conditions which caused a more acute state of
illness and sickness than | had experienced for some time.
Some of those days I remained alone at Hut Point I was_
too weak to do more than crawl on my hands and knees
about the hut. I had to get blubber from the door to feed
the fire, and chop up seal-meat to eat, to cook, and to tend
the dogs, some of whom were loose, while most of them |
were tied in the verandah, or between the hut door and
Vince’s Cross. ‘The hut was bitterly cold with only one)
man in it: had there not been some morphia among the’
stores brought down from Cape Evans I do not know what »
I should have done. ,

The dogs realized that they could take liberties which |
they would not have dared to do in different circumstances.
They whined and growled, and squabbled amongst them-
selves all the time, day and night. Seven or eight times one
day I crawled across the floor to try and lay my hands upon
one dog who was the ringleader. I was sure it was Dyk,
but never detected him in the act, and though I thrashed
him with difficulty as a speculation, the result was not en-
couraging. I would willingly have killed the lot of them

SUSPENSE 431

just then, I am ashamed to say. I lay in my sleeping-bag
with the floor of the hut falling from me, or its walls dis-
appearing in the distance and coming back: and roused
myself at intervals to feed blubber to the stove. I felt as
though I had been delivered out of hell when the relief
party arrived on the night of April 14. I had been alone
four days, and I think a few more days would have sent me
off my head. Not the least welcome of the things they had
brought me were my letters, copies of the Weekly Times,
a pair of felt shoes and a comb!

Atkinson’s plan was to start on April 7 over the old
sea-ice which lay to the south and south-west of us: he was
to take with him Wright, Keohane and Williamson, and
they wanted to reach Butter Point, and thence to sledge
up the western coast. If the sea-ice was in, and Campbell
was sledging down upon it, they hoped to meet him and
might be of the greatest assistance to him. Even if they
did not meet him they could mark more obviously cer-
tain depéts, of which he had no knowledge, left by our
own geological parties on the route he must follow. As I
have already mentioned, these were on Cape Roberts, off
Granite Harbour, and on Cape Bernacchi, north of New
Harbour: there was also a depdt at Butter Point, but
Campbell already knew of this. They could also leave in-
structions to this effect at points where he would be likely
to see them. There was no question that there was grave
risk in this journey. Not only was the winter approach-
ing, and the daylight limited, but the sea-ice over which
they must march was most dangerous. Sea-ice is always
forming and being blown out to sea, or just floating away
on the tide at this time of year. The amount of old ice
which had remained during the summer was certain to be
limited : the new ice was thin and might take them out
with it at any time. However, what could be done had to
be done.

Before they left certain signals by means of rockets and
Véry lights were arranged, to be sent up by us at Hut
Point if Campbell arrived : signals had also been arranged
between Hut Point and Cape Evans in view of certain

432 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

events. We did not have, but I think we ought to have had,
some form of portable heliograph for communications be-
tween Hut Point and Cape Evans when the sun was up,
and some kind of lamp signal apparatus to use during the
winter.
They started at 10.30 A.M. on Wednesday, April 17.
The sun was now only just peeping over the northern ©
horizon at mid-day, and would disappear entirely in six
more days, though of course there was a long twilight as
yet. For fresh men on old sea-ice it would not have been —
an easy venture: for worn-out men on a coast where the —
ice was probably freezing and blowing out at odd times it —
was very brave.
They had hard pulling their first two days, and the mini-
mum temperature for the corresponding nights was - 43° —
and — 45°. Consequently they soon began to be iced up.
On the other hand they found old sea-ice and made good
some 25 miles, camping on the evening of the 18th about ~
four miles from the Eskers. Next morning they had to —
venture upon newly frozen ice, and a blizzard wind was ~
blowing. ‘They crossed the four miles from their night —
camp to the Eskers, glad enough to reach land the other
side without the ice going to sea with them. They then
turned towards the Butter Point Depét, but were compelled
to camp owing to the blizzard which came on with full
force. The rise in temperature to zero caused a general
thaw of sleeping-bags and clothing which dried but little
when the sun had no power. On the following morning
they reached the Butter Point Depét, which they found
with difficulty, for there was no flag standing. Even as they
struck their camp they saw the ice to the north of them
breaking up and going out to sea. There was nothing
to do but to turn back, for neither could they go north
to Campbell nor could Campbell come south to them. —
Wright now told Atkinson how much he had been op- |
posed to this journey all along: “he had come on this
trip fully believing that there was every possibility of the
party being lost, but had never demurred and never offered ©
a contrary opinion, and one cannot be thankful enough to ~

SUSPENSE 433

such men.’’! They made up the Butter Point Depét,
_ marked it as well as they could in case Campbell should
_ arrive there, and left two weeks’ provisions for him. They
could do no more.

They got back to the Eskers that same day and
anxiously awaited the twilight of the morning to reveal the
state of the new sea-ice which they had crossed on their
outward journey. To their joy some of it remained and
they started to do the four miles between them and the old
sea-ice. For two miles they ran with the sail set: then they
had a hard pull, and some Emperor penguins whom they
could see led them to suppose that there was open water
ahead. But they got through all right, and did ten miles
for the day. On Monday 22, “blizzard in morning, so
started late, and made for end of Pinnacled Ice. We found
our little bay of sea-ice all gone out. Luckily there was a
sort of ice-foot around the Pinnacled Ice and we completed
seven miles and got through.” ?

Tuesday, April 23. “* Atkinson and his party got in
about 7 p.m. after a long pull all day in very bad weather.
They are just in the state of a party which has been out
on a very cold spring journey: clothes and sleeping-bags
very wet, sweaters, pyjama coats and so forth full of snow.
Atkinson looks quite done up, his cheeks are fallen in and
his throat shows thin. Wright is also a good deal done up,
and the whole party has evidently had little sleep. They
have had a difficult and dangerous trip, and it is a good
| thing they are in, and they are fortunate to have had no
mishaps, for the sea-ice is constantly going out over there,
and when they were on it they never knew that they might
| not find themselves cut off from the shore. Big leads were

constantly opening, even in ice over a foot thick and with
little wind. But even if the ice had been in I do not believe
that they could have gone many days.” 3

That same day the sun appeared for the last time for
four months.

April 28 seemed to bea quite good day when we woke,

1 Atkinson in Scott’s Last Expedition, vol. ti. p. 314.
2 Atkinson’s diary. 3 My own diary.

q

434 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD
and Wright, Keohane and Gran started back for Cape

Evans before 10 a.mM. We could then see the outline of
Inaccessible Island, and the ice in the Sound looked fairly
firm. So they determined to go by the way of the sea-ice
under Castle Rock instead of going along the Peninsula
to the Hutton Cliffs. Soon after they started it came up
thick, and by 11.30 it was blowing a mild blizzard with a

\)

low temperature. We felt considerable anxiety, especially ©
when a full blizzard set in with a temperature down to
— 31°, and we could not see how the ice was standing it.

Two days later it cleared, and that night a flare was lit at
Cape Evans at a pre-arranged time, by which signal we —

knew that they had arrived safely. We heard afterwards
that when it came up thick they decided to follow the land
which was the only thing that they could see. They soon
found that the ice was not nearly so good as was supposed:
there were open pools of water, and some of the ice was

moving up and down with their weight as they crossed it: —
Gran put his foot in. Then Wright went ahead with the —
Alpine rope, the ice being blue, the pulling easy, and the -

wind force 4-5. As far as ‘Turtleback Island the ice was
newly frozen, but after that they knew they were on oldish
ice. [hey were lost on Cape Evans in the blizzard for some

time, but eventually found the hut safely. One of the |

lessons of this expedition is that too little care was taken
in travelling on sea-ice.

Atkinson, Dimitri and I left for Cape Evans with the
two dog-teams on May 1. Directly we started it was

evident that the surface was very bad: even the ice near |

Hut Point, which had been frozen for a long time, was hard

pulling for the dogs, and when after less than a mile we got —

on to ice which had frozen quite lately the sledges were
running on snow which in turn lay on salt sleet. It seemed |
a long time before we got abreast of Castle Rock, following —
close along the land for the weather was very thick: when |
we started we could just see the outline of Inaccessible
Island, but by now the horizon was lost in the dusk and
haze. We decided to push on to Turtleback Island and
go over Glacier Tongue in order to get on to the older ice

SUSPENSE 435

as soon as possible. The dogs began to get very done:
Manuki Noogis, who had been harnessed in as leader (for
Rabchick had deserted in the night), gave in completely,
lay down and refused to be persuaded to go on: we had to
cast him off and hope that he would follow. After a time
Turtleback Island was visible in the gloom, but it was all
we could do, pushing and pulling the sledges to help the
dogs, to get them so far. We were now on the older ice:
our way was easier and we reached Cape Evans without
further incident. We found Rabchick on arrival, but no
Manuki Noogis, who never reappeared.

As weneared the Cape Atkinson turned to me: “ Would
you go for Campbell or the Polar Party next year?” he
said. “‘Campbell,”’ I answered: just then it seemed to me
unthinkable that we should leave live men to search for
those who were dead.

CHAPTER XIV

THE LAST WINTER

‘' |
|

Ordinary people snuggle up to God as a lost leveret in a freezing |

wilderness might snuggle up to a Siberian tiger. . . —-H. G. Wetts.
(I.) 5 men dead. (III.) 2 men landed.
ScoTT OATES ARCHER WILLIAMSON
WILSON SEAMAN EVANS
BoweERs (IV.) 13 men at Cape Evans
for third year.
II. men gone home. ATKINSON CREAN
ie & CHERRY-GARRARD KEOHANE
LigEuT. EVANS Day WRIGHT DIMITRI
SIMPSON FORDE DEBENHAM HOOPER
MEARES CLISSOLD GRAN WILLIAMSON
‘TAYLOR ANTON NELSON ARCHER
PONTING LASHLY

A quite disproportionately small part of Scott’s Last Expe-
dition was given to Atkinson’s account of the last and worst —
year any of us survivors spent: some one should have com-
pelled him to write, for he will not do so if he can help it.
The problems which presented themselves were unique in
the history of Arctic travel, the weather conditions which
had to be faced during this last winter were such as had
never been met in McMurdo Sound! The sledging per- |
sonnel had lately undergone journeys, in one case no less

than four journeys, of major importance, until they were —
absolutely worn out. The successful issue of the party
was a triumph of good management and good fellowship.
The saving clause was that as regards hut, food, heat,
clothing and the domestic life generally we were splendidly
found. To the north of us, some hundreds of miles away,

436

og

THE LAST WINTER 437

Campbell’s party of six men must be fighting for their lives
against these same conditions, or worse—unless indeed
they had already perished on their way south. We knew
they must be in desperate plight, but probably they were
alive: the point in their favour was that they were fresh
men. To the south of us, anywhere between us and the
Pole, were five men. We knew ¢hey must be dead.

‘The immediate problem which presented itself was how
best to use the resources which were left to us. Our num-
bers were much reduced. Nine men had gone home before
any hint of tragedy reachedthem. Two men had been landed
from the ship. Wewere thirteen men for thislast year. Of
these thirteen it was almost certain that Debenham would
be unable to go out sledging again owing to an injury to
his knee: Archer had come to cook and not to sledge: and
it was also doubtful about myself. Asa matter of fact our
sledging numbers for the last summer totalled eleven, five
officers and six men.

Wewere well provided with transport, having the seven
mules sent down by the Indian Government, which were
excellent animals, as well as our original two dog-teams:
the additional dogs brought down by the ship were with
two exceptions of no real sledging value. Our dog-teams
had, however, already travelled some 1 500 miles on the Bar-
rier alone, not counting the work they had done between
Hut Point and Cape Evans ; and, though we did not realize
| it at this time, they were sick of it and never worked again
| with that dash which we had come to expect of them.
The first thing which we settled about the winter which
lay ahead of us was that, so far as possible, everything
should go on as usual. The scientific work must of course
| be continued, and there were the dogs and mules to be
\looked after: a night-watch to be kept and the meteoro-
‘logical observations and auroral notes to be taken. Owing
}to our reduced numbers we should need the help of the
jseamen for this purpose. We were also to bring out
another volume of the South Polar ‘Times on Mid-winter
Day. The importance of not allowing any sense of depres-
sion to become a part of the atmosphere of our life was

438 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

clear to all. This was all the more necessary when, as we
shall see, the constant blizzards confined us week after
week to our hut. Even when we did get a fine day we were
almost entirely confined to the rocky cape for our exercise
and walks. When there was sea-ice it was most unsafe.

Atkinson was in command: in addition, he and Dimitri
took over the care of the dogs. Many of these, both those _
which had been out sledging and those just arrived, were
in a very poor state, and a dog hospital was soon built. At
this date we had 24 dogs left from the last year, and 11
dogs brought down recently by the ship: three of the new
dogs had already died. Lashly was in charge of the seven
mules, which were allotted to seven men for exercise:
Nelson was to continue his marine biological work: Wright
was to be meteorologist as well as chemist and physicist:
Gran was in charge of stores, and would help Wright in —
the meteorological observations: Debenham was geolo-
gist and photographer. I was ordered to take a long rest,
but could do the zoological work, the South Polar Times, ~
and keep the Official Account of the Expedition from day |
to day. Crean was in charge of sledging stores and equip-
ment. Archer was cook. Hooper, our domestic, took
over in addition the working of the acetylene plant. There
was plenty of work for our other two seamen, Keohane and
Williamson, in the daily life of the camp and in prepara-
tions for the sledging season to come.

The blizzard which threatened us all the way from Hut
Point on May 1 broke soon after we got in. The ice in
North Bay, which had been frozen for some time, was —
taken out on the first day of this blizzard, with the excep-
tion of a small strip running close along the shore. The —
rest followed the next afternoon, when the wind was still —
rising, and blew in the gusts up to 89 miles an hour. The ©
curious thing was that all this time the air had been quite —
clear. |
This was the second day of the blizzard. The wind
continued in violence as the night wore on, and it began to »
snow, becoming very thick. From 3 a.m. to 4 a.m. the —
wind was so strong that there was a continuous rattle of -

THE LAST WINTER 439

sand and stones up against the wall of the hut. The
greater part of the time the anemometer head was choked
by the drifting snow, and Debenham, whose night-watch
it was, had a bad time in clearing it at 4 a.m. During the
period when it was working it registered a gust of over 91
miles an hour. While it was not working there came a gust
which woke most people up, and which was a far more
powerful one, making a regular hail of stones against the
wall. The next morning the wind was found to be averag-
ing 104 miles an hour when the anemometer on the hill was
checked for three minutes. Later it was averaging 78 miles
an hour. This blizzard continued to rage all this day and
the next, but on May 6, which was one of those clear beau-
tiful days when it is hard to believe that it can ever blow
again, we could see something of the damage to the sea-ice.
The centre of the Sound was clear of ice, and the open
water stretched to the S.W. of usas far back as Tent Island.
We were to have many worse blizzards during this winter,
but this particular blow was important because it came at
a critical time in the freezing over of the sea, and, once it
had been dispersed, the winds of the future never allowed
the ice to form again sufficiently thick to withstand the
wind forces which obtained.

Thus I find in my diary of May 8: “ Up to the present
we have never considered the possibility of the sea in this
neighbourhood, and the Sound out to the west of us, not
freezing over permanently in the winter. But here there is
still open water, and it seems quite possible that there may
not be any permanent freezing this year, at any rate to the
north of Inaccessible Island and this cape. Though North
Bay is now frozen over, the ice in it was blown away during
the night, and, having been blown back again, is now only
joined to the ice-foot by newly frozen ice.”

During this winter the ice formed in North Bay was
constantly moving away from the ice-foot, quite indepen-
dently of wind. I watched it carefully as far as it was
possible to do so in the dark. Sometimes at any rate the
southern side of the sea-ice moved out not only northwards
from the land, but also slightly westwards from the glacier

440 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

face. ‘To the north-east the ice was sometimes pressed
closely up against the glacier. It seemed that the whole
sheet was subject to a screw movement, the origin of
which was somewhere out by Inaccessible Island. The
result was that we often had a series of leads of newly
frozen ice stretching out for some forty yards to an older
piece of ice, each lead being of a different age. It was an
interesting study in the formation of sea-ice, covered at
times by very beautiful ice-flowers. But it was dangerous
for the dogs, who sometimes did not realize that these leads
were not strong enough to bear them. Vaida went in one
day, but managed to scramble out on the far side. He was
induced to return to the land with difficulty, just before
the whole sheet of ice upon which he stood floated out to
sea. Noogis, Dimitri’s good leader, wandered away several
times during the winter: once at any rate he seems to have
been carried off on a piece of ice, and to have managed to
swim to land, for when he arrived in camp his coat was full
of icy slush: finally he disappeared altogether, all search
for him was in vain, and we never found out what had
happened.

Vaida was a short-tempered strong animal, who must
have about doubled his weight since we came in from One
Ton, and he became quite a house-dog this winter, waiting
at the door to be patted by men as they went out, and
coming in sometimes during the night-watch. But he did
not like to be turned out in the morning, and for my part I
did not like the job, for he could prove very nasty. We
allowed a good many of the dogs to be loose this year, and
sometimes, when standing quietly upon a rock on the cape,
three or four of the dogs passed like shadows in the dark-
ness, busily hunting the ice-foot for seals: this was the
trouble of giving them their freedom, and I regret to say
we found many carcasses of seal and Emperor penguins.
There was one new dog, Lion, who accompanied me some-
times to the top of the Ramp to see how the ice lay out in
the Sound. He seemed as interested in it as I was, and
while I was using night-glasses would sit and gaze out
over the sea which according to its age lay white or black

YHLINIM NI SNVAG Ad¥

THE LAST WINTER 441

at our feet. Of course we had a dog called Peary, and
another one called Cooke. Peary was killed on the Barrier
because he would not pull. Cooke, however, was still with
us, and seemed to have been ostracized by his fellows, a
position which in some lop-sided way he enjoyed. Loose
dogs chased him at sight, and when Cooke appeared, and
others were about, a regular steeplechase started. Healso
came up the Ramp with me one day: half-way up he sud-
denly turned and fled for the hut as hard as he could go:
three other dogs came round the rocks in full chase, and
they all gave the impression of thoroughly enjoying them-
selves.

The question of what ought to be done for the best
during the coming sledging season must have been in the
minds of all of us. Which of the two missing parties were
we to try and find? A winter journey to relieve Campbell
and his five men was out of the question. I doubt the
possibility of such a journey to Evans Coves with fit men:
to us at any rate it was unthinkable. Also if we could do
the double journey up and down, Campbell could certainly
do the single journey down. Add to this that there was
every sign of open water under the Western Mountains,
though this did not influence us much when the decision
was made. The problem as it presented itself to us was
much as follows:

Campbell’s Party might have been picked up by the
Terra Nova. Pennell meant to have another try to
reach him on his way north, and it was probable that
the ship would not be able to communicate again with
Cape Evans owing to ice: on the other hand it was
likely that the ship had zo¢ been able to relieve him. It also
seemed that he could not have travelled down the coast
at this time, owing to the state of the sea-ice. The danger
to him and his men was primarily during the winter: every
day after the winter his danger was lessened. If we started
in the end of October to relieve Campbell, estimating the
probable date of arrival of the ship, we judged that we
could reach him only five or six weeks before the ship
relieved him. All the same Campbell and his men might

442 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

be alive, and, having lived through the winter, the arrival
of help might make the difference between life and death.

On the other hand we knew that the Polar Party must
be dead. They might be anywhere between Hut Point and
the Pole, drifted over by snow, or lying at the bottom of a
crevasse, which seemed the most likely thing to have hap-
pened. From the Upper Glacier Depdt in 85° 5’ S. to the
Pole, that is the whole distance of the Plateau Journey, we
did not know the courses they had steered nor the position
of their depdts, for Lieutenant Evans, who brought back
the Last Return Party, was invalided home and neither of
the seamen who remained of this party knew the courses.

After the experience of both the supporting parties on
their way down the Beardmore Glacier, when we all got
into frightfully crevassed areas, it was the general opinion
that the Polar Party must have fallen down a crevasse ; the
weight of five men, as compared with the four men and
three men of the other return parties, supported this theory.
Lashly was inclined to think they had had scurvy. The
true solution never once occurred to us, for they had full
rations for a very much longer period of time than, accord-
ing to their averages to 87° 32’, they were likely to be
out.

The first object of the expedition had been the Pole.
If some record was not found, their success or failure would
for ever remain uncertain. Was it due not only to the men
and their relatives, but also to the expedition, to ascertain
their fate if possible ?

The chance of finding the remains of the Southern
Party did not seem very great. At the same time Scott
was strict about leaving notes at depdts, and it seemed
likely that he would have left some record at the Upper
Glacier Depot before starting to descend the Beardmore
Glacier: it would be interesting to know whether he did
so. If we went south we must be prepared to reach this
depot : farther than that, I have explained, we could not
track him. On the other hand, if we went south prepared
to go to the Upper Glacier Depét, the number of sledging
men necessary, in view of the fact that we had no depots,

THE LAST WINTER 4.43

would not allow of our sending a second party to relieve
Campbell.

It was with all this in our minds that we sat down one
evening in the hut to decide what was to be done. The
problem was a hard one. On the one hand we might go
south, fail entirely to find any trace of the Polar Party, and
while we were fruitlessly travelling all the summer Camp-
bell’s men might die for want of help. On the other hand
we might go north, to find that Campbell’s men were safe,
and as a consequence the fate of the Polar Party and the
result of their efforts might remain for ever unknown. Were
we to forsake men who might be alive to look for those
whom we knew were dead?

These were the points put by Atkinson to the meeting
of the whole party. He expressed his own conviction that
we should go south, and then each member was asked
what he thought. No one was for going north: one
member only did not vote for going south, and he pre-
ferred not to give an opinion. Considering the complexity
of the question, I wassurprised by this unanimity. We pre-
pared for another Southern Journey.

It is impossible to express and almost impossible to
imagine how difficult it was to make this decision. Then
we knew nothing : now we know all. And nothing is
harder than to realize in the light of facts the doubts which
others have experienced in the fog of uncertainty.

Our winter routine worked very smoothly. Inside the
hut we had a good deal more room than we needed, but
this allowed of certain work being done in its shelter which
would otherwise have had to be done outside. For instance
we cut a hole through the floor of the dark-room, and
sledged in some heavy boulders of kenyte lava: these were
frozen solidly into the rock upon which the hut was built
by the simple method of pouring hot water over them, and
the pedestal so formed was used by Wright for his pendu-
lum observations. I was able to skin a number of birds in
the hut ; which, incidentally, was a very much colder place
in consequence of the reduction in our numbers.

The wind was most turbulent during this winter.

444 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

The mean velocity of the wind, in miles per hour, for the
month of May was 24.6 m.p.h.; for June 30.9 m.p.h.; and
for July 29.5 m.p.h. The percentage of hours when the
wind was blowing over fresh gale strength (42 m.p.h. on
the Beaufort scale) for the month of May was 24.5, for
June 35, and for July 33 per cent of the whole.

These figures speak for themselves: after May we lived
surrounded by an atmosphere of raging winds and blind-
ing drift, and the sea at our door was never allowed to
freeze permanently.

After the blizzardin the beginning of May which I have
already described, the ice round the point of Cape Evans
and that in North Bay formed to a considerable thickness.
We put a thermometer screen out upon it, and Atkinson
starteda fish-trap through a hole in it. There was a good
deal of competition over this trap: the seamen started a rival
one, which was to have been a very large affair, though it
narrowed down to a less ambitious business before it was
finished. ‘There was a sound of cheering one morning, and
Crean came in triumph from his fish-trap with a catch of
25. Atkinson’s last catch had numbered one, but the seals
had found his fishing-holes : a new hole caught fish until
a seal found it. One of these fish, a Tremasome, had a
parasitic growth over the dorsal sheath. External para-
sites are not common in the Antarctic, and this was an
interesting find.

On June 1 Dimitri and Hooper went with a team of
nine dogs to and from Hut Point, to see if they could
find Noogis, the dog which had left us on our return
on May 1. There was plenty of food for him to pick
up there. No trace of him could be found. The party
reported a bad running surface, no pressure in the ice, as
was the case the former year, but a large open working
crack running from Great Razorback to Tent Island.
There were big snowdrifts at Hut Point, as indeed was
already the case at Cape Evans. During the first days of
June we got down into the minus thirties, and our spirits
rose as the thermometer dropped : we wanted permanent
sea-ice.

THE LAST WINTER 445

“Saturday, Fune 8. ‘The weather changes since the
night before last have been, luckily for us, uncommon.
Thursday evening a strong northerly wind started with
some drift, and this increased during the night until it blew
over forty miles an hour, the temperature being - 22°. A
strong wind from the north is rare, and generally is the
prelude of a blizzard. This northerly wind fell towards
morning, and the day was calm and clear, the temperature
falling until it was - 33° at 4p.m. The barometer had
been abnormally low during the day, being only 28.24
atnoon. Then at 8 p.m. with the temperature at — 36°, this
blizzard broke, and at the same time there was a big up-
ward jump of the barometer, which seemed to mark the
beginning of the blizzard much more than the thermo-
meter, which did not rise much. The wind during the
night was very high, blowing 72 and 66 miles an hour, for
hours at a time, and has not yet shown any sign of diminish-
ing. Now, after lunch, the hut is straining and creaking,
while a shower of stones rattles at intervals against it: the
drift is generally very heavy.”

‘Sunday, Fune 9. ‘The temperature has been higher,
about zero, during the day, and the blizzard shows no
signs of falling yet. The gusts are still of a very high velo-
city. A large quantity of ice to the north seems to have gone
out: at any rate our narrow strip along the front, which
is so valuable to us, will probably be permanent now.”

“© Monday, Fune 10. A most turbulent day. It is very
hard to settle down to do anything, read or write, with
such a turmoil outside, the hut shaking until we begin
to wonder how long it will stand such winds. Most of the
time the wind is averaging about sixty miles an hour, but
the gusts are far greater, and at times it seems that some-
thing must go. Just before lunch I was racking my brains
to write an Editorial for the South Polar ‘Times, and had
congratulated ourselves on having the sea-ice which is still
in North Bay. As we were having lunch Nelson came in
and said, ‘The thermometers have gone!’ All the ice in
North Bay has gone. The part immediately next to the
shore, which has now been in so long, and which was over

446 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

two feet thick, we had considered sure to stay. On it has
gone out the North Bay thermometer screen with its in-
struments, which was placed 400 yards out, the fish-trap,
some shovels anda sledge with a crowbar. The gusts were
exceptionally strong at lunch, and the ice must have gone
out very quickly. There was nosign of it afterwards, though
it was not drifting-much and we could see some distance.
To lose this ice in North Bay is a great disappointment, for
it means so much to us here whether we have ice or water
at our doors. Weare now pretty well confined to the cape
both for our own exercise and that of the mules, and in the
dark it is very rough walking. But if the ice in South Bay
were to follow, it would be a calamity, cutting us off en-
tirely from the south and all sledging next year. Let us
hope we shall be spared this.”

This blizzard lasted for eight days, up till then the
longest blizzard we had experienced: “It died as it had
lived, blowing hard to the last, averaging 68 miles an hour
from the south, and then 56 miles an hour from the north,
finally back to the south, and so to calm. To sit here with
no noise of wind whistling in the ventilator, calm and star-
light outside, and North Bay freezing over once more, is a
very great relief.” }

It is noteworthy that this clearance of the ice, as also
that in the beginning of May, coincided roughly with the
maximum declination of the moon, and therefore with a
run of spring tides.

It would be tedious to give any detailed account of
the winds and drift which followed, night and day. There
were few days which did not produce their blizzard, but in
contrast the hours of bright starlight were very beautiful.
“Walking home over the cape in the darkness this after-
noon I saw an eruption of Erebus which, compared with
anything we have seen here before, was very big. It looked
as though a great mass of flame shot up some thousands
of feet into the air, and, as suddenly as it rose, fell again,
rising again to about half the height, and then disappearing.
There was then a great column of steam rising from the

1 My own diary.

THE LAST WINTER 447

crater, and probably, so Debenham asserts, it was not a
flame which appeared, but the reflection from a big bubble
breaking in the crater. Afterwards the smoke cloud
stretched away southwards, and we could not see the end
eit”? *

Blizzard followed blizzard, and at the beginning of July
we had four days which were the thickest I have ever seen.
Generally when you go out intoa blizzard the drift is blown
from your face and clothes, and though you cannot see your
stretched-out hand, especially ona dark winter day, the wind
prevents youbeingsmothered. The windalso prevents the
land, tents, hut and cases from being covered. But during
this blizzard the drift drove at you in such blankets of
snow, that your person was immediately blotted out, your
face covered and your eyes plugged up. Gran lost himself
for some time on the hill when taking the 8 a.m. observa-
tions, and Wright had difficulty in getting back from the
magnetic cave. Men had narrow escapes of losing them-
selves, though they were but a few feet from the hut.

When this blizzard cleared the camp was buried, and
even on unobstructed surfaces the snowdrifts averaged
four feet of additional depth. Two enormous drifts ran
down to the sea from either end of the hut. I do not think
we ever found some of our stores again, but the larger
part we carried up to the higher ground behind us where
they remained fairly clear. About this time I began to
notice large sheets of anchor ice off the end of Cape Evans,
that is to say, ice forming and remaining on the bottom of
the open sea. Now also the open water was extending
round the cape into the South Bay behind us: but it was
too dark to get any reliable idea of the distribution of ice in
the Sound. We were afraid that we were cut off from Hut
Point, but I do not believe that this was the case; though
the open water must havestretched many miles to the south
in the middle of the Sound. The days when it was clear
enough even to potter about outside the hut were excep-
tional. God was very angry.

“ Sunday, Fuly 14. A blizzard during the night, and

1 My own diary.

448 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

after breakfast it was drifting a lot. While we were having
service some of the men went over the camp to get ice for —
water. The sea-ice had been blown out of North Bay, and
the men supposed that the sea was open, and would look
black, but Crean tells me that they nearly walked over the
ice-foot, and, when it cleared later, we saw the sea as white
as the ice-foot itself. A strip of ice which was lying out in
the Bay last night must have been brought in by the tide,
even againsta wind of some forty milesan hour. This shows
what an influence the tides and currents have in compari-
son with the winds, for just at this time we are having very
big tides. It was blowing and drifting all the morning, and
the tide was flowing in, pressing the ice in under the ice-
foot to such an extent that later it remained there, though
the tide was ebbing and a strong southerly was blowing.’”!
Incidentally the bergs which were grounded in our neigh-
bourhood were shifted and broken about considerably by
these high winds: also the meteorological screen placed
on the Ramp the year before was broken from its upright,
which had snapped in the middle, and must have been
taken up into the air and so out to sea, for there was no
trace of it to be found: Wright lost two doors placed over
the entrance to the magnetic cave: when he lifted them
they were taken out of his hands by the wind, and disap-
peared into the air and were never seen again.

So ready was the sea to freeze that there can be little
doubt that it already contained large numbers of ice crys-
tals, and time and again I have stood upon the ice-foot
watching the tongues of the winds licking up the waters as
they roared their way out to sea. Then, with no warning,
there would come, suddenly and completely, a lull. And
there would bea film of ice, covering the surface of the sea,
come so quickly that all you could say was that it was not
there before and it was there now. And then down would
come the wind again and it was gone. Once when the
winter had gone and daylight had returned I stood upon
the end of the cape, the air all calm around me, and there,
half-a-mile away, a full blizzard was blowing: the islands,

1 My own diary.

ORTH BAY AND THE BARNE GLAZIER

Printed by Emery Walker Ltd. London

THE LAST WINTER 449

and even the berg between Inaccessible Island and the
cape, were totally obscured in the thickest drift : the top
of the drift, which was very distinct, thinned to show dimly
the crest of Inaccessible Island: ‘Turk’s Head was visible
and Erebus quite clear. In fact I was just on the edge of
a thick blizzard, blowing down the Strait, the side showing
as a perpendicular wall about soo feet high and travelling,
I should say, about 40 miles an hour. A roar came out
from it of the wind and waves.

The weather conditions were extraordinarily local, as
another experience will show. Atkinson and Dimitri were
off to Hut Point with the dogs, carrying biscuit and pem-
mican for the coming Search Journey: I went with them
some way, and then left them to place a flag upon the end
of Glacier Tongue for surveying purposes. It was clear
and bright, and it was easy to get a sketch of the bearings
of the islands from this position, which showed how great
a portion of the Tongue must have broken off in the
autumn of 1911. I anticipated a pleasant walk home, but
was somewhat alarmed when heavy wind and drift came
down from the direction of the Hutton Cliffs. Wearing
spectacles, and being unable tosee without them, I managed
to steer with difficulty by the sun which still showed dimly
through the drift. It was amazing suddenly to walk out of
the wall of drift into light airs at Little Razorback Island.
One minute it was blowing and drifting hard and I could
see almost nothing, the next it was calm, save for little
whirlwinds of snow formed by eddies of air drawn in from
the north. In another three hundred yards the wind was
blowing from the north. On this day Atkinson found
wind force 8 and temperature -17° at Hut Point: at
Cape Evans the temperature was zero and men were sit-
ting on the rocks and smoking in the sun. Many instances
might be given to show how local our weather conditions
often were.

There was a morning some time in the middle of the
Winter when we awoke to one of our usual tearing bliz-
zards. We had had some days of calm, and the ice had
frozen sufficiently for the fish-trap to be lowered again.

2G

450 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

But that it would not stand much of this wind was obvious,
and after breakfast Atkinson stuck out his jaw and said he
wasn’t going to loseanother trap for any dash blizzard. He
and Keohane sallied forth on to the ice, lost to our sight
immediately in the darkness and drift. They got it, but
arrived on the cape in quite a different place, and we were
glad to see them back. Soon afterwards the ice blew out.

Much credit is due to the mule leaders that they were
able to exercise their animals without hurt. Cape Evans in
the dark, strewn with great boulders, with the open sea at
your feet, is no easy place to manage a very high-spirited
and excitable mule, just out of a warm stable, especially
if this is his first outing for several days and the wind
is blowing fresh, and you are not sure if your face is
frost-bitten, and you are quite sure that your hands are.
But the exercise was carried out without mishap. The
mules themselves were most anxious to go out, and when
Pyaree developed a housemaid’s knee and was kept in,
she revenged herself upon her more fortunate compan-
ions by biting each one hard as it passed her head on its
way to and from the door. Gulab was the biggest hand-
ful, and Williamson managed him with skill: some of
them, especially Lal Khan, were very playful, running
round and round their leaders and stopping to paw the
ground: Khan Sahib, on the other hand, was bored, yawn-
ing continually : it was suggested that he was suffering
from polar ennui! Altogether they reflected the greatest
credit upon Lashly, who groomed them every day and
took the greatest care of them. They were subject to
the most violent fits of jealousy, being much disturbed if
a rival got undue attention. The dog Vaida, however, was
good friends with them all, going down the line and rub-
bing noses with them in their stalls.

The food of the mules was based upon that given by
Oates to the ponies the year before, and the results were
successful.

The accommodation given to the dogs in the Terra
Nova on the way south is open to criticism. As the reader
may remember, they were chained on the top of the deck

THE LAST WINTER 451

cargo on the main deck, and of course had a horrible time
during the gale, and any subsequent bad weather, which
did not however last very long. But it was quite impos-
sible to put them anywhere else, for every square inch
between decks was so packed that even our personal be-
longings for more than two years were reduced to one
small uniform case. Any seaman will easily understand
that to build houses or shelters on deck over and above
what we had already was out of the question. As a matter
of fact I doubt whether the dogs had a worse time than
we during that gale. In good weather at sea, and at all
times in the pack, they were comfortable enough. But
future explorers might consider whether they can give their
dogs more shelter during the winter than we were able to
do. Amundsen, whose Winter Quarters were on the Barrier
itself, and who experienced lower temperatures and very
much less wind than was our lot at Cape Evans, had his
dogs in tents, and let them run loose in the camp during
the day. Tents would have gone in the winds we experi-
enced, and I have explained that we had no snow in which
we could make houses, as was done by Amundsen in the
Barrier.

Our more peaceable dogs were allowed to run loose,
especially during this last winter, at the beginning of
which we also buiit a dog hospital. We should have
liked to loose them all, but if we did so they immediately
flew at one another’s throats. We might perhaps have
let them loose if we had first taken the precaution Am-
undsen took, and muzzled all of them before doing so.
The sport of fighting, so his dogs discovered, lost all its
charm when they found they could not taste blood, and
they gave it up, and ran about unmuzzled and happy.
But the slaughter among the seals and penguins would
have been horrible with us, and many dogs might have
been carried away on the breaking sea-ice. The tied-up
ones lay under the lee of a line of cases, each in his own
hole. They curled up quite snugly buried in the snow-
drift when blizzards were blowing, and lay exactly in the
same way when sledging on the Barrier, the first duty of

452 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

the dog-driver after pitching his own tent being to dig
holes for each of his dogs. It may be that these condi-
tions are more natural to them than any other, and that
they are warmer when covered by the drifted snow than
they would be in any unwarmed shelter: but this I doubt.
At any rate they throve exceedingly under these rigorous
conditions, soon becoming fat and healthy after the hardest
sledge journeys, and their sledging record is a very fine one.
We could not have built them a hut ; as it was, we left our
magnetic hut, a far smaller affair, in New Zealand, for
there was no room tostowit on theship. I would notadvise
housing dogs in a hut built with a lean-to roof as an annexe ©
to the main living-hut, but this would be one way of doing
it if you are prepared to stand the noise and smell.

The dog-biscuits, provided by Spratt, weighed 8 oz.
each, and their sledging ration was 14 lbs. a day, given to
them after they reached the night camp. We made seal
pemmican for them and tried this when sledging, as an
occasional variation on biscuit, but they did not thrive on
this diet. ‘The oil in the biscuits caused purgation, as also
did the pemmican: the fat was partly undigested and the
excreta were eaten. The ponies also ate their excreta at
times. Certain dogs were confirmed leather eaters, and we
carried chains for them: on camping, these dogs were taken
out of their canvas and raw-hide harnesses, and attached to
the sledge by the chains, care being taken that they could
not get at the food onthe sledge. When sledging, Amund-
sen gave his dogs pemmican but I do not know what else:
he also fed dog to dog: I do not know whether we could
have fed dog to dog, for ours were Siberian dogs which, I
am told, will not eat one another. At Amundsen’s winter
quarters he gave them seal’s flesh and blubber one day,
and dried fish the next. On the long voyage south in the
Fram, he fed his dogs on dried fish, and three times a week
gave them a porridge of dried fish, tallow, and maize meal
boiled together.2 At Cape Evans or at Hut Point our dogs
were given plenty of biscuit some evenings, and plenty of
fresh frozen seal at other times.

1 See Amundsen, The South Pole, vol. i. p. 264. 2 [bid. vol. i. ps 119.

THE LAST WINTER 453

Our worst trouble with the dogs came from far away—
probably from Asia. There are references in Scott’s diary
to four dogs as attacked by a mysterious disease during
our first year in the South: one of these dogs died within
two minutes. We lost many more dogs the last year, and
Atkinson has given me the following memorandum upon
the parasite, a nematode worm, which was discovered later
to be the cause of the trouble:

“ Filaria immitis.—A certain proportion of the dogs be-
came infected with this nematode, and it was the cause of
their death, mainly in the second year. It was present at
the time the expedition started (1910) all down the Pacific
side of Asia and Papua, and there was an examination
microscopically of all dogs imported at this time into New
Zealand. ‘The secondary host is the mosquito Culex.

“The symptoms varied. The onset was usually with in-
tense pain, during which the animal yelled and groaned:
this was cardiac in origin and referable to the presence of
the mature form in the beast. There was marked haema-
turia, and the animals were anaemic from actual loss of
haemoglobins. In nearly all cases there was paralysis affect-
ing the hindquarters during the later stages, which tended
to spread upwards and finally ended in death.

“The probable place of infection was Vladivostok before
the dogs were put on board ship and deported to New Zea-
land. The only method of coping with the disease is pre-
vention of infection in infected areas. It is probable that
the mosquitoes would not bite after the dog’s coat had been
rubbed with paraffin : or mosquito netting might be placed
over the kennels, especially at night time. The larval forms
were found microscopically in the blood, and one mature
form in the heart.”

We were too careful about killing animals. I have ex-
plained how Campbell’s party was landed at Evans Coves.
Some of the party wanted to kill some seals on the off
chance of the ship not turning up to relieve them. This was
before they were in any way alarmed. But it was decided
that life might be taken unnecessarily if they did this—and
that winter this party nearly diedof starvation. And yetthis

454 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

country has allowed penguins to be killed by the million
every year for Commerce and a farthing’s worthof blubber.

We never killed unless it was necessary, and what we
had to kill was used to the utmost both for food and for
the scientific work in hand. The first Emperor penguin
we ever saw at Cape Evans was captured after an exciting
chase outside the hut in the middle ofa blizzard. He kept
us busy for days: the zoologist got amuseum skin, showing
some variation from the usual coloration, a skeleton, and
some useful observation on the digestive glands : the para-
sitologist got a new tape-worm: we all had a change of diet.
Many a pheasant has died for less.

There were plenty of Weddell seal round us this winter,
but they kept out of the wind and in the water for the most
part. The sea is the warm place of the Antarctic, for the
temperature never falls below about 29° Fahr., and a seal
which has been lying out on the ice in a minus thirty tem-
perature, and perhaps some wind, must feel,as he slips into
the sea, much the same sensations as occur to us when we
walk out of a cold English winter day into a heated conser-
vatory. On the other hand, a seaman went out into North
Bay to bathe from a boat, in the full sun of a mid-summer
day, and he was out almost as soon as he was in. One of
the most beautiful sights of this winter was to see the seals,
outlined in phosphorescent light, swimming and hunting
in the dark water.

We had lectures, but not as many as during the pre-
vious winter when they became rather excessive : and we
included outside subjects. We read in many a polar book.
of the depressions and trials of the long polar night;
but thanks to gramophones, pianolas, variety of food, and
some study of the needs both of mind and body, we suf-
fered very little from the first year’s months of darkness.
There is quite a store of novelty in living in the dark :
most of us I think thoroughly enjoyed it. But a second
winter, with some of your best friends dead, and others in
great difficulties, perhaps dying, when all is unknown and
every one is sledged to a standstill, and blizzards blow all
day and all night, is a ghastly experience. This year there

eet

THE LAST WINTER 455

was not one of our company who did not welcome the re-
turn of the sun with thankfulness: all the more so since he
came back to a land of blizzards and made many of our
difficulties more easy to tackle. Those who got little out-
side exercise were more affected by the darkness than
others. This last year, of course, the difficulties of getting
sufficient outdoor exercise were much increased. Variety
is important to the man who travels in polar regions : at
all events those who went away on sledging expeditions
stood the life more successfully than those whose duties
tied them to the neighbourhood of the hut.

Other things being equal, the men with the greatest
store of nervous energy came best through this expedition.
Having more imagination, they have a worse time than
their more phlegmatic companions ; but they get things
done. And when the worst came to the worst, their
strength of mind triumphed over their weakness of body.
If you want a good polar traveller get a man without too
much muscle, with good physical tone, and let his mind be
on wires—of steel. And if you can’t get both, sacrifice

physique and bank on will.

NOTE

A lecture given at this time by Wright on Barrier Sur-
faces is especially interesting with relation to the Winter
Journey and the tragedy of the Polar Party. The general
tend of friction set up by a sledge-runner upon snow of
ordinary temperature may be called true s/iding friction :
it is probable that the runners melt to an infinitesimal
degree the millions of crystal points over which they glide:
the sledge is running upon water. Crystals in such tem-
peratures are larger and softer than those encountered in
low temperatures. It is now that halos may be seen in the
snow, almost reaching to your feet as you pull, and moy-
ing forward with you: we steered sometimes by keeping
these halos at a certain angle to us. My experience 1s
that the best pulling surface is at an air temperature of
about + 17° Fahr.: Wright’s experience is that below + 5°

456 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

during summer temperatures on the Barrier the surface is
fairly good, that between + 5° and +15° less good, and
between + 15°and + 25° best. The worst is from + 25° up-
wards, the worst of all being round about freezing point.

As the temperature became high the amount of ice
melted by this sliding friction was excessive. It was then
that we found ice forming upon the runners, often in
almost microscopic amounts, but nevertheless causing the
sledges to drag seriously. ‘Thus on the Beardmore we took
enormous care to keep our runners free from ice, by scrap-
ing them at every halt with the back of our knives. This
ice is perhaps formed when the runners sink into the snow
to an unusual depth, at which the temperature of the snow
is sufficiently low to freeze the water previously formed by
friction or radiation from the sun on to a dark runner.

In very low temperatures the snow crystals become
very small and very hard, so hard that they will scratch the
runners. The friction set up by runners in such tempera-
tures may be known as ro//ing friction, and the effect, as
experienced by us during the Winter Journey and else-
where, is much like pulling a sledge over sand. This roll-
ing friction is that of snow crystal against snow crystal.

If the barometer is rising you get flat crystals on the ice,
if it is falling you get mirage and a blizzard. When you
get mirage the air is actually coming out of the Barrier.
Thus far Wright’s lecture.

Since we returned I have had a talk with Nansen about
the sledge-runners which he recommends to the future ex-
plorer. The ideal sledge-runner combines lightness and
strength. He tells me that he would always have metal
runners in high temperatures in which they will run better
than wood. In cold temperatures wood is necessary. Metal
is stronger than wood with same weight. He has never
used, but he suggests the possible use of, aluminium or
magnesium for the metal. And he would also have wooden
runners with metal runners attached, to be used alternately,
if needed.

The Discovery Expedition used German silver, and
it failed : Nansen suggests that the failure was due to the

Ls

‘

THE LAST WINTER 457

fact that these runners were fitted at home. The effect
of this is that the wood shrinks and the German silver is
not quite flat: the fitting should be done on the spot.
Nansen did this himself on the Fram, and the result was
excellent. [I believe that these Discovery runners were not
a continuous strip of metal but were built up in strips,
which tore at the points of junction.] Before it is fitted,
German silver should be heated red hot and allowed to
cool. This makes it more ductile, like lead, and therefore
less springy: the metal should be as thin as possible.

As runners melt the crystals and so run on water, metal
is unsuitable forcoldsnow. For low temperatures, therefore,
Nansen would have wooden runners under the metal, the
metal being taken off when cold conditions obtained. He
would choosesuch wood asisthe best conductor of heat. He
tried birch wood in the first crossing of Greenland, but would
not recommend it as being too easily broken. In the use of
oak, ash, maple, and doubtless also hickory, for runners,
the rings of growth of the tree should be as far apart as
possible: that is to say, they should be fast growing. Ash
with narrow rings breaks. There is ash and ash: American
ash is no good for this purpose; some Norwegian ash is
useful, and some not. Our own sledges with ash runners
varied enormously. The runners of a sledge should curve
slightly, the centre being nearest to the snow. The runners
of ski should curve also slightly, in this case upwards in the
centre, 7.e. from the snow. This is done by the way the wood
is cut. Wood always dries with the curve from the heart
towards the outside of the tree.

During our last year we had six new Norwegian sledges
twelve feet long, brought down by the ship, with tapered
runners of hickory which were 3? inches broad in the fore
part and 24 inches only at the stern. I believe that this was
an idea of Scott, who considered that the broad runner in
front would press down a path for the tapered part which
followed, the total area of friction being much less. We
took one of them into South Bay one morning and tried it
againstan ordinarysledge, putting 490 lbs.on eachof them.
The surface included fairly soft as well as harder and more

458 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

rubbly going. ‘There was no difference of opinion that the
sledge with the tapered runners pulled easier, and later we
used these sledges on the Barrier with great success.

If some instrument could be devised to test sledges in
this way it would be of very great service. No team of men
can make an exact estimate of the run of their own sledge,
let alone the sledge which your pony or your dogs are pull-
ing. Yet sledges vary enormously, and it would be an ex-
cellent thing for a leader to be able to test his sledges be-
fore buying them, and also to be able to pick out the best
for his more important sledge journeys. I believe it can be
done by attaching some kind of balance between the sledge
and the men pulling it.

Other points mentioned by Nansen are as follows :

Tarred ski are good: the snow does not stick so much.
[This probably refers to the Norwegian compound known
as Fahrt.] But he does not recommend tarred runners for
sledges. Having had experience of a tent of Chinese silk
which would go into his pocket but was very cold, he re-
commends a double tent, the inner lining being detached
so that ice could be shaken from both coverings. He sug-
gests the possibility of a woollen lining being warmer than
cotton or silk or linen. Iam, however, of opinion that wool
would collect more moisture from the cooker, and it cer-
tainly would be far more difficult to shake off the ice. For
four men he would have two two-men sleeping-bags and a
central pole coming down between them, and the floor-
cloth made in one piece with the tent. For three men a
three-man sleeping-bag: e.g. for such a journey as our
Winter Journey. He would not brush rime, formed upon
the tent by the steam from the cooker and breath, from the
inside of tent before striking camp. The more of it the
warmer. He considers that two- or three-men sleeping-
bags are infinitely warmer than single bags : objections of
discomfort are overcome, for you are so tired you go to
sleep anyway. I would, however, recommend the explorer
to read Scott’s remarks upon the same subject before mak-
ing up his mind.

1 Scott, Voyage of the Discovery, vol. i. pp. 480-487.

CHAPTER XV
ANOTHER SPRING

O to dream, O to awake and wander

‘There, and with delight to take and render,
‘Through the trance of silence,

Quiet breath ;

Lo! for there among the flowers and grasses,
Only the mightier movement sounds and passes ;
Only winds and rivers,

Life and death.

Tue flowers were of snow, the rivers of ice, and if
Stevenson had been to the Antarctic he would have made
them so.

God sent His daylight to scatter the nightmares of the
darkness. I can remember now the joy of an August day
when the sun looked over the rim of the Barne Glacier, and
my shadow lay clear-cut upon the snow. It was wonderful
what a friendly thing that ice-slope became. We put the
first trace upon the sunshine recorder ; there was talk of
expeditions to Cape Royds and Hut Point, and survey
parties ; and we ate our luncheon by the daylight which
shone through the newly cleared window.

The coming Search Journey was organized to reach the
Upper Glacier Depét, and the plans were modelled upon
the Polar Journey of the year before. But now we had
no extensive depéts on the Barrier. It was intended that
the dogs should run two trips out to Corner Camp during
this spring. It was hoped that two parties of four men each
might be able to ascend the Beardmore, one of them re-

459

, Hy

maining about half-way up and doing geological and other
scientific work while the other went up to the top.

In our inmost thoughts we were full of doubts and fears.
“T had a long talk with Lashly, who asked me what I can-
didly thought had happened to the Southern Party. I told
him a crevasse. He says he does not think so: he thinks it
is scurvy. Talking about crevasses he says that, on the
return of the Second Return Party, they came right over
the ice-falls south of Mount Darwin,—descending about
2000 feet into a great valley, down which they travelled
towards the west, and so to the Upper Glacier Depéot. I
believe Scott told Evans (Lieut.) that he meant to come
back this same way.”

“Then the stuff they got into above the Cloudmaker
must have been horrible. ‘ Why, there are places there you
could put St. Paul’s into, and that’s no exaggeration,
neither,’ and they spent two nights init. All the way down
to the Gateway he says there were crevasses, great big
fellows thirty feet across, which we of the First Return
Party had crossed both going and coming back and which
we never saw. But then much of the snow had gone and
they were visible. Lieut. Evans was very badly snowblind
most of this time. Then outside the Gateway, on the Bar-
rier, they crossed many crevasses, and some had fallen in
where we had passed over them.”

“This makes one think. Is the state of affairs in which
we found the glacier an extraordinary one, the snow being
a special phenomenon due to that great blizzard and snow- ©
fall? Are we going to find blue ice this year where we
found thick soft snow last ? Well ! I have got a regular
bad needle again, just as I have had before. But somehow
the needle has always worked off when we get right into it.
What a blessing it is that things are seldom as bad in the
reality as you expect they are going to be in your imagina-
tion: though I must say the Winter Journey was worse
even than I had imagined. I remember that this time last
year the thought of the Beardmore was very terrible: but
the reality was never very bad.”

‘“Lashly thinks it would be practically impossible for

460 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

ANOTHER SPRING 461

five men to disappear down a crevasse. Where three men
got through (and he said it would be impossible to get
worse stuff than they came through), five men would be
still better off. ‘This is not my view, however. I think that
the extra weight of one man might make all the difference
in crossing a big crevasse: and if several men fell through
one of those great bridges when sledge and men were all
on it, I do not think the bridge would hold the sledge.” 4

Several trips were made to Cape Royds over the Barne
Glacier, and then by portaging over the rocks to Shackle-
ton’s old hut. The sea was open here, except for small
niches of ice, and the hut and the cape were compara-
tively free from drifts; probably the open water had swal-
lowed the drifting snow. Not so Hut Point, which was sur-
rounded by huge drifts: the verandah which we had built
up as a stable was filled from floor to roof: there was no
ice-foot to be seen, only a long snow-slope from the door to
the sea-level. The hut itself, when we had dug our way
into it, was clear. We took down stores for the Search
Journey, and brought back with us the only surviving
sledge-meter.

These instruments, which indicate by a clock-work
arrangement the distance travelled in miles and yards, are
actuated by a wheel which runs behind the sledge. They
are of the greatest possible use, especially when sledging
out of sight of land on the Barrier or Plateau, and we
bitterly regretted that we had no more. They do not have
an easy time on a glacier, and we lost the mechanism of
one of our three Polar Journey meters when on the Beard-
more. Dog-driving is hard on them; and pony-driving
when the ponies are like Christopher plays the very deuce.
Anyway we found we had only one left for this year, and
this was more or less a dud. It was mended so far as pos-
sible but was never really reliable, and latterly was useless.
A lot of trouble was taken by Lashly to make another with
a bicycle wheel from one of our experimental trucks, the
revolutions of which were marked on a counter which was
almost exactly similar to one of our anemometer registers.

1 My own diary.

9 ‘
iG
‘

A bicycle wheel of course stood much higher than our
proper sledge-meters, and a difficulty rose in fixing it to
the sledge so as to prevent its wobbling and at the same
time allow it the necessary amount of play.

Meanwhile the mules were being brought on in con-
dition. With daylight and improved weather they were —
exercised with loaded sledges on the sea-ice which still
remained in South Bay. They went like lambs, and were
evidently used to the work. Gulab was a troublesome little
animal: he had no objection to pulling a sledge, but was
just ultra-timid. Again and again he was got into position
for having his traces hitched on, and each time some little
thing, the flapping of a mitt, the touch of the trace, or the
feel of the bow of the sledge, frightened him and he was off,
and the same performance had to be repeated. Once har-
nessed he was very good. ‘The breast harness sent down for
them by the Indian Government was used: it was excellent;
though Oates, I believe, had an idea that collars were better.
However, we had not got the collars. The mules them-
selves looked very fit and strong: our only doubt was
whether their small hoofs would sink into soft snow even
farther than the ponies had done.

No record of this expedition would be complete with-
out some mention of the cases of fire which occurred. The
first was in the lazarette of the ship on the voyage to Cape
Town : it was caused by an overturned lamp and easily
extinguished. The second was during our first winter in
the Antarctic, when there was a fire in the motor shed,
which was formed by full petrol cases built up round the
motors, and roofed with a tarpaulin. This threatened to be
more serious, but was also put out without much difficulty.
The third and fourth cases were during the winter which
had just passed, and were both inside Winter Quarters.

Wright wanted a lamp to heat ashed which he was build-
ing out of cases and tarpaulins for certain of his work. He
broughta lamp (nota primus) into the hut, and tried tomake
it work. He spent some time in the morning on this, and
after lunch Nelson joined him. The lamp was fitted with
an indicator to show the pressure obtained by pumping.

462 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

ANOTHER SPRING 463

Nelson was pumping, kneeling at the end of the table next
the bulkhead which divided the officers’ and men’s quar-
ters: his head was level with the lamp, and the indicator
was not showing a high pressure. Wright was standing
close by. Suddenly the lamp burst, a rent three inches long
appearing in the join where the bottom of the oil reservoir
is fitted to the rest of the bowl. Twenty places were alight
immediately, clothing, bedding, papers and patches of
burning oil were all over the table and floor. Luckily every-
body was in the hut, for it was blowing a blizzard and
minus twenty outside. They were very quick, and every
outbreak was stopped.

On September ¢ it was blowing as if it would rip your
wind-clothes off you. We were bagging pemmican in the
hut when some one said, “Can you smell burning?” At
first we could not see anything wrong, and Gran said it
must be some brown paper he had burnt; but after three or
four minutes, looking upwards, we saw that the top of the
chimney piping was red hot where it went out through the
roof, as was also a large ventilator trap which entered the
flue at this point. We put salt down from outside, and the
fire seemed to die down, but shortly afterwards the ven-
tilator trap fell on to the table, leaving a cake of burning
soot exposed. This luckily did not fall, and we raked it
down into buckets. About a quarter of an hour afterwards
all the chimney started blazing again, the flames shooting
up into the blizzard outside. We got this out by pushing
snow in at the top, and holding baths and buckets below to
catch the débris. We then did what we ought to have done
at the beginning of the winter—took the piping down and
cleaned it all out.

Our last fire was a little business. Debenham and I were
at Hut Point. I noticed that the place was full of smoke,
which was quite usual with a blubber fire, but afterwards
we found that the old hut was alight between the two roofs.
The inner roof was too shaky to allow one to walk on it,
and so, at Debenham’s suggestion, we bent a tube which
was lying about and syphoned some water up with com-
_ plete success. Our more usual fire extinguishers were

464 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD 7

1!
Minimax, and they left nothing to be desired: indeed, all —
they left were the acid stains on the material touched.

From such grim considerations it is a pleasure to turn
to the out-of-door life we now led. Emperor penguins —
began to visit us in companies up to forty in number: —
probably they were birds whose maternal or paternal in-
stincts had been thwarted at Cape Crozier and had now ©
taken to a vagrant life. They suffered, I am afraid, from —
the loose dogs, and on one occasion Debenham was out on
the sea-ice with a team of those dogs of ours which were
useless for serious sledging. He had taken them in hand
and formed a team which was very creditable to him, if not
to themselves. On this occasion he had managed with
great difficulty to restrain them from joining a company of
Emperors. The dogs were frantic, the Emperors undis-
turbed. Unable to go himself, one dog called Little Ginger
unselfishly bit through the harness which restrained two
of his companions, and Debenham, helplessly holding the
straining sledge, could only witness the slaughter which
followed.

The first skua gull arrived on October 24, and we
knew they would soon breed on any level gravel or rock
free from snow; and we should see the Antarctic petrels
again, and perhaps a rare snowy petrel; and the first
whales would be finding their way into McMurdo Sound.
Also the Weddells, the common coastal seals of the Ant-
arctic, were now, in the beginning of October, leaving the
open water and lying out on the ice. They were nearly all
females, and getting ready to give birth to their young.

The Weddell seal is black on top, and splashed with silver
in other places. He measures up to Io feet from nose to tail,
eats fish, is corpulent and hulking. He sometimes carries
four inches of blubber. On the ice he is one of the most
sluggish of God’s creatures, he sleeps continually, digests
huge meals, and grunts, gurgles, pipes, trills and whistles in
the most engaging way. In the sea he is transformed into
one of the most elastic and lithe of beasts, catching his fish
and swallowing them whole. As you stand over his blow-
hole his head appears, and he snorts at you with surprise

ANOTHER SPRING 465

but no fear, opening and shutting his nostrils the while as
he takes in a supply of fresh air. It is clear that they travel
for many miles beneath the ice, and I expect they find their
way from air-hole to air-hole by listening to the noise made
by other seals. Some of the air-holes are exit and entrance
holes as well, and I found at least one seal which appeared
to have died owing to its opening freezing up. They may
be heard at times grinding these holes open with their
teeth (Ponting took some patient cinematographs show-
ing the process of sawing the openings to these wells) and
their teeth are naturally much worn by the time they be-
come old. Wilson states that they are liable to kidney
trouble: their skin is often irritable, which may be due to
the drying salt fromthe sea; and I have seen one seal which
was covered with a suppurating rash. Their spleens are
sometimes enormously enlarged when they first come out
of the sea on to the ice, which is interesting because no one
seems to know much about spleens. Speculation was caused
amongst us by the fact that some of these air-holes had as it
were a trap-door above them. One day I was on the ice-foot
at Cape Evans at a time when North Bay was frozen over
withaboutaninchor moreofice. Aseal suddenly poked his
nose up through thisiceto get air,and when he disappeared
a slab which had been raised by his head fell back into this
trap position. Clearly this was the origin of the door.
Weddell seals and the Hut Point life are inextricably
mixed up in my recollections of October. Atkinson, Deben-
ham, Dimitri and I went down to Hut Point on the 12th,
with the two dog-teams. We were to run two depdéts out
on to the Barrier, and Debenham, whose leg prevented
his further sledging, was to do geological work and a plane
table survey. Those of us who had borne the brunt of the
travelling of the two previous sledge seasons were sick of
sledging. For my own part I confess I viewed the whole
proceedings. with distaste, and I have no doubt the others
did too; but the job had to be done if possible, and there
was no good in saying we were sick of it. From begin-
ning to end of this year men not only laboured willingly,
but put their hearts and souls into the work. To have to do
2H

466 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

another three months’ journey seemed bad enough, and to
leave our comfortable Winter Quarters three weeks before
we started on that journey was an additional irritation. We
ran down in surface drift: it was thick to the south, the
wind bit our faces and hands; we could see nothing by the
time we got in, and the snow was falling heavily. The
stable was full of beastly snow, the hut was cold and cheer-
less, and there was no blubber for the stove. And if we had
only taken the ship and gone home when the period for
which we had joined was passed, we might have been in
London for the last six months !

But then the snow stopped, the wind went down, andthe
mountain tops appeared in all their glorious beauty. We
were in the middle of a perfect summer afternoon, with a
warm sun beating on therocksas we walked round to Pram
Point. ‘There were many seals here already, and it was
clear that the place would form a jolly nursery this year,
for there must have been a lot of movement on the Barrier
and the sea-ice was seamed with pressure ridges up to
twenty feet in height. The hollows were buckled until the
sea water came up and formed frozen ponds which would
thaw later into lovely baths. Sheltered from the wind the
children could chase their ridiculous tails to their hearts’
content: their mothers would lie and sleep, awakening
every now and then to scratch themselves with their long
finger-nails. Not quite yet, but they were not far away:
Lappy, one of our dogs who always looked more like a
spaniel than anything else, heard one under the ice and
started to burrow down to him!

Nearly three weeks later I paid several more visits to
this delightful place. It was thick with seals, big seals and
little seals, hairy seals and woolly seals: every day added
appreciably to the number of babies, and to the baaings
and bleatings which made the place sound like a great
sheepfold. In every case where I approached, the mothers
opened their mouths and bellowed at me to keep away, but
they did not come for me though I actually stroked one
baby. Often when the mother bellowed the little one would
also open his mouth, producing just the ghost of a bellow:

ANOTHER SPRING 467

not because he seemed afraid of us, but rather because he
thought it was the right thing to do: as indeed it probably
was. One old cow was marked with hoops all round her
body, like an advertisement of Michelin tyres: only the
hoops were but an inch apart from one another, and seemed
to be formed by darker and longer bands of hair: probably
something to do with thesummer moult. ‘Two cows, which
scrambled out of the same hole one after the other, were
fighting, the hinder one biting the other savagely as she
made an ungainly entrance. The first was not in calf, the _
aggressor, however, was: this may have had something to
do with it. They were both much cut about and bleeding.

A seal is never so pretty as when he isa baby. With his
grey woolly coat, which he keeps for a fortnight, his com-
paratively long flippers and tail, and his big dark eyes, he
looks very clean and pussy-like. I watched one running
round and round after his tail, putting his flipper under
his head as a pillow, and scratching himself, seemingly as
happy as possible: yet it was pretty cold with some wind.

Little is known of the lighter side of a Weddell’s life.
It seems probable that their courtship is a ponderous affair.
About October 26 Atkinson found an embryo of about
a fortnight old, which is an interesting stage, and this was
preserved with many others we found, but all of them
were too old to be of any real value. I think there is a good
deal of variation in the size of the calves at birth. There
is certainly much difference between the care of individual
mothers, some of which are most concerned when you
approach, while others take little notice or lop away from
you, leaving their calf to look after itself, or to find another
mother. Sometimes they are none too careful not to roll or
lie on their calves.

One afternoon I drove a bull seal towards a cow with a
calf. The cow went for him bald-headed, with open mouth,
bellowing and most disturbed. The bull defended himself
as best he might but absolutely refused to take the offen-
sive. The calf imitated his mother as best he could.

Meanwhile Atkinson and Dimitri took some mule-
fodder and dog-biscuit to a point twelve miles south of

468 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

Corner Camp. They started on October 14 with the two
dog-teams and found a most terrible surface on the Barrier,
thesledges sometimes sinking as faras the ‘ fore-and-afters’;
the minimum temperatures the first two nights were — 39°
and —25°; strong blizzard at Corner Camp; a lie-up for
a day and a half, before they could push on 1n windand drift
and lay the depét. The dogs ran back from Corner Camp
to Hut Point on October 19, a distance of thirty miles.
Three miles from Corner Camp three dogs of Atkinson’s
team fell into a crevasse, one of them falling right down to
the length of his harness. The rest of the team, however,
pulled on, and dragged the three dogs out as they went.
Atkinson lost his driving-stick, which was left standing in
the snow and served to mark a place to be avoided. Alto-
gether a rather lucky escape: two men out alone with two
dog-teams are somewhat helpless in case of emergency.

On October 25 Dimitri and I started to take a further
depét out to Corner Camp with the two dog-teams, pulling
about 600 lbs. each. We found a much better surface than
that experienced by Atkinson; in places really smooth and
hard. ‘“‘It is good to be out again in such weather, and it
has been a very pleasant day.” The minimum was only
—24° that night, and we reached Corner Camp on the
afternoon of the next day, following the old tracks where
possible, and halting occasionally to hunt when we lost
them. ‘“‘ Here we made the depot and the dogs had a rest
of 34 hours, and two biscuits. It was: quaint to see them
waiting for more food, for they knew they had not had their
full whack.” 4

There was plenty of evidence that the Barrier had
moved a long way during the last year. It had buckled up
the sea-ice at Pram Point; there were at least three new
and well-marked undulations beforereaching Corner Camp;

and the camp itself had moved visibly, judged by the bear-

ings and sketches we possessed. I believethe annual move- —

ment had not been less than half a mile.

Corner Camp is a well-known trap for blizzards on the _

line of their exit at Cape Crozier, and it was clouding up,
1 My own diary.

ANOTHER SPRING 469

the barometer falling, and the temperature rising rapidly.
“So we decided to come back some way, and have in the
end come right back to the Biscuit Depét, since it looked
very threatening to the east. Here the temperature 1s
lower (—15°) and it is clearing. Ross Island has been
largely obscured, but the clouds are opening on Terror.
We had a very good run and the dogs pulled splendidly,
making light work of it: 29 miles for the day, half of it
with loaded sledges! Lappy’s feet are bleeding a good bit,
owing to the snow balling in between his toes where the
hair is unusually long. Bullet, who is fat and did not pull,
celebrated his arrival in camp by going for Bielchik who
had pulled splendidly all day! There is much mirage, and
Observation Hill and Castle Rock are reversed.” 1 We
reached Hut Point the next day. Lappy’s feet were still
bad, and Dimitri wrapped him in his windproof blouse and
strapped him on to the sledge. All went well until we got
on to the sea-ice, when Lappy escaped and arrived an easy
first.

Dog-driving is the devil! Before I started, my language
would not have shamed a Sunday School, and now—if it
were not Sunday I would tell you more about it. It takes
all kinds to make a world and a dog-team. We had aristo-
crats like Osman, and Bolsheviks like Krisravitza, and
lunatics like Hol-hol. The present-day employer of labour
might stand amazed when he saw a crowd of prospective
workmen go mad with joy at the sight of their driver
approaching them with a harness in his hands. The most
ardent trade unionist might boil with rage at the sight of
eleven or thirteen huskies dragging a heavy load, including
their idle master, over the floe with every appearance of in-
tense joy. But truth to tell there were signs that they were
getting rather sick of it, and within a few days we were to
learn that dogs can chuck their paws in as well as many
another. They had their king, of course: Osman was that.
They combined readily and with immense effect against
any companion who did not pull his weight, or against one
who pulled too much. Dyk was unpopular among them,

1 My own diary.

470 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

for when the team of which he was a member was halted he
constantly whined and tugged at his harness in his eager-
ness to go on: this did not allow the rest of the team to
rest, and they were justifiably resentful. Sometimes a team
got a down upon a dog without our being able to discover
their doggy reason. In any case we had to watch carefully
to prevent them carrying out their intentions, their method
of punishment always being the same and ending, if un-
checked, in what they probably called justice, and we called
murder.

I have referred to the crusts on the Barrier, where the
snow lies in layers with an air-space, perhaps a quarter of an
inch, or more, between them. These will subside as you
pass over them, giving the inexperienced polar traveller
some nasty moments until he learns that they are not
crevasses. But the dogs thought they were rabbits, and
pounced, time after time. There was a little dog called
Mukaka, who got dragged under the sledge in one of the
mad penguin rushes the dog-teams made when we were
landing stores from the Terra Nova: his back was hurt
and afterwards he died. “He is paired with a fat, lazy
and very greedy black dog, Noogis by name, and in every
march this sprightly little Mukaka will once or twice
notice that Noogis is not pulling and will jump over the
trace, bite Noogis like a snap, and be back again in his own
place before-the fat dog knows what has happened.”’4

Then there was Stareek (which is the Russian for old
man, starouka being old woman). “ He is quite a ridicul-
ous ‘old man,’ and quite the nicest, quietest, cleverest old
dog I have ever come across. He looks in face as though he
knew all the wickedness of all the world and all its cares,
and as if he were bored to death by them.” 2? He was the
leader of Wilson’s team on the Depét Journey, but decided
that he was not going out again. Thereafter when he
thought there was no one looking he walked naturally;
but if he saw you looking at him he immediately had a
frost-bitten paw, limped painfully over thesnow, and looked
so pitiful that only brutes like us could think of putting

1 Wilson’s Journal, Sco¢t’s Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 616. 2 bid.

ANOTHER SPRING 471

him to pull a sledge. We tried but he refused to work, and
his final victory was complete.

One more story: Dimitri is telling us how a “funny old
Stareek”’ at Sydney came and objected to his treatment of
the dogs (which were more than half wolves and would eat
you without provocation). “‘ Hesays to me, ‘ You not whip’
—lI say, ‘What ho!’ He go and fetch Mr. Meares—he
try put me in choky. Then he go to Anton—give Anton
cigarette and match—he say—‘ How old that horse?’
pointing to Hackenschmidt—Anton say, very young—he
not believe—he go try see Hackenschmidt’s teeth—and
old Starouka too—and Hackenschmidt he draw back and
he rush forward and bite old Stareek twice, and he fall back-
wards over case—and ole woman pick him up. He very
white beard which went so—I not see him again.’ ”

CHAPTER XVI

THE SEARCH JOURNEY
From my own diary

Sleep after toyle, port after stormie seas,
Ease after warre, death after life, does greatly please.
Spenser, [he Faerie Queen.

October 28. Hut Point. A beautiful day. We finished dig-
ging out the stable for the mules this morning and brought
in some blubber this afternoon. The Bluff has its cap on,
but otherwise the sky is nearly clear: thereisa little cumulus
between White Island and the Bluff, the first I have seen
this year on the Barrier. It is most noticeable how much
snow has disappeared off the rocks and shingle here.

October 29. Hut Point. The mule party, under Wright,
consisting of Gran, Nelson, Crean, Hooper, Williamson,
Keohane and Lashly, left Cape Evans at 10.30 and arrived
here at 5 p.M. after a good march in perfect weather. They
leave Debenham and Archer at the hut, and I am afraid it
will be dull work for them the next three months. Archer
turned out early and made some cakes which they have
brought with them. They camped for lunch seven miles
from Cape Evans.

This is the start of the Search Journey. Everything
which forethought can do has been done, and to a point
twelve miles south of Corner Camp the mules will be trav-
elling light owing to the depdts which have been laid.
The barometer has been falling the last few days and is now
low, while the Bluff is overcast. Yet it does not look like

472

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THE SEARCH JOURNEY 473

a blizzard to come. Two Adélie penguins, the first, came
to Cape Evans yesterday, and a skua was seen there on the
24th: so summer is really here.

October 30. Hut Point. It is now 8 p.m., and the mules
are just off, looking very fit, keeping well together, and
giving no trouble at the start. Their leaders turned in this
afternoon, and to-night begins the new routine of night
marching, just the same as last year. It did look thick
on the Barrier this afternoon, and it was quite a question
whether it was advisable for them to start. But it is rolling
away now, being apparently only fog, which is now dis-
appearing before some wind, or perhaps because the sun 1s
losing its power. I think they will have a good march.

November 2, 5 a.M. Biscuit Depét. Atkinson, Dimitri
and I, with two dog-teams, left Hut Point last night at 8.30.
We have had a coldish night’s run, -21° when we left
after lunch, -17° now. The surface was very heavy for
the dogs, there being a soft coating of snow over everything
since we last came this way, due no doubt to the foggy
days we have been having lately. The sledge-meter makes
it nearly 16 miles.

The mule party has two days’ start on us, and their
programme is to do twelve miles a day to One Ton Depét.
Their tracks are fairly clear, but there has been some drift
fromthe eastsincethey passed. We picked upourcairns well.
Weare pretty wet, having been running nearly all the way.

November 3. Early morning. 144 miles. We are here
at Corner Camp, but not without a struggle. We left the
Biscuit Depét at 6.30 P.M. yesterday, and it is now 4 A.M.
The last six miles took us four hours, which is very bad
going for dogs, and we have all been running most of the
way. The surface was very bad, crusty and also soft : it
was blowing with some low drift, and overcast and snowing.
We followed the drifted-up mule tracks with difficulty and
are lucky to have got so far. The temperature has been a
constant zero.

There is a note here from Wright about the mules,
which left here last night. They only saw two small cre-
vasses on the way, but Khan Sahib got into the tide-crack

474. WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

at the edge of the Barrier, and had to be hauled out with a
rope. The mules are going fast over the first part of the
day, but show a tendency to stop towards the end: they
keep well together except Khan Sahib, who is a slower mule
than the others. It is now blowing with some drift, but
nothing bad, and beyond the Bluff it seems to be clear.
We are all pretty tired.

November 4.’ Early morning. Well! this has been a dis-
appointing day, but we must hope that all will turn out
well. We turned out at 2 a.m. yesterday and then it was
clearing all round, a mild blizzard having been blowing
since we camped. We started at five in some wind and low
drift. It was good travelling weather, and except for the
first three miles the surface has been fair to good, and the
last part very good. Yet the dogs could not manage their
load, which according to programme should go up a
further 150 lbs. each team here at Dimitri Depdt. One of
our dogs, Kuso, gave out, but we managed to get him
along tied to the stern of the sledge, because the team
behind tried to get at him and he realized he had better
mend his ways. We camped for lunch when Tresor also
was pretty well done. We were then on a very good sur-
face, but were often pushing the sledge to get it along.
The mule party were gone when we started again, and
probably did not see us. We came on to the depét, but we
cannot hope to get along far on bad surfaces if we cannot
get along on good ones. The note left by Wright states
that their sledge-meter has proved useless, and this leaves
all three parties of us with only one, which is not very
reliable now.

So it has been decided that the dogs must return from
80° 30’, or 81° at the farthest, and instead of four mules, as
was intended, going on from there, five must go on instead.
The dogs can therefore now leave behind much of their
own weights and take on the mules’ weights instead. And
this is the part where the mules’ weights are so heavy.
Perhaps the new scheme is the best, but it puts everything
on the mules from 80° 30’: if they will do it all is well: if
they won’t we have nothing to fall back on.

THE SEARCH JOURNEY 475

Midnight, November 4-5. It has been blowing and drift-
ing all day. We turned out again at mid-day on the 4th,
and re-made the depdt with what we were to leave owing
to the new programme. This is all rather sad, but it can’t
be helped. It was then blowing a summer blizzard, and
we were getting frost-bitten when we started, following the
mule tracks. ‘There were plenty of cairns for us to pick up,
and with the lighter loads and a very good surface we came
along much better. Lunching at eight miles we arrived
just as the mule party had finished their hoosh preparatory
to starting, and it has been decided that the mules are not
to go on to-night, but we will all start marching together
to-morrow.

The news from this party is on the whole good, not the
least good being that the sledge-meter is working again,
though not very reliably. They are marching well, and at
a great pace, except for Khan Sahib. Gulab, however, is
terribly chafed both by his collar and by his breast harness,
both of which have been tried. He has a great raw place
where this fits on one side, and is chafed, but not so badly,
on the other side. Lal Khan is pulling well, but is eating
very little. Pyaree is doing very well, but has some difh-
culty in lifting her leg when in soft snow. Abdullah seems
to be considered the best mule at present. On the whole
good hearing. .

Wright’s sleeping-bag is bad, letting in light through
cracks in a good many places. But he makes very little of
it and does not seem to be cold—saying it is good venti-
lation. The mule cloths, which have a rough lining to
their outside canvas, are collecting a lot of snow, and all
the mules are matted with cakes of snow. They are terrible
rope-eaters, cloth-eaters, anything to eat, though they are
not hungry. And they have even learnt to pull their
picketing buckles undone, and go walking about the camp.
Indeed Nelson says that the only time when Khan Sahib
does not cast himself adrift is when he is ready to start on
the march.

November 6. Early morning. We had a really good lie-
in yesterday, and after the hard slogging with the dogs

476 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

during the last few days I for one was very glad of it. We
came on behind, and in sight of the mules this last march,
and the change in the dogs was wonderful. Where it
had been a job to urge them on over quite as good a sur-
face yesterday, to-day for some time we could not get off
the sledge except for short runs: although we had taken
312 lbs. weight off the mules and loaded it on to the
dogs.

aie had a most glorious night for marching, and it is
now bright sunlight, and the animals’ fur is quite warm
where the sun strikes it. We have just had a bit of a fight
over the dog-food, Vaida going for Dyk, and now the
others are somewhat excited, and there are constant growl-
ings and murmurings.

The camp makes more of a mark than last year, for the
mules are dark while the ponies were white or grey, and
the cloths are brown instead of light green. The conse-
quence is that the camp shows up from a long distance off.
We are building cairns at regular distances, and there
should be no difficulty in keeping on the course in fair
weather at any rate. Now in the land of big sastrugi.
Erebus is beginning to look small, but we could see an
unusually big smoke from the crater all day.

November 7. Early morning. Not an easy day. It was

— 9° and overcast when we turned out, and the wind was
then dying down, but it had been blowing up to force 5,
with surface drift during the day. We started in a bad light
and the surface, which was the usual hard surface common
here, with big sastrugi, was covered by a thin layer of
crystals which were then falling. This naturally made it
very much harder pulling: we with the dogs have been
running nearly all the twelve miles, and I for one am tired.
At lunch Atkinson thought he saw a tent away to our right,
—the very thought of it came as a shock,—but it proved to
be a false alarm. We have been keeping a sharp look-out
for the gear which was left about this part by the Last
Return Party, but have seen no sign of it.

It is now - 14°, but the sun is shining brightly in a
clear sky, and it feels beautifully warm. It seems a very

THE SEARCH JOURNEY 477

regular thing for the sky to cloud over as the sun gets low
towards nightfall—and directly the sun begins to rise again
the clouds disappear in a most wonderful way.

November 8. Early morning. Last night’s twelve miles
was quite cold for the time of year, being - 23° at lunch
and now - 18°. But it is calm, with bright sun, and this
temperature feels warm. However, there are some frost-
bites as a result, both Nelson and Hooper having swollen
faces. ‘The same powder and crystals have been on the sur-
face, but we have carried the good Bluff surface so far, being
now four miles beyond Bluff Depot. This is fortunate, and
to the best of my recollection we were already getting on
to a soft surface at this point last summer. If so there must
have been more wind here this year than last, which, accord-
ing to the winter we have had, seems probable.

We made up the Bluff Depét after lunch, putting up a
new flag and building up the cairn, leaving two cases of
dog-biscuit for the returning dog-teams. It is curious that
the drift to leeward of the cairn, that is N.N.E., was quite
soft, the snow all round and the drifts on either side being
hard—exceptionally hard in fact. Why this drift should
remain soft when a drift in the same place 1s usually hard 1s
difficult to explain. Allis happyin the mule camp. They
have given Lala drink of water and he has started to eat,
which is good news. Some of the mules seem snow-blind,
and they are now all wearing their blinkers. I have just
heard that Gran swung the thermometer at four this morn-
ing and found it - 29°. Nelson’s face is a sight—his nose
a mere swollen lump, frost-bitten cheeks, and his goggles
have frosted him where the rims touched his face. Poor
Marie !

November 9. Early morning. ‘Twelve more miles to the
good, and we must consider ourselves fortunate in still
carrying on the same good surface, which is almost if not
quite as good as that of yesterday. This is the only time I
have ever seen a hard surface here, not more than fifteen
miles from One Ton, and it looks as if there had been much
higher winds. The sastrugi, which have been facing S.W.,
are now beginning to run a little more westerly. I believe

478 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

this to be quitea different wind circulation from Ross Island,
which as a whole gets its wind from the Bluff. The Bluff is,
I believe, the dividing line, though big general blizzards
sweep over the whole, irrespective of local areas of circula-
tion. ‘This was amply corroborated by our journey out here
last autumn. Well, this is better than then—just round
here we had a full blizzard and — 33°.

November 10. Early morning. A perfect night for
marching, but about -20° and chilly for waiting about.
The mules are going well, but Lal Khan is thinning down
a lot: Abdullah and Khan Sahib are also off their feed.
Their original allowance of 11 lbs. oats and oilcake has been
reduced to g lbs., and they are not eating this. The dogs
took another 300 lbs. off them to-day, and pulled it very
well. ‘The surface has been splendidly hard, which is most
surprising. Wright does not think that there has been an
abnormal deposition of snow the last winter; he says it is
about 14 feet, which is much the same as last year. The
mules are generally not sinking in more than two inches,
but in places, especially latterly, they have been in five or
six. This is the first we have had this year of crusts, and
some of them to-day have been exceptionally big: two at
lunch must have lasted several seconds. ‘The dogs seem to
think the devil is after them when one of these goes off, and
put on a terrific spurt. It is interesting to watch them
snuffing in the hoof-marks of the mules, where there is
evidently some scent left. In these temperatures they are
always kicking their legs about at the halts. As the sun
gained power this morning a thick fog came up very sud-
denly. I believe this is a sign of good weather.

November 11. Early morning. One Ton Depét. Wright
got a latitude sight yesterday putting us six miles from One
Ton, and our sledge-meter shows 5#, and here we are.
Morefrost-bite this morning, and it was pretty cold starting
in a fair wind and —7° temperature. We have continued
this really splendid surface, and now the sastrugi are point-
ing a little more to the south of S.W. While there are not
such big mounds, the surface does not yet show any signs
of getting bad. ‘There were the most beautiful cloud-effects

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ZTIOL ‘IT SOQUIDAON

INIOd LNH SHAVHT ALYVd OOd AHL

THE SEARCH JOURNEY 479

as we came along—a deep black to the west, shading into
long lines of grey and lemon yellow round the sun, with a
vertical shaft through them, and a bright orange horizon.
Now there is a brilliant parhelion. Given sun, two days
here are never alike. Whatever the monotony of the
Barrier may be, there is endless variety in the sky, and I
do not believe that anywhere in the world such beautiful
colours are to be seen.

I had a fair panic as we came up to the depot. I did not
see that one body of the ponies had gone ahead of the
others and camped, but ahead of the travelling ponies was
the depdt, looking very black, and I thought that there was
a tent. It would be too terrible to find that, though one
knew that we had done all that we could, if we had done
something different we could have saved them.

And then we find that the provisions we left here for
them in the tank are soaked with paraffin. How this has
happened is a mystery, but I think that the oil in the XS
tin, which was very full, must have forced its way out in a
sudden rise of temperature in a winter blizzard, and though
the tin was not touching the tank, it has found its way in.

Altogether things seemed rather dismal, but a visit to
the mules is cheering, for they seem very fit as a whole and
their leaders are cheerful. ‘There are three sacks of oats
here—had we known it would have saved a lot of weight
—but we didn’t, and we have plenty with what we have
brought, so they will be of little use to us. There is no
compressed fodder, which would have been very useful,
for the animals which are refusing the oats would probably
eat it.

Gulab has a very bad chafe, but he is otherwise fit—
and it does not seem possible in this life to kill a mule be-
cause of chafing. It is a great deal to know that he does
not seem to be hurt by it, and pulls away gallantly. Crean
says he had to run a mile this morning with Rani. Marie
says he is inventing some new ways of walking, one step
forward and one hop back, in order to keep warm when
leading Khan Sahib. Up to date we cannot say that the
Fates have been unkind to us.

480 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

November 12. Early morning. Lunch 2.30 a.m. lam
afraid our sledge-meters do not agree over this morning’s
march. ‘The programme is to do thirteen miles a day if
possible from here: that is 74 before lunch and 5% after-
wards. We could see two cairns of last year on our right as

we came along. We have got on to a softer surface now, _
and there is bad news of Lal Khan, and it will depend on |

this after-lunch march whether he must be shot this even-

ing or not. It was intended to shoot a mule two marches _
from One Ton, but till just lately it had not been thought |
that it must be Lal Khan. He is getting very slow, and —
came into camp with Khan Sahib: the trouble of course —
is that he will not eat: he has hardly eaten, they say, a —
day’s ration since he left Hut Point, and he can’t work on ~

nothing. It is now - 16°, with a slight southerly wind.

Nearly mid-day. 11-12 miles south of One Ton. We have |

found them—to say it has been a ghastly day cannot ex-

press it—it is too bad for words. The tent was there, about —

half-a-mile to the west of our course, and close to a drifted-

up cairn of last year. It was covered with snow and looked —
just like a cairn, only an extra gathering of snow showing —

where the ventilator was, and so we found the door.

It was drifted up some 2-3 feet to windward. Just by
the side two pairs of ski sticks, or the topmost half of
them, appeared over the snow, and a bamboo which proved
to be the mast of the sledge.

Their story Iam not going to try and put down. They
got to this point on March 21, and on the 29th all was over.

Nor will I try and put down what there was in that tent.
Scott lay in the centre, Bill on his left, with his head to-
wards the door, and Birdie on his right, lying with his feet
towards the door.

Bill especially had died very quietly with his hands _

folded over his chest. Birdie also quietly.

Oates’ death was a very fine one. We go on to-morrow —

to try and find his body. He was glad that his regiment
would be proud of him.

They reached the Pole a month after Amundsen.

We have everything—records, diaries, etc. They have

THE SEARCH JOURNEY 481

among other things several rolls of photographs, a meteor-
ological log kept up to March 13, and, considering all
things, a great many geological specimens. And they have
stuck to everything. It is magnificent that men in such case
should go on pulling everything that they have died to
gain. I think they realized their coming end a long time
before. By Scott’s head was tobacco: there is also a bag
of tea.

Atkinson gathered every one together and read to them
the account of Oates’ death given in Scott’s Diary: Scott
expressly states that he wished it known. His (Scott’s) last
words are:

““ For God’s sake take care of our people.”

Then Atkinson read the lesson from the Burial Service
from Corinthians. Perhaps it has never been readina more
magnificent cathedral and under more impressive circum-
stances—for it is a grave which kings must envy. Then
some prayers from the Burial Service: and there with the
floor-cloth under them and the tent above we buried them
in their sleeping-bags—and surely their work has not been
in vain.}

‘That scene can never leave my memory. We with the
dogs had seen Wright turn away from the course by him-
self and the mule party swerve right-handed ahead of us.
He had seen what he thought was a cairn, and then some-
thing looking black by its side. A vague kind of wonder
gradually gave way to a real alarm. We came up to them
all halted. Wright came across to us. “It is the tent.’ I do
not know how he knew. Just a waste of snow: to our right
the remains of one of last year’s cairns, a mere mound:
and then three feet of bamboo sticking quite alone out of
the snow: and then another mound, of snow, perhaps a
trifle more pointed. We walked up to it. I do not think we
quite realized—not for very long—but some one reached
up to a projection of snow, and brushed it away. The green
flap of the ventilator of the tent appeared, and we knew
that the door was below.

Two of us entered, through the funnel of the outer tent,

1 My own diary.
a1

482 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

and through the bamboos on which was stretched the
lining of the inner tent. ‘There was some snow—not much
—between thetwolinings. But inside we could see nothing
—the snow had drifted out the light. There was nothing
to do but to dig the tent out. Soon we could see the out-
lines. There were three men here.

Bowers and Wilson were sleeping in their bags. Scott
had thrown back the flaps of his bag at the end. His
left hand was stretched over Wilson, his lifelong friend.
Beneath the head of his bag, between the bag and the
floor-cloth, was the green wallet in which he carried his
diary. The brown books of diary were inside: and on the
floor-cloth were some letters.

Everything was tidy. The tent had been pitched as well
as ever, with the door facing down the sastrugi, the bam-
boos with a good spread, the tent itself taut and ship-shape.
There was no snow inside the inner lining. There were
some loose pannikins from the cooker, the ordinary tent
gear, the personal belongings and a few more letters and
records—personal and scientific. Near Scott was a lamp

formed from a tin and some lamp wick off a finnesko. It —

had been used to burn the little methylated spirit which
remained. I think that Scott had used it to help him to
write up to the end. I feel sure that he had died last—and
once I had thought that he would not go so far as some of
the others. We never realized how strong that man was,
mentally and physically, until now.

We sorted out the gear, records, papers, diaries, spare
clothing, letters, chronometers, finnesko, socks, a flag.
There was even a book which I had lent Bill for the
journey—and he had brought it back. Somehow we
learnt that Amundsen had been to the Pole, and that they
too had been to the Pole, and both items of news seemed
to be of no importance whatever. There was a letter there

from Amundsen to King Haakon. There were the per-

sonal chatty little notes we had left for them on the Beard-
more—how much more important to us than all the royal
letters in the world.

We dug down the bamboo which had brought us to

}
;
t

THE SEARCH JOURNEY 483

this place. It led to the sledge, many feet down, and had
been rigged there as a mast. And on the sledge were some
more odds and ends—a piece of paper from the biscuit
box: Bowers’ meteorological log: and the geological speci-
mens, thirty pounds of them, all of the first importance.
Drifted over also were the harnesses, ski and ski-sticks.

Hour after hour, so it seemed to me, Atkinson sat in
our tent and read. The finder was to read the diary and
then it was to be brought home—these were Scott’s in-
structions written on the cover. But Atkinson said he was
only going to read sufficient to know what had happened
—and after that they were brought home unopened and
unread. When he had the outline we all gathered together
and he read to us the Message to the Public, and the
account of Oates’ death, which Scott had expressly wished
to be known.

We never moved them. We took the bamboos of the
tent away, and the tent itself covered them. And over them
we built the cairn.

I do not know how long we were there, but when all
was finished, and the chapter of Corinthians had been read,
it was midnight of some day. The sun was dipping low
above the Pole, the Barrier was almost in shadow. And the
sky was blazing—sheets and sheets of iridescent clouds.
The cairn and Cross stood dark against a glory of burnished

gold.

Copy of Note left at the Cairn over the Bodies

November 12th, 1912.
Lat. 79° 50’ S.

This Cross and Cairn are erected over the bodies of
mat. Scott, C.V.O., R.N.; Dr. E..A. Wilson, M.B.,
B.A. Cantab. ; Lt. H. R. Bowers, Royal Indian Marines.
A slight token to perpetuate their gallant and successful
attempt to reach the Pole. This they did on the 17th
January 1912 after the Norwegian expedition had already
done so. Inclement weather and lack of fuel was the cause

of their death.

484 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

Also to commemorate their two gallant comrades, Capt.
L. E. G. Oates of the Inniskilling Dragoons, who walked
to his death in a blizzard to save his comrades, about 18
miles south of this position; also of Seaman Edgar Evans,
who died at the foot of the Beardmore Glacier.

The Lord gave and the Lord taketh away. Blessed be
the name of the Lord.

Relief Expedition.
(Signed by all members of the party.)

My diary goes on:

Midnight, November 12-13. I cannot think that any-
thing which could be done to give these three great
men—for great they were—a fitting grave has been left
undone.

A great cairn has been built over them, a mark which
must last for many years. That we can make anything that
will be permanent on this Barrier is impossible, but as far
as a lasting mark can be made it has been done. On thisa
cross has been fixed, made out of ski. On either side are
the two sledges, fixed upright and dug in.

The whole is very simple and most impressive.

On a bamboo standing by itself is left the record which
I have copied into this book, and which has been signed by
us all.

We shall leave some provisions here, and go on lightly
laden to see if we can find Titus Oates’ body: and so give
it what burial we can. )

We start in about an hour, and I for one shall be glad ©
to leave this place.

I am very very sorry that this question of the shortage
of oil has arisen. We in the First Return Party were most |
careful with our measurement—having a ruler of Wright’s —
and a piece of bamboo with which we did it: measuring ©
the total height of oil in each case, and then dividing up ©
the stick accordingly with the ruler: and we were a/ways
careful to take a /itile less than we were entitled to, which was
stated to me, and stated by Birdie in his depét notes, to be
one-third of everything in the depét.

THE SEARCH JOURNEY 485

How the shortage arose is a mystery. And they eleven
miles from One Ton and plenty!

Titus did not show his foot till about three days before
he died. The foot was then a great size, and almost every
night it would be frost-bitten again. Then the last day at
lunch he said he could go on no more—but they said he
must: he wanted them to leave him behind in his bag.
That night he turned in, hoping never to wake: but he
woke, and then he asked their advice: they said they must
all go on together. A thick blizzard was blowing, and he
said, after a bit, “‘ Well, lam just going outside, and I may
be some time.”’ ‘They searched for him but could not
find him.

They had a terrible time from 80° 30’ on to their last
camp. There Bill was very bad, and Birdie and the Owner
had to do the camping.

And then, eleven miles from plenty, they had nine days
of blizzard, and that was the end.

They hada good spread ontheir tent, and their ski-sticks
were standing, but their ski were drifted up on the ground.

The tent was in excellent condition—only down some
of the poles there were some chafes.

They had been trying a spirit lamp when all the oil was

one.
4 At 88° or so they were getting temperatures from
—20° to - 30°. At 82°, 10,000 feet lower, it was regu-
larly down to - 47° in the night-time, and - 30° during
the day: for no explainable reason.

Bill’s and Birdie’s feet got bad—the Owner’s feet got
bad last.

It is all too horrible—I am almost afraid to go to sleep
now.

November 13. Early morning. We came on just under
seven miles with a very cold moist wind hurting our faces
all the way. We have left most of the provisions to pick up
again. We purpose going on thirteen miles to-morrow and
search for Oates’ body, and then turn back and get the
provisions back to Hut Point and see what can be done
over in the west to get up that coast.

el.
ay

486 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

We hope to get two mules back to Hut Point. If pos-
sible, we want to communicate with Cape Evans.

Atkinson has been quite splendid in this very trying
time.

November 14. Early morning. It has been a miserable
march. We had to wait some time after hoosh to let the
mules get ahead. Then we went on in a cold raw fog and
some head wind, with constant frost-bites. “he surface has
been very bad all day for the thirteen miles: if we had been
walking in arrowroot it would have been much like this
was. At lunch the temperature was - 14.7°.

Then on when it was drifting with the wind in our faces
and in a bad light. What we took to be the mule party
ahead proved to be the old pony walls 26 miles from One
Ton. There was here a bit of sacking on the cairn, and
Oates’ bag. Inside the bag was the theodolite, and his
finnesko and socks. One of the finnesko was slit down the
front as far as the leather beckets, evidently to get his bad
foot into it. This was fifteen miles from the last camp, and
I suppose they had brought on his bag for three or four
miles in case they might find him still alive. Half-a-mile
from our last camp there was a very large and quite unmis-
takable undulation, one-quarter to one-third of a mile
from crest to crest: the pony walls behind us disappeared
almost as soon as we started to go down, and reappeared
again on the other side. There were, I feel sure, other rolls,
but this was the largest. We have seen no sign of Oates’
body.

Abort half an hour ago it started to blow a blizzard,
and it is now thick, but the wind is not strong. The mules,
which came along well considering the surface, are off their
feed, and this may be the reason.

Dimitri saw the Cairn with the Cross more than eight
miles away this morning, and in a good light it would be
seen from much farther off.

November 15. Early morning. We built a cairn to mark
the spot near which Oates walked out to his death, and we
placed a cross on it. Lashed to the cross is a record, as
follows:

THE SEARCH JOURNEY 487

Hereabouts died a very gallant gentleman,
Captain L. E. G. Oates of the Inniskilling
Dragoons. In March 1912, returning from the
Pole, he walked willingly to his death inablizzard
to try and save his comrades, beset by hardship.
This note is left by the Relief Expedition. 1912.

This was signed by Atkinson and myself.

We saw the cairn for a long way in a bad light as we
came back to-day.

The original plan with which we started from Cape
Evans was, if the Party was found where we could still
bear out sufficiently to the eastward to have a good chance
of missing the pressure caused by the Beardmore, to go on
and do what we could to survey the land south of the
Beardmore: for this was the original plan of Captain
Scott for this year’s sledging. But as things are I do
not think there can be much doubt that we are doing
right in losing no time in going over to the west of
McMurdo Sound to see whether we can go up to Evans
Coves, and help Campbell and his party.

We brought on Oates’ bag. The theodolite was inside.

A thickish blizzard blew all day yesterday, but it was
clear and there was only surface drift when we turned out
for the night march. Then again as we came along, the sky
became overcast—all except over the land, which remains
clear these nights when everything else is obscured. We
noticed the same thing last year. Now the wind, which had
largely dropped, has started again and it is drifting. We
have had wind and drift on four out of the last five days.

November 16. Early morning. When we were ready to
start with the dogs it was blowing a thick blizzard, but the
mules had already started some time, when it was not thick.
We had to wait until nearly 4 a.m. before we could start,
and came along following tracks. It is very warm and the
surface is covered with loose snow, but the slide in it seems
good. We found the mules here at the Cairn and Cross,
having been able to find their way partly by the old tracks.

I have been trying to draw the grave. Of all the fine

488 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

monuments in the world none seems to me more fitting ;
and it is also most impressive.

November 17. Early morning. I think we are all going
crazy together—at any rate things are pretty difficult. The
latest scheme is to try and find a way over the plateau to
Evans Coves, trying to strike the top of a glacier and go
down it. There can be no good in it: if ever men did it,
they would arrive about the time the ship arrived there too,
and their labour would be in vain. If they got there and
the ship did not arrive, there is another party stranded.
They would have to wait till February 15 or 20 to see if
the ship was coming, and then there would be no travelling
back over the plateau: even if we could do it those men
there could not.

It was almost oppressively hot yesterday—but Il never
grumble about heat again. It has now cleared a lot and
we came along on the cairns easily—but on a very soft
downy surface, and the travelling has not been fast. We
bring with us the Southern Party’s gear. The sledge,
which was the 1o-foot which they brought on from the
bottom of the glacier, has been left.

November 18. Early morning. lam thankful to say that
the plateau journey idea has been given up.

Once more we have come along in thick, snowy
weather. If we had not men on ski to steer we could never
keep much of a course, but Wright is steering us very
straight, keeping a check on the course by watching the
man behind, and so far we have been picking up all the
cairns. This morning we passed the pony walls made on
November 10. And yet they were nearly level with the
ground ; so they are not much of a mark. Yank has just
had a disagreement with Kusoi—for Kusoi objected to his
trying to get at the meat on the sledge. The mules have
been sinking in a long way, and are marching very slowly.
Pyaree eats the tea-leaves after meals: Rani and Abdullah
divide a rope between them at the halts; and they have
eaten the best part of a trace since our last camp. These
animals eat anything but their proper food, and this some
of them will hardly touch.

THE SEARCH JOURNEY 489

It cleared a bit for our second march, and we have done
our 13 miles, but it was very slow travelling. Now it is
drifting as much as ever. Yank, that redoubtable puller,
has just eaten himself loose for the third time since hoosh.
This time I had to go down to the pony walls to get him.

We have had onions for the first time to-night in our
hoosh—they are most excellent. Also we have been having
some Nestlé’s condensed milk from One Ton Depdt—
which I do not want to see again, the depot I mean. Peary
must know what he is about, taking milk as a ration: the
sweetness is a great thing, but it would be heavy: we have
been having it with temperature down to — 14°, when it
was quite manageable, but I don’t know what it would be
like in colder temperatures.

November 19. Early morning. We have done our 13
miles to-day and have got on to a much better surface. By
what we and others have seen before, it seems that last
winter must have generally been an exceptional one. ‘There
have been many parties out here: we have never before
seen this wind-swept surface, on which it is often too slip-
pery to walk comfortably. I do not know what tempera-
tures the Discovery had in April, but it was much colder
last April than it was the year before. And then nothing
had been experienced down here to compare with the winds
last winter.

There was a high wind and a lot of drift yesterday
during the day, and now it is blowing and drifting as usual.
During the last nine days there has only been one, the day
we found the tent, when it has not been drifting during all
or part of the day. It is all right for travelling north, but we
should be having very uncomfortable marches if we were
marching the other way.

November 20. Early morning. To-day we have seemed
to be walking in circles through space. Wright, by dint of
having a man behind to give him a fixed point to steer
upon, has steered us quite straight, and we have picked up
every cairn. The pony party camped for lunch by two
cairns, but they never knew the two cairns were there until
a piece of paper blew away and had to be fetched: and it

490 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

was caught against one of the cairns. They left a flag there
to guide us, and though we saw and brought along the
flag, we never saw the cairns. Thetemperatureis - 22.5°,
and it is now blowing a full blizzard. All this snow has
hitherto been lying on the ground and making a very soft
surface, for though the wind has always been blowing it
has never been very strong. This snow and wind, which

have now persisted for nine out of the last ten days, make

most dispiriting marches; for there is nothing to see, and
finding tracks or steering is a constant strain. We are cer-
tainly lucky to have been able to march as we have.

Note on Mules.—The most ardent admirer of mules
could not say that they were a success. The question is
whether they might be made so. There was really only one
thing against them but that is a very important one—they
would not eat on the Barrier. From the time they went
away to the day they returned (those that did return, poor
things) they starved themselves, and yet they pulled big-
gish loads for 30 days.

If they would have eaten they would have been a huge
success. hey travelled faster than the ponies and, with one
exception, kept together better than the ponies. If both
were eating their ration it is questionable whether a good
mule or a good pony is to be preferred. Our mules were of
the best, and they were beautifully trained and equipped
by the Indian Government: yet on November 13, a fort-
night from the start, Wright records, “‘mules are a poor
substitute for ponies. Not many will see Hut Point again,
I think. Doubt if any would have got much farther than
this if surfaces had been as bad this year as last.” 4

Though they would not eat oats, compressed fodder
and oil-cake, they were quite willing to eat all kinds of other
things. If we could have arrived at the mule equivalent to
a vegetarian diet they might have pulled to the Beardmore
without stopping. The nearest to this diet at which we
could arrive was saennegrass, tea-leaves, tobacco ash and
rope—all of which were eaten with gusto. But supplies
were very limited. They ate dog-biscuit as long as they

1 Wright’s diary.

THE SEARCH JOURNEY 491

thought we were not looking—but as soon as they realized
they were meant to eat it they went on hunger-strike again.
But during halts at cairns Rani and Pyaree would stand
solemnly chewing the same piece of rope from different
ends. Abdullah always led the line, and followed Wright’s
ski tracks faithfully, so that if another man was ahead and
Wright turned aside Abdullah always turned too. It was
quite a manceuyre for Wright to read the sledge-meter at
the back of the sledge. As for Begum: ‘‘ Got Begum out
of a soft patch by rolling her over.” 4

On the whole the mules failed to adapt themselves to
this life, and as such must at present be considered to
be a failure for Antarctic work. Certainly those of our
ponies which had the best chance to adapt themselves went
farthest, such as Nobby and Jimmy Pigg, both of whom
had experience of Barrier sledging before they started on
the Polar Journey.

November 21. Early morning. It has cleared at last, the
disturbance rolling away to the east during our first march.
The surface was very bad and the mules were not going
well. At this time last year many of the ponies were still
quite difficult to make stand just before starting. But these
mules start off now most dolefully. I am afraid they will
not all get back to Hut Point.

Two and a half miles after lunch, z.e. just over forty
miles from the depét, we turned out to the eastward and
found the gear left by the Second Return Party, when
Evans was so ill. ‘The theodolite, which belonged to Evans,
is I believe there, but though we dug all round we were
unable to find it. ‘The ski were all upright, drifted to within
six inches of the shoes. Most of the gear was clothing,
which we have left, with the skis, in the tank. We brought
ona roll of Birdie’s photographs, taken on the plateau, and
three geological specimens: deep-seated rocks I think.
This was all of importance that there was there.

The N Ration, which we have now come to, consists
of about 40 oz. of food. At present, doing the work we
are doing, and with these high temperatures, - 23° when

1 Wright’s diary.

492 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

we started, for instance, and — 17° now, the men do not
want it. For what it was intended for, hard man-hauling, it
would probably be an excellent ration, and very satisfying.

November 22. Early morning. We could not have hada
more perfect night to march. Yesterday at 4 p.m., holding
the thermometer in the sun, the spirit rose to 30°: it was
almost too warm in the tent. The cairns show very plainly
—in such weather navigation of this kind would be dead
easy. But they are already being eaten away and toppling.
The pony walls are drifted level—huge drifts, quite hard,
running up to windward and down to lee.

The dogs are getting more hungry, and want to get at
the mules, which makes them go better. They went very
well to-day, but too fast once, for we hada general mix-up :
Bieliglass under the sledge and the rest all tangled up and
ready for a fight at the first chance. How one of the front
pair of dogs got under the sledge is a mystery.

Among the Polar Party’s gear is a letter to the King of
Norway. It was left by the Norwegians for Scott to take
back. It is wrapped in a piece of thin windcloth with one
dark check line in it. Coarser and rougher and, I should
say, heavier than our Mandelbergs.

November 23. Early morning. We were to make Dimitri
Depét this morning, but we came on ina fog, and the mule
party camped after running down the distance. Wright
came back and said, “* If we have passed it, it’s over there”
—and as he pointed the depdt showed—not more than
200 yards away. So that is all right. We, the dog party,
go on in advance to-morrow, so that no time may be lost,
and if the ice is still good, Atkinson will get over to Cape
Evans.

November 24. Early morning. A glut of foot-walloping
in soft snow and breaking crusts. We have done between
17 and 18 miles to-day. We saw no crevasses, and have
marked the course well, building up the cairns and leaving
two flags—so the mule party should be all right. The dogs
were going well behind the ponies, but directly we went
ahead they seemed to lose heart. I think they are tired of
the Barrier: a cairn now awakens little interest: they know

S

4

OATE

‘TITUS’

YNINGE

< <

Thaaey
al bet Wet
ly

hy 4 -

m4,

THE SEARCH JOURNEY 493

it is only a mark and it does not mean a camp: they are all
well fed, and fairly fat and in good condition. With a large
number of dogs I suppose one team can go ahead when it
is going well—changing places with another—each keep-
ing the others going. But I do not think that these dogs
now will do much more; but they have already done as
much as any dogs of which we have any record.

The land is clearing gradually. I have never seen such
contrasts of black rock and white snow, and White Island
was capped with great ranges of black cumulus, over which
rose the pure white peaks of the Royal Society Range ina
blue sky. The Barrier itself was quite a deep'grey, making
a beautiful picture. And now Observation Hill and Castle
Rock are in front. I don’t suppose I shall ever see this
view again: but it is associated with many memories of
returning to home and plenty after some long and hard
journeys: in some ways I feel sorry—but I have seen it
often enough.

November 25. Early morning. We came in 24 miles
with our loads, to find the best possible news—Campbell’s
Party, all well, are at Cape Evans. They arrived here on
November 6, starting from Evans Coves on September 30.
What a relief it is, and how different things seem now! It
is the first real bit of good news since February last—it
seems anage. We mean to get over the sea-ice, if possible,
as soon as we can, and then we shall hear their story.

November 26. Early morning. Starting from Hut Point
about 6.45 p.M. last evening, we came through by about
9 P.M., and sat up talking and hearing all the splendid news
till past 2 a.m. this morning.

All the Northern Party look very fat and fit, and they are
most cheerful about the time they have had, and make light
of all the anxious days they must have spent and their hard
times.

I cannot write all their story. When the ship was
battling with the pack to try and get in to them they had
open water in Terra Nova Bay to the horizon, as seen from
200 feet high. They prepared for the winter, digging their
hut into a big snowdrift a mile from where they were

494 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

landed. They thought that the ship had been wrecked—or
that every one had been taken off from here, and that then
the ship had been blown north bya succession of furious
gales which they had and could not get back. They never
considered seriously the possibility of sledging down the
coast before the winter. They got settled in and were very
warm—so warm that in August they did away with one
door, of which they had three, of biscuit boxes and sacking.

Their stove was the bottom of an oil tin, and they
cooked by dripping blubber on to seal bones, which became
soaked with the blubber, and Campbell tells me they
cooked almost as quickly as a primus. Of course they were
filthy. Their main difficulty was dysentery and ptomaine
poisoning.

Their stories of the winter are most amusing—of
“Placing the Plug, or Sports in the Antarctic”’; of lec-
tures; of how dirty they were; of their books, of which
they had four, including David Copperfield. They had a
spare tent, which was lucky, for the bamboos of one of theirs
were blown in during a big wind, and the men inside it
crept along the piedmont on hands and knees to the igloo
and slept two in a bag. How the seal seemed as if they
would give out, and they were on half rations and very
hungry : and they were thinking they would have to come
down in the winter, when they got two seals: of the fish
they got from the stomach of a seal—* the best feed they
had ”’—the blubber they have eaten.

But they were buried deep in the snow and quite warm.
Big winds all the time from the W.S.W., cold winds off
the plateau—in the igloo they could hear almost nothing
outside—how they just had a biscuit a day at times, sugar
on Sundays, etc.

And so all is well in this direction, and we have done
right in going south, and we have at least succeeded in get-
ting all records. I suppose any news 1s better than no news.

Evening. The Pole Party photos of themselves at the
Pole and at the Norwegian cairn (a Norwegian tent, post
and two flags) are very good indeed—one film is unused,
one used on these two subjects: taken with Birdie’s

THE SEARCH JOURNEY 495

camera. All the party look fit and well, and their clothes
are noticed up. It was calm at the time: the surface looks
rather soft.

Atkinson and Campbell have gone to Hut Point with
one dog-team, and we are all to forgather here. ‘The ice
still seems good from here to Hut Point: all else open
water as far as can be seen.

A steady southerly wind has been blowing here for
three days now. The mules should get into Hut Point
to-day.

It is the happiest day for nearly a year—almost the only
happy one.

CHAPTER XVII

THE POLAR JOURNEY

pon JUAN. This creature Man, who in his own selfish affairs is a coward
to the backbone, will fight for an idea like a hero. He may be abject as a
citizen ; but he is dangerous as a fanatic. He can only be enslaved while he is
spiritually weak enough to listen to reason. I tell you, gentlemen, if you can
show a man a piece of what he now calls God’s work to do, and what he
will later on call by many new names, you can make him entirely reckless of
the consequences to himself personally. . . .

DON JuAN. Every idea for which Man will die will be a Catholic idea.
When the Spaniard learns at last that he is no better than the Saracen, and
his prophet no better than Mahomet, he will arise, more Catholic than ever,
and die on a barricade across the filthy slum he starves in, for universal
liberty and equality.

THE STATUE. Bosh!

pon juan. What you call bosh is the only thing men dare die for.
Later on, Liberty will not be Catholic enough : men will die for human
perfection, to which they will sacrifice all their liberty gladly.

BernarD SHaw, Maz and Superman.

V. Tue PoLe anp AFTER

The Polar Party. Depéts.

ScoTT One Ton [79° 29’].

WILSON Upper Barrier or Mount Hooper [80° 327].
BOWERS Middle Barrier [81° 357].

OATES Lower Barrier [82° 47’].

Seaman EVANs. Shambles Camp [N. of Gateway].

Lower Glacier [S. of Gateway].
Middle Glacier [Cloudmaker].
Upper Glacier [Mt. Darwin].
Three Degree [86° 56’].

14 Degree [88° 297].

Last Depst [89° 32’].

Scorr returned from the Discovery Expedition impressed
by the value of youth in polar work ; but the five who went
496

THE POLAR JOURNEY 497

forward from 87° 32’ were all grown men, chosen froma
body which was largely recruited on a basis of youth. Four
of them were men who were accustomed to take responsi-
bility and to lead others. Four of them had wide sledging
experienceand wereaccustomed tocold temperatures. They
were none of them likely to get flurried in emergency, to
panic under any circumstances, or to wear themselves out
by loss of nervous control. Scott and Wilson were the most
highly strung of the party: I believe that the anxiety which
Scott suffered served as astimulus against mental monotony
rather than as a drainuponhisenergy. Scott was 43, Wilson
39, Evans 37, Oates 32, and Bowers 28 years old. Bowers
was exceptionally old for his age.

In the event of one man crocking a five-man party may
be better able to cope with the situation, but with this
doubtful exception Scott had nothing to gain and a good
deal to lose by taking an extra man to the Pole. That he
did so means, I think, that he considered his position a
very good one at this time. He was anxious to take as
many men with him as possible. I have an impression that
he wanted the army represented as well as the navy. Be
that as it may, he took five men: he decided to take the
extra man at the last moment, and in doing so he added
one more link to a chain. But he was content ; and four
days after the Last Return Party left them, as he lay out a
blizzard, quite warm in his sleeping-bag though the mid-
day temperature was — 20°, he wrote a long diary praising
his companions very highly indeed “‘so our five people are
perhaps as happily selected as it is possible to imagine.”?
He speaks of Seaman Evans as being a giant worker with
a really remarkable headpiece. There is no mention of
the party feeling the cold, though they were now at the
greatest height of their journey; the food satisfied them
thoroughly. ‘There is no shadow of trouble here: only
Evans has got a nasty cut on his hand!

There were more disadvantages in this five-man party
than you might think. There was 53 weeks’ food for four
men: five men would eat this in about four weeks. In

1 Scott’s Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 536.
2K

498 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

addition to the extra risk of breakdown, there was a certain
amount of discomfort involved, for everything was arranged
for four men as | have already explained ; the tent was a
four-man tent, and an inner lining had been lashed to the
bamboos making it smaller still: when stretched out for
the night the sleeping-bags of the two outside men must
have been partly off the floor-cloth, and probably on the
snow : their bags must have been touching the inner tent
and collecting the rime which was formed there: cooking
for five took about half an hour longer in the day than
cooking for four—half an hour off your sleep, or half an
hour off your march? I do not believe that five men on
the lid of a crevasse are as safe as four. Wilson writes that
the stow of the sledge with five sleeping-bags was pretty
high: this makes it top-heavy and liable to capsize in rough
country.

But what would have paralysed anybody except Bowers
was the fact that they had only four pairs of ski between the
five of them. To slog along on foot, in soft snow, in the
middle of four men pulling rhythmically on ski, must have
been tiring and even painful ; and Birdie’s legs were very
short. No steady swing for him, and little chance of get-
ting his mind off the job in hand. Scott could never have
meant to take on five men when he told his supporting
team to leave their ski behind, only four days before he
reorganized,

‘““May I be there!”’ wrote Wilson of the men chosen
to travel the ice-cap to the Pole. ‘About this time next
year may I be there or thereabouts ! With so many young
bloods in the heyday of youth and strength beyond my
own I feel there will be a most difficult task in making
choice towards the end.” “I should like to have Bill to
hold my hand when we get to the Pole,” said Scott.

Wilson was there and his diary is that of an artist,
watching the clouds and mountains, of a scientist observ-
ing ice and rock and snow, of a feces and above all of a
man with good judgment. You will understand that the
thing which really interested him in this journey was theac-
quisition of knowledge. It 1s a restrained, and for the most

THE POLAR JOURNEY 499

part a simple, record of facts. There is seldom any com-
ment, and when there is you feel that, for this very reason,
it carries more weight. Just about this time: “December
24. Very promising, thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon
march”: “Christmas Day, anda real good and happy one
with a very long march”: “‘ January 1, 1912. We had
only 6 hours’ sleep last night by a mistake, but I had mine
solid in one piece, actually waking in exactly the same
position as I fell asleep in 6 hours before—never moved ” :
“January 2. We were surprised to-day by seeing a Skua
gull flying over us—evidently hungry but not weak. Its
droppings, however, were clear mucus, nothing in them at
all. It appeared in the afternoon and disappeared again
about 4 hour after.” And then on January 3: “ Last
night Scott told us what the plans were for the South Pole.
Scott, Oates, Bowers, Petty Officer Evans and | are to go
tothe Pole. Teddie Evans is to return from here to-morrow
with Crean and Lashly. Scott finished his week’s cooking
to-night and I begin mine to-morrow.” Just that.

The next day Bowers wrote: ‘‘I had my farewell break-
fast in the tent with Teddy Evans, Crean and Lashly.
After so little sleep the previous night I rather dreaded the
march. We gave our various notes, messages and letters
to the returning party and started off. They accompanied
us for about a mile before returning, to see that all was
going well. Our party were on ski with the exception of
myself: I first made fast to the central span, but after-
wards connected up to the toggle of the sledge, pulling in
the centre between the inner ends of Captain Scott’s and
Dr. Wilson’s traces. ‘This was found to be the best place,
as I had to go my own step.

‘Teddy and party gave us three cheers, and Crean was
half in tears. They have a feather-weight sledge to go back
with of course, and ought to run down their distance
easily.1 We found we could manage our load easily, and
did 6.3 miles before lunch, completing 12.5 by 7.15 P.M.

1 Tt is to be noticed that every return party, including the Polar Party, was supposed
by their companions to be going to have a very much easier time than, as a matter of
fact, they had.—A. C.-G.

s00 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

Our marching hours are nine per day. It is along slog with
a well-loaded sledge, and more tiring for me than the
others, as I have no ski. However, as long as I can do my
share all day and keep fit it does not matter much one way
or the other.

“We had our first northerly wind on the plateau to-day,
and a deposit of snow crystals made the surface like sand
latterly on the march. ‘The sledge dragged like lead. In
the evening it fell calm, and although the temperature was

— 16° it was positively pleasant to stand about outside the
tent and bask in the sun’s rays. It was our first calm since
we reached the summit too. Our socks and other damp
articles which we hang out to dry at night become im-
mediately covered with long feathery crystals exactly like
plumes. Socks, mitts and finnesko dry splendidly up here
during the night. We have little trouble with them com-
pared with spring and winter journeys. I generally spread
my bag out in the sun during the 14 hours of lunch time,
which gives the reindeer hair a chance to get rid of the
damage done by the deposit of breath and any perspiration
during the night.”’?

Plenty of sun, heavy surfaces, iridescent clouds .. .
the worst windcut sastrugi I have seen, covered with
bunches of crystals like gorse . . . ice blink all round
... hairy faces and mouths dreadfully iced up on the
march .. . hot and sweaty days’ work, but sometimes cold
hands in the loops of the ski sticks . . . windy streaky
cirrus in every direction, all thin and filmy and scrappy
. . . horizon clouds all being wafted about. . . . These are
some of the impressions here and there in Wilson’s diary
during the first ten days of the party’s solitary march. On
the whole he is enjoying himself, I think.

You should read Scott’s diary yourself and form your
own opinions, but I think that after the Last Return Party
left him there is a load off his mind. The thing had worked
so far, it was up to hem now: that great mass of figures
and weights and averages, those years of preparation, those
months of anxiety—no one of them had been in vain.

1 Bowers.

WHE) POLAR JOURNEY sol

They were up to date in distance, and there was a very
good amount of food, probably more than was necessary
to see them to the Pole and off the plateau on full rations.
Best thought of all, perhaps, the motors with their uncer-
tainties, the ponies with their suffering, the glacier with
its possibilities of disaster, all were behind: and the two
main supporting parties were safely on their way home.
Here with him was a fine party, tested and strong, and
only 148 miles from the Pole.

I can see them, working with a business-like air, with
no fuss and no unnecessary talk, each man knowing his job
and doing it: pitching the tent: finishing the camp work
and sitting round on their sleeping-bags while their meal
was cooked : warming their hands on their mugs : saving
a biscuit to eat when they woke in the night : packing the
sledge with a good neat stow: marching with a solid swing
—we have seen them do it so often, and they did it jolly
well.

And the conditions did not seem so bad. ‘‘ To-night it
is flat calm ; the sun so warm that in spite of the tempera-
ture we can stand about outside in the greatest comfort.
It is amusing to stand thus and remember the constant
horrors of our situation as they were painted for us: the
sun is melting the snow on the ski, etc. The plateau is now
very flat, but we are still ascending slowly. The sastrugi
are getting more confused, pred6éminant from the S.E. I
wonder what is in store for us. At present everything
seems to be going with extraordinary smoothness. .. .
We feel the cold very little, the great comfort of our situa-
tion is the excellent drying effect of the sun... . Our food
continues to amply satisfy. What luck to have hit on such
an excellent ration. We really are an excellently found
party ... we lie so very comfortably, warmly clothed in
our comfortable bags, within our double-walled tent.’””4

Then something happened.

While Scott was writing the sentences you have just
read, he reached the summit of the plateau and started,
ever so slightly, to go downhill. The list of corrected alti-

1 Scort’s Last Expedition, vol. i. pp. 530-534.

s02 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

tudes given by Simpson in his meteorological report are
of great interest: Cape Evans 0, Shambles Camp 170,
Upper Glacier Depot 7151, Three Degree Depot 9392,
One and a Half Degree Depot 9862, South Pole 9072
feet above sea-level.?

What happened is not quite clear, but there is no doubt
that the surface became very bad, that the party began to
feel the cold, and that before long Evans especially began
to crock. The immediate trouble was bad surfaces. I will
try and show why these surfaces should have been met
in what was, you must remember, now a land which no
man had travelled before.

Scott laid his One and a Half Degree Depot (¢.e. 14°
or 90 miles from the Pole) on January 10. That day they
started to go down, but for several days before that the
plateau had been pretty flat. Time after time in the diaries
you find crystals — crystals — crystals : crystals falling
through the air, crystals bearding the sastrugi, crystals
lying loose upon the snow. Sandy crystals, upon which the
sun shines and which made pulling a terrible effort : when
the sky clouds over they get along much better. Theclouds
form and disperse without visible reason. And generally
the wind is in their faces.

Wright tells me that there is certain evidence in the
records which may explain these crystals. Halos are caused
by crystals and nearly all those logged from the bottom of
the Beardmore to the Pole and back were on this stretch of
country, where the land was falling. Bowers mentions that
the crystals did not appear in all directions, which goes to
show that the air was not always rising, but sometimes was
falling and therefore not depositing its moisture. There is
no doubt that the surfaces met were very variable, and it
may be that the snow lay in waves. Bowers mentions big
undulations for thirty miles before the Pole, and other in-
equalities may have been there which were not visible.
Thereis sometimes evidence that these crystals were formed
on the windward side of these waves, and carried over by a
strong wind and deposited on the lee side.

1 Simpson, B.A.E., 1910-19173, “ Meteorology,” vol. i. p. 291.

THE POLAR JOURNEY 503

It is common knowledge that as you rise in the atmo-
sphere so the pressure decreases: in fact, it is usual to
measure your height by reading the barometer. Now the
air on this last stretch to the Pole was rising, for the wind
was from the south, and, as we have seen, the plateau here
was sloping down towards the Pole. The air, driven up-
hill by this southerly wind, was forced to rise. As it rose
it expanded, because the pressure was less. Air which has
expanded without any heat being given to it from outside,
that is in a heat-proof vessel, is said to expand by adia-
batic expansion. Such air tends first to become saturated,
and then to precipitate its moisture. These conditions
were approximately fulfilled on the plateau, where the air
expanded as it rose, but could get little or no heat from out-
side. The air therefore precipitated its moisturein the form
of crystals.

Owing totherapid changes in surfaces (on one occasion
they depdted their ski because they were in a sea of sas-
trugi, and had to walk back for them because the snow
became level and soft again) Scott guessed that the coastal
mountains could not be far away, and we now know that
the actual distance was only 130 miles. About the same
time Scott mentions that he had been afraid that they were
weakening in their pulling, but he was reassured by getting
a patch of good surface and finding the sledge coming as
easily as of old. On the night of January 12, eight days
after leaving the Last Return Party, he writes: “‘ At camp-
ing to-night every one was chilled and we guessed a cold
snap, but to our surprise the actual temperature was higher
than last night, when we could dawdle in the sun. It is
most unaccountable why we should suddenly feel the cold
in this manner: partly the exhaustion of the march, but
partly some damp quality in the air, I think. Little Bowers
is wonderful ; in spite of my protest he wow/d take sights
after we had camped to-night, after marching in the soft
snow all day when we have been comparatively restful on
ski.”"? On January 14, Wilson wrote: “‘A very cold grey
thick day with a persistent breeze from the S.S.E. which

1 Scote’s Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 540.

s0o4 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

we all felt considerably, but temperature was only - 18°
at lunch and - 15° in the evening. Now just over 40 miles
from the Pole.” Scott wrote the same day: “Again we
noticed the cold ; at lunch to-day all our feet were cold but
this was mainly due to the bald state of our finnesko. I put
some grease under the bare skin and found it make all the
difference. Oates seems to be feeling the cold and fatigue
more than the rest of us, but we are all very fit.” And on
January 15, lunch: “We were all pretty done at camp-
ing.” + And Wilson: ‘ We made a depét [The Last
Depot] of provisions at lunch time and went on for our
last lap with nine days’ provision. We went much more
easily in the afternoon, and on till 7.30 p.m. The surface
was a funny mixture of smooth snow and sudden patches
of sastrugi, and we occasionally appear to be on a very
gradual down gradient and on a slope down from the west
to east.”” In the light of what happened afterwards I be-
lieve that the party was not as fit at this time as might have
been expected ten days before, and that this was partly the
reason why they felt the cold and found the pulling so hard.
The immediate test was the bad surface, and this was the
result of the crystals which covered the ground.

Simpson has worked out ? that there is an almost con-
stant pressure gradient driving the air on the plateau north-
wards parallel to the 146° E. meridian, and parallel also to
the probable. edge of the plateau. The mean velocity for
the months of this December and January was about 11
miles an hour. During this plateau journey Scott logged
wind force 5 and over on 23 occasions, and this wind was
in their faces from the Beardmore to the Pole, and at their
backs as they returned. A low temperature when it is calm
is paradise compared to a higher temperature with a wind,
and it is this constant pitiless wind, combined with the
altitude and low temperatures, which has made travelling
on the Antarctic plateau so difficult.

While the mean velocity of wind during the two mid-
summer months seems to be fairly constant, there is a very

1 Scott’s Last Expedition, vol. i. pp. 541-542.
2 Simpson, B.A.E., 1910-7973, ‘‘ Meteorology,” vol. i. pp. 144-146.

THE POLAR JOURNEY 505

rapid fall of temperature in January. The mean actual
temperature found on the plateau this year in December
was — 8.6°, the minimum observed being - 19.3°. Simp-
son remarks that “it must be accounted as one of the
wonders of the Antarctic that it contains a vast area of the
earth’s surface where the mean temperature during the
warmest month is more than 8° below the Fahrenheit zero,
and when throughout the month the highest temperature
was only +5.5° F.”1 But the mean temperature on the
plateau dropped 10° in January to - 18.7°, the minimum
observed being -29.7°. These temperatures have to be
combined with the wind force described above to imagine
the conditions of the march. In the light of Scott’s previous
plateau journey? and Shackleton’s Polar Journey ® this
wind was always expected by our advance parties. But
there can be no doubt that the temperature falls as solar
radiation decreases more rapidly than was generally sup-
posed. Scott probably expected neither such a rapid fall of
temperature, nor the very bad surfaces, though he knew
that the plateau would mean a trying time, and indeed it
was supposed that it would be much the hardest part of
the journey.

On the night of January 15, Scott wrote “it ought to
be a certain thing now, and the only appalling possibility
the sight of the Norwegian flag forestalling ours.” 4 They
were 27 miles from the Pole.

The story of the next three days is taken from Wilson’s
diary :

ay 16. We got away at 8 a.m. and made 7.5
miles by 1.15, lunched, and then in 5.3 miles came on a
black flag and the Norwegians’ sledge, ski, and dog tracks
running about N.E. and S.W. both ways. The flag was of
black bunting tied with string to a fore-and-after which had
evidently been taken off a finished-up sledge. The age of
the tracks was hard to guess but probably a couple of weeks
—or three or more. ‘The flag was fairly well frayed at the

1 Simpson, B.A.E£., rgzo—r1gr3, “ Meteorology,” vol. i. p. 41.
* See pp. XXXvVili-xXxxix.

3 See p. xlvii.
4 Scott’s Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 543.

506 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

edges. We camped here and examined the tracks and dis-
cussed things. ‘The surface was fairly good in the forenoon,

— 23° temperature, and all the afternoon we were coming
downhill with again a rise to the W., and a fall and a scoop
to the east where the Norwegians came up, evidently by
another glacier.”

‘“ Fanuary 17. Wecamped on the Pole itself at 6.30
P.M. this evening. In the morning we were up at 5 a.M.
and got away on Amundsen’s tracks going $.S.W. for
three hours, passing two small snow cairns, and then, find-
ing the tracks too much snowed up to follow, we made our
own bee-line for the Pole: camped for lunch at 12.30 and
off again from 3 to 6.30 p.m. It blew from force 4 to 6 all
day in our teeth with temperature - 22°, the coldest march
lever remember. It was difficult to keep one’s hands from
freezing in double woollen and fur mitts. Oates, Evans,
and Bowers all have pretty severe frost-bitten noses and
cheeks, and we had to camp early for lunch on account of
Evans’ hands. It was a very bitter day. Sun was out now
and again, and observations taken at lunch, and before and
after supper, and at night, at 7 p.m. and at 2 a.m. by our
time. The weather was not clear, the air was full of crystals
driving towards us as we came south, and making the
horizon grey and thick and hazy. We could see no sign of
cairn or flag, and from Amundsen’s direction of tracks this
morning he has probably hit a point about 3 miles off.
We hope for clear weather to-morrow, but in any case are
all agreed that he can claim prior right to the Pole itself.
He has beaten us in so far as he made a race of it. We
have done what we came for all the same and as our pro-
gramme was made out. From his tracks we think there
were only 2 men, on ski, with plenty of dogs on rather low
diet. They seem to have had an oval tent. We sleep one
night at the Pole and have had a double hoosh with some
last bits of chocolate, and X’s cigarettes have been much
appreciated by Scott and Oates and Evans. A tiring day:
now turning into a somewhat starchy frozen bag. To-
morrow we start for home and shall do our utmost to get
back in time to send the news to the ship.”

Sat

AMUNDSEN’S POLHEIM

ee

soot ig a act ity Mtoe aie

E.A. Wilson, del.

a a

a

q

OS sn BORE ES

THE) POLAR: JOURNEY 507

‘“Fanuary 18. Sights were taken in the night, and at
about 5 A.M. we turned out and marched from this night
camp about 3? miles back in a S.E.ly direction to a spot
which we judged from last night’s sights to be the Pole.
Here we Junched camp: built a cairn: took photos: flew
the Queen Mother’s Union Jack and all our own flags.
We call this the Pole, though as a matter of fact we went
4 mile farther on in a S. easterly direction after taking
further sights to the actual final spot, and here we left the
Union Jack flying. During the forenoon we passed the
Norwegians’ last southerly camp: they called it Polheim
and left here a small tent with Norwegian and Fram flags
flying, and a considerable amount of gear in the tent : half
reindeer sleeping-bags, sleeping-socks, reinskin trousers
2 pair, a sextant, and artif[icial] horizon, a hypsometer
with all the thermoms broken, etc. I took away the spirit-
lamp of it, which I have wanted for sterilizing and making
disinfectant lotions of snow. There were also letters there:
one from Amundsen to King Haakon, with a request that
Scott should send it to him. There was also a list of the
five men who made up their party, but no news as to what
they had done. I made some sketches here, but it was
blowing very cold, - 22°. Birdie took some photos. We
found no sledge there though they said there was one: it
may have been buried in drift. The tent was a funny little
thing for 2 men, pegged out with white line and tent-pegs
of yellow wood. I took some strips of blue-grey silk off the
tent seams: it was perished. The Norskies had got to the
Pole on December 16, and were here from 1 5th to 17th.
At our lunch South Pole Camp we saw a sledge-runner
with a black flag about 4 mile away blowing from it. Scott
sent me on ski to fetch it, and I found a note tied to it
showing that this was the Norskies’ actual final Pole posi-
tion. I was given the flag and the note with Amundsen’s
signature, and I got a piece of the sledge-runner as well.
The small chart of our wanderings shows best how all these
things lie. After lunch we made 6.2 miles from the Pole
Camp to the north again, and here we are camped for the

mght.” 1

1 Wilson.

s08 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

The following remarks on the South Pole area were
written by Bowers in the Meteorological Log, apparently
on January 17 and 18: “Within 120 miles of the South
Pole the sastrugi crossed seem to indicate belts of certain
prevalent winds. These were definitely S.E.ly. up to about
Lat. 78° 30’ S., where the summit was passed and we
started to go definitely downhill toward the Pole. An in-
definite area was then crossed S.E.ly, S.ly and S.W.ly
sastrugi. Later, in about 79° 30’ S., those from the 8.S.W.
predominated. At this point also the surface of the ice-cap
became affected by undulations running more or less at
right angles to our course. ‘These resolved themselves into
immense waves some miles in extent,! with a uniform sur-
face both in hollow and crust. ‘The whole surface was car-
peted with a deposit of ice-crystals which, while we were
there, fell sometimes in the form of minute spicules and
sometimes in plates. ‘These caused an almost continuous
display of parhelia.

“The flags left a month previously by the Norwegian
expedition were practically undamaged and so could not
have been exposed to very heavy wind during that time.
Their sledging and ski tracks, where marked, were raised
slightly, also the dogs’ footprints. In the neighbourhood
of their South Pole Camp the drifts were S.W.ly, but there
was one S.S.E. drift to leeward of tent. They had pitched
their tent to allow for S.W.ly wind. For walking on foot
the ground was all pretty soft, and on digging down the
crystalline structure of the snow was found to alter very
little, and there were no layers of crust such as are found
on the Barrier. The snow seems so lightly put together as
not to cohere, and makes very little water for its bulk when
melted. The constant and varied motion of cirrus, and the
forming and motion of radiant points, shows that in the
upper atmosphere at this time of the year there is little or
no tranquillity.” ?

That is the bare bones of what was without any possible
doubt a great shock. Consider! These men had been out

1 Evidently meaning some miles from crest to crest.
2 Bowers, Polar Meteorological Log.

THE POLAR JOURNEY 509

24 months and were 800 miles from home. The glacier
had been a heavy grind: the plateau certainly not worse,
probably better, than was expected, as far as that place
where the Last Return Party left them. But then, in addi-
tion to a high altitude, a head wind, and a temperature
which averaged - 18.7°, came this shower of ice-crystals,
turning the surface to sand, especially when the sun was
out. They were living in cirrus clouds, and the extra-
ordinary state seems to have obtained that the surface of
the snow was colder when the sun was shining than when
clouds checked the radiation from it. They began to
descend. Things began to go not quite right : they felt the
cold, especially Oates and Evans: Evans’ hands also were
wrong—ever since the seamen made that new sledge. The
making of that sledge must have been fiercely cold work :
one of the hardest jobs they did. Iam not sure that enough
notice has been taken of that.

And then: “ The Norwegians have forestalled us and
are first at the Pole. It is a terrible disappointment, and I
am very sorry for my loyal companions. Many thoughts
come and much discussion have we had. ‘To-morrow we
- must march on to the Pole and then hasten home with all

the speed we can compass. All the day-dreams must go ;
it will be a wearisome return.” “‘ The Pole. Yes, but under
very different circumstances from those expected .. . com-
panions labouring on with cold feet and hands. ... Evans
had such cold hands we camped for lunch... the wind is
blowing hard, T. - 21°, and there is that curious damp,
cold feeling in the air which chills one to the bone in no
“ame... . Great God ! this is an awful place. . . .’’1
This is not a cry of despair. It is an ejaculation pro-
voked by the ghastly facts. Even now in January the tem-
perature near the South Pole is about 24° lower than it is
during the corresponding month of the year (July) near
the North Pole,? and if it is like this in mid-summer, what
is it like in mid-winter ? At the same time it was, with the
exception of the sandy surfaces, what they had looked for,

1 Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. pp. 543-544.
2 Simpson, B.A.£., 1910-1913, ‘‘ Meteorology,” vol. i. p. 40.
7

s10 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

and every detail of organization was working out as well as
if not better than had been expected.

Bowers was so busy with the meteorological log and
sights which were taken in terribly difficult circumstances
that he kept no diary until they started back. Then he
wrote on seven consecutive days, as follows:

‘““Fanuary 19. A splendid clear morning with a fine
S.W. wind blowing. During breakfast time I sewed a flap
attachment on to the hood of my green hat so as to prevent
the wind from blowing down my neck on the march. We
got up the mast and sail on the sledge and headed north,
picking up Amundsen’s cairn and our outgoing tracks
shortly afterwards. Along these we travelled till we struck
the other cairn and finally the black flag where we had made
our 58th outward camp. We then with much relief left all
traces of the Norwegians behind us, and headed on our own
track till lunch camp, when we had covered eight miles.

“In the afternoon we passed No. 2 cairn of the British
route, and fairly slithered along before a fresh breeze. It

was heavy travelling for me, not being on ski, but one does _

not mind being tired if a good march is made. We did
sixteen [miles] altogether for the day, and so should pick
up our Last Depot to-morrow afternoon. The weather be-
came fairly thick soon after noon, and at the end of the
afternoon there was considerable drift, with a mist caused
by ice-crystals, and parhelion.”

‘““Fanuary 20. Good sailing breeze again this morn-
ing. It is a great pleasure to have one’s back to the wind
instead of having to face it. It came on thicker later, but we
sighted the Last Depot soon after 1 p.m. and reached it at
1.45 P.M. The red flag on the bamboo pole was blowing
out merrily to welcome us back from the Pole, with its
supply of necessaries of life below. We are absolutely
dependent upon our depéts to get off the plateau alive, and
so welcome the lonely little cairns gladly. At this one,
called the Last Depét, we picked up four days’ food, a can
of oil, some methylated spirit (for lighting purposes) and
some personal gear we had left there. The bamboo was
bent on to the floor-cloth as a yard for our sail instead of a

THE POLAR JOURNEY ST

broken sledge-runner of Amundsen’s which we had found
at the Pole and made a temporary yard of.

‘““As we had marched extra long in the forenoon in
order to reach the depét, our afternoon march was shorter
than usual. The wind increased to a moderate gale with
heavy gusts and considerable drift. We should have had a
bad time had we been facing it. After an hour I had to
shift my harness aft so as to control the motions of the
sledge. Unfortunately the surface got very sandy latterly,
but we finished up with 16.1 miles to our creditand camped
in a stiff breeze, which resolved itself into a blizzard a few
hours later. I was glad we had our depot safe.”

‘* Fanuary 21. Wind increased to force 8 during night
with heavy drift. In the morning it was blizzing like blazes
and marching was out of the question. The wind would
have been of great assistance to us, but the drift was so
thick that steering a course would have been next to im-
possible. We decided to await developments and get under
weigh as soon as it showed any signs of clearing. Fortun-
ately it was shortlived, and instead of lasting the regulation
two days it eased up in the afternoon, and 3.45 found us off
with our sail full. It was good running on ski but soft
plodding for me on foot. I shall be jolly glad to pick up my
dear old ski. They are nearly 200 miles away yet, however.
The breeze fell altogether latterly and I shifted up into my
old place as middle number of the five. Our distance com-
pleted was 5.5 miles, when camp was made again. Our old
cairns are of great assistance to us, also the tracks, which
are obliterated in places by heavy drift and hard sastrugi,
but can be followed easily.”

“January 22. We came across Evans’ sheepskin
boots this morning. They were almost covered up after
their long spell since they fell off the sledge [on January
11]. The breeze was fair from the S.S.W. but got lighter
and lighter. At lunch camp we had completed 8.2 miles.
In the afternoon the breeze fell altogether, and the surface,
acted on by the sun, became perfect sawdust. The light
sledge pulled by five men came along like a drag without
a particle of slide or give. We were all glad to camp soon

gra WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

after 7 p.M. I think we were all pretty tired out. We did
altogether 19.5 miles for the day. Weare only thirty miles
from the 14 Degree Depét, and should reach it in two
marches with any luck.” [The minimum temperature this
night was — 30° (uncorrected). |

‘* Fanuary 23. Started off with a bit of a breeze which
helped us a little [temperature - 28°]. After the first two
hours it increased to force 4, 5.S.W.., and filling the sail we
sped along merrily, doing 8? miles before lunch. In the
afternoon it was even stronger, and I had to go back on the
sledge and act as guide and brakesman. We had to lower
the sail a bit, but even then she ran like a bird.

“We are picking up our old cairns famously. Evans
got his nose frost-bitten, not an unusual thing with him,
but as we were all getting pretty cold latterly we stopped
at a quarter to seven, having done 164 miles. We camped
with considerable difficulty owing tothe force of the wind.””!

The same night Scott wrote: “ We came along at a
great pace, and should have got within an easy march of our
[One and a Half Degree] Depdt had not Wilson suddenly
discovered that Evans’ nose was frost-bitten—it was white
and hard. We thought it best to camp at 6.45. Got the
tent up with some difficulty, and now pretty cosy after
good hoosh.

“There is no doubt Evans is a good deal run down—his
fingers are badly blistered and his nose is rather seriously
congested with frequent frost-bites. He is very much
annoyed with himself, which is not a good sign. I think
Wilson, Bowers and I are as fit as possible under the cir-
cumstances. Oates gets cold feet. One way and another I
shall be glad to get off the summit! ... The weather seems
to be breaking up.” ?

Bowers resumes the tale :

“*Fanuary 24. Evans has got his fingers all blistered
with frost-bites, otherwise we are all well, but thinning, and
in spite of our good rations get hungrier daily. I some-
times spend much thought on the march with plans for
making a pig of myself on the first opportunity. As that

1 Bowers. 2 Scott’s Last Expedition, vol. i. pp. 550-551-

THE POLAR JOURNEY 513

will be after a further march of 700 miles they are a bit
premature.

“It was blowing a gale when we started and it increased
in force. Finally with the sail half down, one man detached
tracking ahead and Titus and I breaking back, we could
not always keep the sledge from overrunning. The bliz-
zard got worse and worse till, having done only seven miles,
we had to camp soon after twelve o’clock. We had a most
difficult job camping, and it has been blowing like blazes
all the afternoon. I think it is moderating now, 9 P.M.
We are only seven miles from our depét and this delay is
exasperating.” ?

[Scott wrote: ‘“‘ This is the second full gale since we
left the Pole. I don’t like the look of it. Is the weather
breaking up? If so, God help us, with the tremendous
summit journey and scant food. Wilson and Bowers are
my stand-by. I don’t like the easy way in which Oates and
Evans get frost-bitten.’’ 7]

‘ Fanuary 25. It was no use turning out at our usual
time (5.4.5 A.M.), as the blizzard was as furious as ever ; we
therefore decided on a late breakfast and no lunch unless
able to march. We have only three days’ food with us and
shall be in Queer Street if we miss the depot. Our bags
are getting steadily wetter, so are our clothes. It shows a
tendency to clear off now (breakfast time) so, D.V., we may
march after all. I am in tribulation as regards meals now
as we have run out of salt, one of my favourite commodities.
It is owing to Atkinson’s party taking back an extra tin by
mistake from the Upper Glacier Depét. Fortunately we
have some depdted there, so I will only have to endure
another two weeks without it.

“10 p.M.—We have got in a march after all, thank the
Lord. Assisted by the wind we made an excellent rundown
to our One and a Half Degree Depdt, where the big red
flag was blowing out like fury with the breeze, in clouds of
driving drift. Here we picked up 14 cans of oil and one
week’s food for five men, together with some personal gear
depoted. We left the bamboo and flag on the cairn. I was

1 Bowers. 2 Scott’s Last Expedition, vol. i. p. §52.
20

s14 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

much relieved to pick up the depét : now we only have one
other source of anxiety on this endless snow summit, viz.
the Three Degree Depét in latitude 86° 56’ S.

“In the afternoon we did 5.2 miles. It was a miserable
march, blizzard all the time and our sledge either sticking
in sastrugi or overrunning the traces. We had to lower
the sail half down, and Titus and I hung on to her. It was
most strenuous work, as well as much colder than pulling
ahead. Most of the time we had to brake back with all our
strength to keep the sledge from overrunning. Bill got a
bad go of snow glare from following the track without
goggles on.

“This day last year we started the Depot Journey. I did
not think so short a time would turn me into an old hand
at polar travelling, neither did I imagine at the time that I
would be returning from the Pole itself.” }

Wilson was very subject to these attacks of snow blind-
ness, and also to headaches before blizzards. I have an
idea that his anxiety to sketch whenever opportunity offered,
and his willingness to take off his goggles to search for
tracks and cairns, had something to do withit. This attack
was very typical. “I wrote this at lunch and in the evening
had a bad attack of snow blindness.”. . . “‘ Blizzard in
afternoon. We only got in a forenoon march. Couldn’t
see enough of the tracks to follow at all. My eyes didn’t
begin to trouble me till to-morrow [yesterday ], though it
was the strain of tracking and the very cold drift which we
had to-day that gave me this attack of snow glare.”. ..
‘“*Marched on foot in the afternoon as my eyes were too
bad to go on ski. We had a lot of drift and wind and very
cold. Had ZuSO, and cocaine in my eyes at night and
didn’t get to sleep at all for the pain—dozed about an hour
in the morning only.”’. . . ““Marched on foot again all
day as I couldn’t see my way on ski at all, Birdie used my
ski. Eyes still very painful and watering. Tired out by
the evening, had a splendid night’s sleep, and though very
painful across forehead to-night they are much better.” ?

The surface was awful: in his diary of the day after

1 Bowers. 2 Wilson.

THE POLAR JOURNEY 515

they left the Pole (January 19) Wilson wrote an account of
it. ““We had a splendid wind right behind us most of the
afternoon and went well until about 6 p.m. when the sun
came out and we had an awful grind until 7.30 when we
camped. The sun comes out on sandy drifts, all on the
move in the wind, and temp. — 20°, and gives us an absol-
utely awful surface with no glide at all for ski or sledge,
and just like fine sand. The weather all day has been more
or less overcast with white broken alto-stratus, and for 3
degrees above the horizon there is a grey belt looking like
a blizzard of drift, but this in reality is caused by a con-
stant fall of minute snow crystals, very minute. Sometimes
instead of crystal plates the fall is of minute agglomerate
spicules like tiny sea-urchins. The plates glitter in the sun
as though of some size, but you can only just see them as
pin-points on your burberry. So the spicule collections are
only just visible. Our hands are never warm enough in
camp to do any neat work now. The weather is always un-
comfortably cold and windy, about - 23°, but after lunch
to-day I got a bit of drawing done.” }

All the joy had gone from their sledging. They were
hungry, they were cold, the pulling was heavy, and two of
them were not fit. As long ago as January 14 Scott wrote
that Oates was feeling the cold and fatigue more than the
others 2 and again he refers to the matter on January 20.3
On January 19 Wilson wrote: ‘We get our hairy faces
and mouths dreadfully iced up on the march, and often
one’s hands very cold indeed holding ski-sticks. Evans,
who cut his knuckle some days ago at the last depét, has
a lot of pus in it to-night.” January 20: “Evans has got
4 or 5 of his finger-tips badly blistered by the cold. Titus
also his nose and cheeks—al[so] Evans and Bowers.” Jan-
uary 28: “Evans has a number of badly blistered finger-
ends which he got at the Pole. Titus’ big toe is turning
blue-black.” January 31: “‘ Evans’ finger-nails all coming
off, very raw and sore.” February 4: “Evans is feeling
the cold a lot, always getting frost-bitten. ‘Titus’ toes are
blackening, and his nose and cheeks are dead yellow.

1 Wilson. 2 Scott’s Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 541. 3 Ibid. p. 549.

516 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

Dressing Evans’ fingers every other day with boric vase-
line: they are quite sweet still.” February 5: “‘ Evans’
fingers suppurating. Nose very bad [hard] and rotten-
looking.” +

Scott was getting alarmed about Evans, who “has dis-
lodged two finger-nails to-night ; his hands are really bad,
and, to my surprise, he shows signs of losing heart over it.
He hasn’t been cheerful since the accident.””? “The party
is not improving in condition, especially Evans, who is

becoming rather dull and incapable.” ‘‘ Evans’ nose is
almost as bad as his fingers. He is a good deal crocked
Wipe, 3

Bowers’ diary, quoted above, finished on January 25,
on which day they picked up their One and a Half Degree
Depét. ‘ I shall sleep much better with our provision bag
full again,” wrote Scott that night. ‘‘ Bowers got another
rating sight to-night—it was wonderful how he managed
to observe in such a horribly cold wind.”’ They marched
16 miles the next day, but got off the outward track, which
was crooked. On January 27 they did 14 miles ona “very
bad surface of deep-cut sastrugi all day, until late in the
afternoon when we began to get out of them.’”’* “ By Jove,
this is tremendous labour,”’ said Scott.

They were getting into the better surfaces again: 15.7
miles for January 28, “‘a fine day and a good march on
very decent surface.” > On January 29 Bowers wrote his
last full day’s diary: ‘ Our record march to-day. With a
good breeze and improving surface we were soon in among
the double tracks where the supporting party left us. Then
we picked up the memorable camp where I transferred to
the advance party. How glad I was to change over. The
camp was much drifted up and immense sastrugi were
everywhere, S.S.E. in direction and S.E. We did 10.4
miles before lunch. I was breaking back on sledge and con-
trolling ; it was beastly cold and my hands were perished.
In the afternoon I put on my dogskin mitts and was far
more comfortable. A stiff breeze with drift continues:

1 Wilson. 2 Scott’s Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 557-
3 Ibid. pp. 560, 561. # Wilson. 5 [bid.

THE POLAR JOURNEY 517

temperature - 25°. Thank God our days of having to face
it are over. We completed 19.5 miles [22 statute] this
evening, and so are only 29 miles from our precious [Three
Degree] Depot. It will be bad luck indeed if we do not
get there in a march and a half anyhow.” 4

Nineteen miles again on January 30, but during the
previous day’s march Wilson had strained a tendon in his
leg. “I gota nasty bruise on the Tib[ialis] ant[icus ] which
gave me great pain all the afternoon.” ‘My left leg ex-
ceedingly painful all day, so I gave Birdie my ski and
hobbled alongside the sledge on foot. The whole of the
Tibialis anticus is swollen and tight, and full of teno synov-
itis, and the skin red and oedematous over the shin. But
we made a very fine march with the help of a brisk breeze.”
January 31: “‘ Again walking by the sledge with swollen
leg but not nearly so painful. We had 5.8 miles to go to
reach our Three Degree Depdt. Picked this up with a
week’s provision and a line from Evans, and then for
lunch an extra biscuit each, making 4 for lunch and 1/10
whack of butter extra as well. Afternoon we passed cairn
where Birdie’s ski had been left. These we picked up and
came on till 7.30 p.m. when the wind which had been very
light all day dropped, and with temp. - 20° it felt delight-
fully warm and sunny and clear. We have 1/10 extra
pemmican in the hoosh now also. My leg pretty swollen
again to-night.” 2 ‘They travelled 13.5 miles that day, and
15.7 on the next. ‘‘ My leg much more comfortable, gave
me no pain, and I was able to pull all day, holding on to
the sledge. Still some oedema. We came down a hundred
feet or so to-day on a fairly steep gradient.” §

They were now approaching the crevassed surfaces and
the ice-falls which mark the entrance to the Beardmore
Glacier, and February 2 was marked by another accident,
this time to Scott. ‘‘ Ona very slippery surface I came an
awful ‘purler’ on my shoulder. It is horribly sore to-night
and another sick person added to our tent—three out of
five injured, and the most troublesome surfaces to come.
We shall be lucky if we get through without serious injury.

1 Bowers. 2 Wilson. 3 [bid.

518 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

Wilson’s leg is better, but might easily get bad again, and
Fvans’ fingers. ... We have managed to get off 17 miles.
The extra food is certainly helping us, but we are getting
pretty hungry. The weather is already a trifle warmer, the
altitude lower and only 80 miles or so to Mount Darwin.
It is time we were off the summit.—Pray God another four
days will see us pretty well clear of it. Our bags are getting
very wet and we ought to have more sleep.” +

They had been spending some time in finding the old
tracks. But they had a good landfall for the depdt at the
top of the glacier and on February 3 they decided to push
on due north, and to worry no more for the present about
tracks and cairns. They did 16 miles that day. Wilson’s
diary runs : “Sunny and breezy again. Came down a
series of slopes, and finished the day by going up one.
Enormous deep-cut sastrugi and drifts and shiny egg-shell
surface. Wind all S.S.E.ly. To-day at about 11 P.M. we
got our first sight again of mountain peaks on our eastern
horizon. .. . We crossed the outmost line of crevassed
ridge top to-day, the first on our return.

“* February 4. 18 miles. Clear cloudless blue sky, sur-
face drift. During forenoon wecame down gradual descent
including 2 or 3 irregular terrace slopes, on crest of one of
which were a good many crevasses. Southernmost were
just big enough for Scott and Evans to fall in to their
waists, and very deceptively covered up. They ran east
and west. Those nearer the crest were the ordinary broad
street-like crevasses, well lidded. In the afternoon we again
came to a crest, before descending, with street crevasses,
and one we crossed had a huge hole where the lid had
fallen in, big enough for a horse and cart to go down.
We have a great number of mountain tops on our right
and south of our beam as we go due north now. We are
now camped just below a great crevassed mound, on a
mountain top evidently.”

‘February 5. 18.2 miles. We had a difficult day, get-
ting in amongst a frightful chaos of broad chasm-like cre-
vasses. We kept too far east and had to wind in and out

1 Scott’s Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 559+

uopuo’y] “pyy] AoyxVAY Araugy Aq payurg

GNOOd ANAM STISSOA AHL ANAHA\
GNVISI AX THON

THE POLAR JOURNEY 519

amongst them and cross multitudes of bridges. We then
bore west a bit and got on better all the afternoon and
got round a good deal of the upper disturbances of the
falls here.”

[Scott wrote: “ We are camped in a very disturbed
region, but the wind has fallen very light here, and our
camp is comfortable for the first time for many weeks.” 4]

“February 6. 1§ miles. We again had a forenoon of
trying to cut corners. Got in amongst great chasms run-
ning E. and W. and had to come out again. We then
again kept west and downhill over tremendous sastrugi,
with a slight breeze, very cold. In afternoon continued
bearing more and more towards Mount Darwin: we got
round one of the main lines of ice-fall and looked back up
toit.... Very cold march: many crevasses: I walking by
the sledge on foot found a good many: the others all on
Ska?

“February 7. 15.5 miles. Clear day again and we
made a tedious march in the forenoon along a flat or two,
and down a long slope: and then in the afternoon we had
a very fresh breeze, and very fast run down long slopes
covered with big sastrugi. It was a strenuous job steer-
ing and checking behind by the sledge. We reached the
Upper Glacier Depsét by 7.30 p.m. and found everything
nig ht. *

: This was the end of the plateau: the beginning of the
glacier. Their hard time should be over so far as the
weather was concerned. Wilson notes how fine the land
looked as they approached it: “‘ The colour of the Domin-
ion Range rock is in the main all brown madder or dark
reddish chocolate, but there are numerous bands of yellow
rock scattered amongst it. I think it is composed of
dolerite and sandstone as on the W. side.” §

The condition of the party was of course giving
anxiety : how much it is impossible to say. A good deal
was to be hoped from the warm weather ahead. Scott and
Bowers were probably the fittest men. Scott’s shoulder
soon mended and “ Bowers is splendid, full of energy and

1 Scott’s Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 561. 2 Wilson. 3 Tbid.

520 WORST: JOURNEY AN IHRE WORED

bustle all the time.’’! Wilson was feeling the cold more
than either of them now. His leg was not yet well enough
to wear ski. Oates had suffered from a cold foot for some
time. Evans, however, was the only man whom Scott seems
to have been worried about. ‘‘ His cuts and wounds sup-
purate, his nose looks very bad, and altogether he shows con-
siderable signs of being played out.’’. . . ‘‘ Well, we have
come through out seven weeks’ ice-cap journey and most of
us are fit, but I think another week might have had a very
bad effect on P.O. Evans, who is going steadily down-
hill.’ ? ‘They had all been having extra food which had
helped them much, though they complained of hunger and
want of sleep. Directly they got into the warmer weather
on the glacier their food satisfied them, “‘ but we must
march to keep on the full ration, and we want rest, yet we
shall pull through all right, D.V. We are by no means
worn out.” 3

There are no germs in the Antarctic, save for a few
isolated specimens which almost certainly come down from
civilization in the upper air currents. You can sleep all
night in a wet bag and clothing, and sledge all day in a
mail of ice, and you will not catch a cold nor get any aches.
You can get deficiency diseases, like scurvy, for inland this
is a deficiency country, without vitamines. You can also
get poisoned if you allow your food to remain thawed out
too long, and if you do not cover the provisions in a depot
with enough snow the sun will get at them, even though
the air temperature is far below freezing. But it is not easy
to become diseased.

On the other hand, once something does go wrong it is
the deuce and all to get it right : especially cuts. And the
isolation of the polar traveller may place him in most difh-
cult circumstances. There are no ambulances and hospi-
tals, and a man on a sledge is a very serious weight. Prac-
tically any man who undertakes big polar journeys must
face the possibility of having to commit suicide to save his
companions, and the difficulty of this must not be over-
rated, for it is in some ways more desirable to die than to

1 Scott’s Last Expedition, vol.i.p.561. * Ibid. pp. 562, 563. 3 [tid. p. 566.

THE POLAR JOURNEY oor

live, if things are bad enough: we got to that stage on the
Winter Journey. I remember discussing this question with
Bowers, who hada scheme of doing himself in with a pick-
axe if necessity arose, though how he could have accom-
plished it I don’t know: or, as he said, there might be a
crevasse and at any rate there was the medical case. I was
horrified at the time: I had never faced the thing out with
myself like that.

They left the Upper Glacier Depot under Mount
Darwin on February 8. This day they collected the most
important of those geological specimens to which, at
Wilson’s special request, they clung to the end, and which
were mostly collected by him. Mount Darwin and Buck-
ley Island, which are really the tops of high mountains,
stick out of the ice at the top of the glacier, and the course
ran near to both of them, but not actually up against them.
Shackleton found coal on Buckley Island, and it was clear
that the place was of great geological importance, for it was
one of the only places in the Antarctic where fossils could
be found, so far as we knew. ‘The ice-falls stretched away
as far as you could see towards the mountains which bound
the glacier on either side, and as you looked upwards to-
wards Buckley Island they were like a long breaking wave.
One of the great difficulties about the Beardmore was that
you saw the ice-falls as you went up, and avoided them, but
coming down you knew nothing of their whereabouts until
you fell into the middle of pressure and crevasses, and then
it was almost impossible to say whether you should go right
or left to get out.

Evans was unable to pull this day, and was detached
from the sledge, but this was not necessarily a very serious
sign: Shackleton on his return journey was not able to pull
at this place. Wilson wrote as follows :

“February 8, Mt. Buckley Cliffs. A very busy day. We
had a very cold forenoon march, blowing like blazes from
the S. Birdie detached and went on ski to Mt. Darwin and
collected some dolerite, the only rock he could see on the
Nunatak, which was nearest. We got into a sort of crusted
surface where the snow broke through nearly to our knees

s22 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

and the sledge-runner also. I thought at first we were all
on a thinly bridged crevasse. We then came on east a bit,
and gradually got worse and worse going over an ice-fall,
having great trouble to prevent sledge taking charge, but
eventually got down and then made N.W. or N. into the
land, and camped right by the moraine under the great
sandstone cliffs of Mt. Buckley, out of the wind and quite
warm again: it was a wonderful change. After lunch we
all geologized on till supper, and I was very late turning
in, examining the moraine after supper. Socks, all strewn
over the rocks, dried splendidly. Magnificent Beacon sand-
stone cliffs. Masses of limestone in the moraine, and doler-
ite crags in various places. Coal seams at all heights in the
sandstone cliffs, and lumps of weathered coal with fossil
vegetable. Had a regular field-day and got some splendid
things in the short time.”

“February 9, Moraine visit. \Ne made our way along
down the moraine, and at the end of Mt. Buckley [T] un-
hitched and had half an hour over the rocks and again got
some good things written up in sketch-book. We then
left the moraine and made a very good march on rough
blue ice all day with very small and scarce scraps of névé,
on one of which we camped for the night with a rather
overcast foggy sky, which cleared to bright sun in the
night. We are all thoroughly enjoying temps. of + 10° or
thereabouts now, with no wind instead of thesummit winds
which are incessant with temp. - 20°.”

“February 10. ?16m. We made a very good forenoon
march from 10 to 2.45 towards the Cloudmaker. Weather
overcast gradually obscured everything in snowfall fog,
starting with crystals of large size. ... We had to camp
after 24 hours’ afternoon march as it got too thick to see
anything and we were going downhill on blue ice... .””4

The next day in bad lights and on a bad surface they
fell into the same pressure which both the other returning
parties experienced. Like them they were in the middle of
it before they realized. ‘‘’Then came the fatal decision to
steer east. We went on for 6 hours, hoping to do a good

1 Wilson.

THE POLAR JOURNEY 523

distance, which I suppose we did, but for the last hour or
two we pressed on into a regular trap. Getting on to a good
surface we did not reduce our lunch meal, and thought all
going well, but half an hour after lunch we got into the
worst ice mess I have ever been in. For three hours we
plunged on on ski, first thinking we were too much to the
right, then too much to the left ; meanwhile the disturb-
ance got worse and my spirits received a very rude shock.
There were times when it seemed almost impossible to find
a way out of the awful turmoil in which we found ourselves.
... Che turmoil changed in character, irregular crevassed
surface giving way to huge chasms, closely packed and
most difficult to cross. It was very heavy work, but we had
- grown desperate. We won through at 10 p.o., and I write
after 12; hoursvon the march, . .:.’’4

Wilson continues the story:

“February 12. We had a good night just outside the
ice-falls and disturbances, and a small breakfast of tea, thin
hooshand biscuit, and began the forenoon bya decent bit of
travelling on rubbly blue iceincrampons: then plunged into
an ice-fall and wandered about in it for hours and hours.”

“February 13. We had one biscuit and some tea after
a night’s sleep on very hard and irregular blue ice amongst
the ice-fall crevasses. No snow on the tent, only ski, etc.
Got away at 10 a.m. and by 2 p.m. found the depot,
having had a good march over very hard rough blue ice.
Only 4 hour in the disturbance of yesterday. The weather
was very thick, snowing and overcast, could only just see
the points of bearing for depot. However, we got there,
tired and hungry, and camped and had hoosh and tea and
3 biscuits each. Then away again with our three and a half
days’ food from this red flag depét and off down by the
Cloudmaker moraine. We travelled about 4 hours on hard
blue ice, and I was allowed to geologize the last hour down
the two outer lines of boulders. ‘The outer one all dolerite
and quartz rocks, the inner all dolerite and sandstone. .. .
We camped on the inner line of boulders, weather clearing
all the afternoon.” 2

1 Scott’s Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 567. 2 Wilson.

524 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD
Meanwhile both Wilson and Bowers had been badly

snow-blind, though Wilson does not mention it in his
diary; and this night Scott says Evans had no power to
assist with camping work. A good march followed on
February 14, but “there is no getting away from the fact
that we are not pulling strong. Probably none of us:
Wilson’s leg still troubles him and he doesn’t like to trust
himself on ski; but the worst case is Evans, who is giving
us serious anxiety. This morning he suddenly disclosed a
huge blister on his foot. It delayed us on the march, when
he had to have his crampon readjusted. Sometimes I feel
he is going from bad to worse, but I trust he will pick up
again when we come to steady work on ski like this after-
noon. Heis hungry and sois Wilson. We can’t risk open-
ing out our food again, and as cook at present I am serv-
ing something under full allowance. We are inclined to
get slack and slow with our camping arrangement, and
small delays increase. I have talked of the matter to-night
and hope for improvement. We cannot do distance with-
out the hours.” 4

There was something wrong with this party: more
wrong, I mean, than was justified by the tremendous jour-
ney they had already experienced. Except for the blizzard
at the bottom of the Beardmore and the surfaces near the
Pole it had been little worse than they expected. Evans,
however, who was considered by Scott to be the strongest
man of the party, had already collapsed, and it is admitted
that the rest of the party was becoming far from strong.
There seems to be an unknown factor here somewhere.

Wilson’s diary continues : “‘ February 15. 132 m. geog.
I got on ski again first time since damaging my leg and
was on them all day for 9 hours. It was a bit painful and
swelled by the evening, and every night I put on snow
poultice. We are not yet abreast of Mt. Kyffin, and much
discussion how far we are from the Lower Glacier Depét,
probably 18 to 20 m.: and we have to reduce food again,
only one biscuit to-night with a thin hoosh of pemmican.
To-morrow we have to make one day’s food which remains

1 Scott’s Last Expedition, vol. i. pp. §70-571-

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526 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

accelerated first by the shock of his frost-bitten fingers, and
later by falls during rough travelling on the glacier, further
by his loss of all confidence in himself. Wilson thinks it
certain he must have injured his brain by a fall. It is a
terrible thing to lose a companion in this way, but calm
reflection shows that there could not have been a better
ending to the terrible anxieties of the past week. Discus-
sion of the situation at lunch yesterday shows us what a
desperate pass we were in with a sick man on our hands at
such a distance from home.” 4

1 Scott’s Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 573.

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WHERE EVANS DIED

Printed by Emery Walker Ltd. London

CHAPTER XVIII

THE POLAR JOURNEY (continued)

This happy breed of men, this little world,

‘This precious stone set in the silver sea,

Which serves it in the office of a wall, ...

This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England,

This nurse, this teeming womb of royal kings, .. .

This land of such dear souls, this dear, dear land.
SHAKESPEARE.

VI. Fartruest Soutu

Srevenson has written of a traveller whose wife slumbered
by his side what time his spirit re-adventured forth in
memory of days gone by. He was quite happy about it, and
I suppose his travels had been peaceful, for days and nights
such as these men spent coming down the Beardmore will
give you nightmare after nightmare, and wake you shriek-
ing—years after.

Of course they were shaken and weakened. But the
conditions they had faced, and the time they had been out,
do not in my opinion account entirely for their weakness
nor for Evans’ collapse, which may have had something
to do with the fact that he was the biggest, heaviest and
most muscular man in the party. I do not believe that this
is a life for such men, who are expected to pull their weight
and to support and drive a larger machine than their com-
panions, and at the same time to eat no extra food. If, as
seems likely, the ration these men were eating was not
enough to support the work they were doing, then it is
clear that the heaviest man will feel the deficiency sooner

527

528 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

and more severely than others who are smaller than he.
Evans must have had a most terrible time: I think it is
clear from the diaries that he had suffered very greatly
without complaint. At home he would have been nursed in
bed: here he must march (he was pulling the day he died)
until he was crawling on his frost-bitten hands and knees
in the snow—horrible: most horrible perhaps for those
who found him so, and sat in the tent and watched him die.
I am told that simple concussion does not kill as suddenly
as this: probably some clot had moved in his brain.

For one reason and another they took very nearly as
long to come down the glacier with a featherweight sledge
as we had taken to goup it with full loads. Seven days’ food
were allowed from the Upper to the Lower Glacier Depét.
Bowers told me that he thought this was running it fine.
But the two supporting parties got through all right,
though they both tumbled into the horrible pressure above
the Cloudmaker. The Last Return Party took 74 days:
the Polar Party 10 days: the latter had been 254 days
longer on the plateau than the former. Owing to their
slow progress down the glacier the Polar Party went on
short rations for the first and last time until they camped
on March 19: with the exception of these days they had
either their full, or more than their full ration until that
date.

Until they reached the Barrier on their return journey
the weather can be described neither as abnormal nor as
unexpected. There were 300 statute miles (260 geo.) to be
covered to One Ton Depét, and 150 statute miles (130
geo.) more from One Ton to Hut Point. They had just
picked up one week’s food for five men: between the
Beardmore and One Ton were three more depéts each
with one week’s food for five men. They were four men:
their way was across the main body of the Barrier out of
sight of land, and away from any immediate influence of
the comparatively warm sea ahead of them. Nothing was
known of the weather conditions in the middle of the Bar-
rier at this time of year, and no one suspected that March
conditions there were very cold. Shackleton turned home-

THE POLAR JOURNEY $29

ward on January 10: reached his Bluff Depét on February
23, and Hut Point on February 28.

Wilson’s diary continues :

* February 18. We had only five hours’ sleep. We had
butter and biscuit and tea when we woke at 2 p.., then
came over the Gap entrance to the pony-slaughter camp,
visiting a rock moraine of Mt. Hope on the way.”

“February 19. Late in getting away after making up
new 10-foot sledge and digging out pony meat. We made
54 m. on a very heavy surface indeed.” }

This bad surface is the feature of their first homeward
marches on the Barrier. From now onwards they complain
always of the terrible surfaces, but a certain amount of the
heavy pulling must be ascribed to their own weakness. In
the low temperatures which occurred later bad surfaces
were to be expected: but now the temperatures were not
really low, about zero to - 17°: fine clear days for the
most part and, a thing to be noticed, little wind. They
wanted wind, which would probably be behind them from
the south. “Oh! for a little wind,’ Scott writes. “E.
Evans evidently had plenty.” He was already very anxious.
“Tf this goes on we shall have a bad time, but I sincerely
trust it is only the result of this windless area close to the
coast and that, as we are making steadily outwards, we
shall shortly escape it. It is perhaps premature [Feb. 19]
to be anxious about covering distance. In all other respects
things are improving. We have our sleeping-bags spread
on the sledge and they are drying, but, above all, we have
our full measure of food again. ‘To-night we had a sort of
stew fry of pemmican and horseflesh, and voted it the best
hoosh we had ever had on a sledge journey. The absence
of poor Evans is a help to the commissariat, but if he had
been here in a fit state we might have got along faster. I
wonder what is in store for us, with some little alarm at the
lateness of the season.”” And on February 20, when they
made 7 miles, “ At present our sledge and ski leave deeply
ploughed tracks which can be seen winding for miles be-
hind. It is distressing, but as usual trials are forgotten

1 Wilson.

2M

g30 WORST, JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

when we camp, and good food is our lot. Pray God we get
better travelling as we are not so fit as we were, and the
season is advancing apace.” And on February 21, “ We
never won a march of 8} miles with greater difficulty, but
we can’t go on like this.” 4

A breeze suddenly came away from S.S.E., force 4 to 6,
at I1 A.M. on February 22, and they hoisted the sail on the
sledge they hadyust picked up. They immediately lost the
tracks they were following, and failed to find the cairns
and camp remains which they should have picked up if
they had been on the right course, which was difficult here
owing to the thick weather we had on the outward march.
Bowers was sure they were too near the land and they
steered out, but still failed to pick up the line on which
their depéts and their lives depended. Scott was convinced
they were outside, not inside the line. The next morning
Bowers took a round of angles, and they came to the con-
clusion, on slender evidence, that they were still too near
the land. They had an unhappy march still off the tracks,
‘but just as we decided to lunch, Bowers’ wonderful sharp
eyes detected an old double lunch cairn, the theodolite tele-
scope confirmed it, and our spirits rose accordingly.” ?
Then Wilson had another “ bad attack of snow-glare:
could hardly keep a chink of eye open in goggles to see
the course. Fat pony hoosh.”’* This day they reached
the Lower Barrier Depét.

They were in evil case, but they would have been all
right, these men, if the cold had not comedown upon them,
a bolt quite literally from the blue of a clear sky: unex-
pected, unforetold and fatal. ‘The cold itself was not so
tremendous until you realize that they had been out four
months, that they had fought their way up the biggest
glacier in the world in feet of soft snow, that they had spent
seven weeks under plateau conditions of rarefied air, big
winds and low temperatures, and they had watched one of
their companions die—not in a bed, ina hospital or ambul-
ance, nor suddenly, but slowly, night by night and day
by day, with his hands frost-bitten and his brain going,

1 Scott’s Last Expedition, vol. i. pp. 575-576. 2 Ibid. p. 577. 3 Wilson.

GNIA\ HOIH V NI D

STI V a

THEVPOLARS JOURNEY rte

until they must have wondered, each man in his heart,
whether in such case a human being could be left to die,
that four men might live. He died a natural death and
they went out on to the Barrier.

Given such conditions as were expected, and the condi-
tions for which preparation had been made, they would have
come home alive and well. Some men say the weather was
abnormal: there is some evidence that it was. The fact re-
mains that the temperature dropped into the minus thirties
by day and the minus forties by night. The fact also re-
mains that there was a great lack of southerly winds, and
in consequence the air near the surface was not being
mixed : excessive radiation took place, and a layer of cold
air formed near the ground. Crystals also formed on the
surface of the snow and the wind was not enough to sweep
them away. As the temperature dropped so the surface for
the runners of the sledges became worse, as I explained
elsewhere.! They were pulling as it were through sand.

In the face of the difficulties which beset them their
marches were magnificent : 114 miles on February 25 and
again on the following day: 12.2 miles on February 27,
and 114 miles again on February 28 and 29. If they could
have kept this up they would have come through without
a doubt. But I think it was about now that they suspected,
and then were sure, that they could not pull through.
Scott’s diary, written at lunch, March 2, is as follows:

‘“Misfortunes rarely come singly. We marched to the
[Middle Barrier] depét fairly easily yesterday afternoon,
and since that have suffered three distinct blows which
have placed us ina bad position. First, we found a shortage
of oil; with most rigid economy it can scarce carry us to
the next depét on this surface [71 miles away]. Second,
Titus Oates disclosed his feet, the toes showing very bad
indeed, evidently bitten by the late temperatures. The
third blow came in the night, when the wind, which we
had hailed with some joy, brought dark overcast weather.
It fell below — 40° in the night, and this morning it took
14 hours to get our toot-gear on, but we got away before

1 See note at end of Chapter XIV.

$32 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

eight. We lost cairn and tracks together and made as
steady as we could N. by W., but have seen nothing.
Worse was to come—the surface is simply awful. In spite
of strong wind and full sail we have only done 54 miles.
We are in a very queer street, since there is no doubt we
cannot do the extra marches and feel the cold horribly.” ?

They did nearly ten miles that day, but on March 3
they had a terrible time. “‘God help us,” wrote Scott, “we
can’t keep up this pulling, that is certain. Amongst our-
selves we are unendingly cheerful, but what each man feels
in his heart I can only guess. Putting on foot-gear in the
morning is getting slower and slower, therefore every day
more dangerous.”’

The following extracts are taken from Scott’s diary.

“March 4. Lunch. We are in a very tight place in-
deed, but none of us despondent yes, or at least we pre-
serve every semblance of good cheer, but one’s heart sinks
as the sledge stops dead at some sastrugi behind which the
surface sand lies thickly heaped. For the moment the tem-
perature is in the —- 20°—an improvement which makes
us much more comfortable, but a colder snap is bound to
come again soon. I fear that Oates at least will weather
such an event very poorly. Providence to our aid! We can
expect little from man now except the possibility of extra
food at the next depot. It will be real bad if we get there
and find the same shortage of oil. Shall we get there?
Such a short distance it would have appeared to us on the
summit! I don’t know what I should do if Wilson and
Bowers weren’t so determinedly cheerful over things.”

““ Monday, March 5. Lunch. Regret to say going from
bad to worse. We got a slant of wind yesterday afternoon,
and going on § hours we converted our wretched morning
run of 34 miles into something over 9. We went to bed
on a cup of cocoa and pemmican solid with the chill off.
... Lhe result is telling on all, but mainly on Oates, whose
feet arein a wretched condition. One swelled up tremend-
ously last night and he is very lame this morning. We
started march on tea and pemmican as last night—we pre-

1 Scote’s Last Expedition, vol. i. pp. 582, 583.

THE POLAR JOURNEY 533

tend to prefer the pemmican this way. Marched for 5
hours this morning over a slightly better surface covered
with high moundy sastrugi. Sledge capsized twice; we
pulled on foot, covering about 5} miles. We are two pony
marches and 4 miles about from our depét. Our fuel dread-
fully low and the poor Soldier nearly done. It is pathetic
enough because we can do nothing for him; more hot
food might do a little, but only a little, I fear. We none
of us expected these terribly low temperatures, and of the
rest of us, Wilson is feeling them most; mainly, I fear,
from his self-sacrificing devotion in doctoring Oates’ feet.
We cannot help each other, each has enough to do to take
care of himself. We get cold on the march when the trudg-
ing is heavy, and the wind pierces our worn garments. The
others, all of them, are unendingly cheerful when in the
tent. We mean to see the game through with a proper
spirit, but it’s tough work to be pulling harder than we
ever pulled in our lives for long hours, and to feel that the
progress is so slow. One can only say ‘God help us!’ and
plod on our weary way, cold and very miserable, though
outwardly cheerful. We talk of all sorts of subjects in the
tent, not much of food now, since we decided to take
the risk of running a full ration. We simply couldn’t go
hungry at this time.”

“Tuesday, March 6. Lunch. We did a little better
with help of wind yesterday afternoon, finishing 9} miles
for the day, and 27 miles from depét. But this morning
things have been awful. It was warm in the night and for
the first time during the journey I overslept myself by
more than an hour; then we were slow with foot-gear ;
then, pulling with all our might (for our lives) we could
scarcely advance at rate of a mile an hour; then it grew
thick and three times we had to get out of harness to search
for tracks. The result is something less than 34 miles for
the forenoon. The sun is shining now and the wind gone.
Poor Oates is unable to pull, sits on the sledge when we
are track-searching—he is wonderfully plucky, as his feet
must be giving him great pain. He makes no complaint,
but his spirits only come up in spurts now, and he grows

534 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

more silent in the tent. We are making a spirit lamp to try
and replace the primus when our oil is exhausted. .

“* Wednesday, March 7. A little worse, I fear. One of
Oates’ feet very bad this morning ; he is wonderfully brave.
We still talk of what we will do together at home.

“We only made 64 miles yesterday. This morning in

4 hours we did just over 4 miles. We are 16 from our
depét. If we only find the correct proportion of food there
and this surface continues, we may get to the next depét
[Mt. Hooper, 72 miles farther] but not to One Ton Camp.
We hope against hope that the dogs have been to Mt.
Hooper; then we might pull through. If there is a
shortage of oil again we can have little hope. One feels
that for poor Oates the crisis is near, but none of us are
improving, though we ar wonderfully fit considering the
really excessive work we are doing. We are only kept
going by good food. No wind this morning till a chill
northerly air came ahead. Sun bright and cairns showing
up well. I should like to keep the track to the end.”

“Thursday, March 8. Lunch. Worse and worse in
morning; poor Oates’ left foot can never last out, and time
over foot-gear something awful. Have to wait in night foot-
gear for nearly an hour before I start changing, and then
am generally first to be ready. Wilson’s feet giving trouble
now, but this mainly because he gives so much help to
others. We did 44 miles this morning and are now 84
miles from the depét—a ridiculously small distance to feel
in difficulties, yet on this surface we know we cannot equal
half our old marches, and that for that effort we expend
nearly double the energy. The great question 1s: What
shall we find at the depdét ? If the dogs have visited it we
may get along a good distance, but if there is another short
allowance of fuel, God help us indeed. We are in a very
bad way, I fear, in any case.”

“ Saturday, March 10. ‘Things steadily downhill.
Oates’ foot worse. He has rare pluck and must know that
he can never get through. He asked Wilson if he had a
chance this morning, and of course Bill had to say he didn’t
know. In point of fact he has none. Apart from him, if he

THE) POLAR: JOURNEY 535

went under now, I doubt whether we could get through.
With great care we might have a dog’s chance, but no
more. ‘The weather conditions are awful, and our gear gets
steadily more icy and difficult to manage. ...

“Yesterday we marched up the depdt, Mt. Hooper.
Cold comfort. Shortage on our allowance all round. I
don’t know that any one is to blame. The dogs which
would have been our salvation have evidently failed.
Meares had a bad trip home I suppose.

“This morning it was calm when we breakfasted, but
the wind came from the W.N.W. as we broke camp. It
rapidly grew in strength. After travelling for half an hour
I saw that none of us could go on facing such conditions.
We were forced to camp and are spending the rest of the
day in a comfortless blizzard camp, wind quite foul.”

“ Sunday, March 11. ‘Titus Oates is very near the end,
one feels. What we or he will do, God only knows. We
discussed the matter after breakfast; he is a brave fine
fellow and understands the situation, but he practically
asked for advice. Nothing could be said but to urge him
to march as long as he could. One satisfactory result to the
discussion : I practically ordered Wilson to hand over the
means of ending our troubles to us, so that any one of us
may know how to do so. Wilson had no choice between
doing so and our ransacking the medicine case. We have
30 opium tabloids apiece and he is left with a tube of
morphine. So far the tragical side of our story.

“The sky completely overcast when we started this
morning. We could see nothing, lost the tracks, and
doubtless have been swaying a good deal since—3.1 miles
for the forenoon—terribly heavy dragging—expected it.
Know that 6 miles is about the limit of our endurance now,
if we get no help from wind or surfaces. We have 7 days’
food and should be about 55 miles from One Ton Camp
to-night, 6x 7=42, leaving us 13 miles short of our dis-
tance, even if things get no worse. Meanwhile the season
rapidly advances.”

‘* Monday, March 12. We did 6.9 miles yesterday,
under our necessary average. Things are left much the

536 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

same, Oates not pulling much, and now with hands as well
as feet pretty well useless. We did 4 miles this morning
in 4 hours 20 min.—we may hope for 3 this afternoon,
7x6=42. We shall be 47 miles from the depét. I doubt
if we can possibly do it. The surface remains awful, the
cold intense, and our physical condition running down.
God help us! Not a breath of favourable wind for more
than a week, and apparently liable to head winds at any
moment.”

‘“* Wednesday, March 14. No doubt about the going
downhill, but everything going wrong for us. Yesterday
we woke to a strong northerly wind with temp. - 37°.
Couldn’t face it, so remained in camp till 2, then did 54
miles. Wanted to march later, but party feeling the cold
badly as the breeze (N.) never took off entirely, and as the
sun sank the temp. fell. Long time getting supper in dark.

“This morning started with southerly breeze, set sail
and passed another cairn at good speed ; half-way, how-
ever, the wind shifted to W. by S. or W.S.W., blew
through our wind-clothes and into our mitts. Poor Wilson
horribly cold, could [not] get off ski for some time. Bowers
and I practically made camp, and when we got into the
tent at last we were all deadly cold. Then temp. now mid-
day down — 43° and the wind strong. We must go on, but
now the making of every camp must be more difficult and
dangerous. It must be near the end, but a pretty merci-
ful end. Poor Oates got it again in the foot. I shudder
to think what it will be like to-morrow. It is only with
greatest pains rest of us keep off frost-bites. No idea there
could be temperatures like this at this time of year with
such winds. Truly awful outside the tent. Must fight it
out to the last biscuit, but can’t reduce rations.”

“ Friday, March 16, or Saturday, 17. Lost track of
dates, but think the last correct. Tragedy all along the line.
At lunch, the day before yesterday, poor Titus Oates said
he couldn’t go on; he proposed we should leave him in
his sleeping-bag. That we could not do, and we induced
him to come on, on the afternoon march. In spite of its
awful nature for him he struggled on and we made a few

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THE POLAR JOURNEY 537

miles. At night he was worse and we knew the end had
come.

“Should this be found I want these facts recorded. Oates’
last thoughts were of his mother, but immediately before
he took pride in thinking that his regiment would be
pleased with the bold way in which he met his death. We
can testify to his bravery. He has borne intense suffering
for weeks without complaint, and to the very last was able
and willing to discuss outside subjects. He did not—
would not—give up hope till the very end. He was a brave
soul. This was the end. He slept through the night before
last, hoping not to wake; but he woke in the morning—
yesterday. It was blowing a blizzard. He said, ‘I am just
going outside and may be some time.’ He went out into
the blizzard and we have not seen him since.

“T take this opportunity of saying that we have stuck to
our sick companions to the last. In case of Edgar Evans,
when absolutely out of food and he lay insensible, the
safety of the remainder seemed to demand his abandon-
ment, but Providence mercifully removed him at this
critical moment. He died a natural death, and we did not
leave him till two hours after his death. We knew that
poor Oates was walking to his death, but though we tried
to dissuade him, we knew it was the act of a brave man and
an English gentleman. We all hope to meet the end with
a similar spirit, and assuredly the end is not far.

“¢T can only write at lunch and then only occasionally.
The cold is intense, — 40° at mid-day. My companions are
unendingly cheerful, but we are all on the verge of seri-
ous frost-bites, and though we constantly talk of fetching
through I don’t think any one of us believes it in his heart.

“¢ We are cold on the march now, and at all times except
meals. Yesterday we had to lay up for a blizzard and to-
day we move dreadfully slowly. We are at No. 14 Pony
Camp, only two pony marches from One Ton Depét. We
leave here our theodolite, a camera, and Oates’ sleeping-
bags. Diaries, etc., and geological specimens carried at
Wilson’s special request, will be found with us or on our

sledge.”

538 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

‘* Sunday, March 18. ‘To-day, lunch, we are 21 miles
from the depét. Ill fortune presses, but better may come.
We have had more wind and drift from ahead yesterday ;
had to stop marching ; wind N.W., force 4, temp. - 35°.
No human being could face it, and we are worn out xearly.

“My right foot has gone, nearly all the toes—two days
ago I was proud possessor of best feet... . Bowers takes
first place in condition, but there is not much to choose
after all. The others are still confident of getting through
—or pretend to be—I don’t know! We have the last ha/f
fill of oil in our primus and a very small quantity of spirit
—this alone between us and thirst. The wind is fair for
the moment, and that is perhaps a fact to help. The mile-
age would have seemed ridiculously small on our outward
journey.’

“* Monday, March 19. Lunch. We camped with diff-
culty last night and were dreadfully cold till after our
supper of cold pemmican and biscuit and a half pannikin
of cocoa cooked over the spirit. Then, contrary to expecta-
tion, we got warm and all slept well. Te. day we started in
the usual dragging manner. Sledge dreadfully heavy. We
are 154 miles from the depdt and ought to get there in
three days. What progress! We have two days’ food but
barely a day’s fuel. All our feet are getting bad—Wilson’s
best, my right foot worse, left all right. There is no chance
to nurse one’s feet till we can get hot food into us. Ampu-
tation is the least I can hope for now, but will the trouble
spread ? That is the serious question. The weather doesn’t
give us a chance—the wind from N. to N.W. and - 40°
temp. to-day.”

“ Wednesday, March 21. Got within 11 miles of depét
Monday night ; had to lay up all yesterday in severe bliz-
zard. ‘To-day forlorn hope, Wilson and Bowers going to
depét for fuel.”

“22 and 23. Blizzard bad as ever—Wilson and Bowers
unable to start—to-morrow last chance—no fuel and only
one or two of food left—must be near the end. Have de-
cided it shall be natural—we shall march for the depot
with or without our effects and die in our tracks.”

TEE POLAR JOURNEY 539

“* Thursday, March 29. Since the 21st we have had a
continuous gale from W.S.W. and S.W. We had fuel to
make two cups of tea apiece and bare food for two days on
the 20th. Every day we have been ready to start for our
depot rz miles away, but outside the door of the tent it
remains a scene of whirling drift. I do not think we can
hope for any better things now. We shall stick it out to
the end, but we are getting weaker, of course, and the end
cannot be far.

“Tt seems a pity, but I do not think I can write more.

| ae (ele 7b!)

Last entry. “For God’s sake, look after our people.”

The following extracts are from letters written by
Scott :
To Mrs. E. A. Wilson

My pear Mrs. Wison. If this letter reaches you, Bill
and I will have gone out together. We are very near it
now and I should like you to know how splendid he was at
the end—everlastingly cheerful and ready to sacrifice him-
self for others, never a word of blame to me for leading him
into this mess. He is not suffering, luckily, at least only
minor discomforts.

His eyes have a comfortable blue look of hope and his
mind is peaceful with the satisfaction of his faith in regard-
ing himself as part of the great scheme of the Almighty.
I can do no more to comfort you than to tell you that he
died as he lived, a brave, true man—the best of comrades
and staunchest of friends.

My whole heart goes out to you in pity. Yours,

Ry Seon
To Mrs. Bowers

My pear Mrs. Bowers. I am afraid this will reach
you after one of the heaviest blows of your life.

I write when we are very near the end of our journey,
and I am finishing it in company with two gallant, noble
gentlemen. One of these is your son. He had come to be
one of my closest and soundest friends, and I appreciate
_ his wonderful upright nature, his ability and energy. As

540 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

the troubles have thickened his dauntless spirit ever shone
brighter and he has remained cheerful, hopeful and in-
domitable to the end....

To Sir F. M. Barrie

My pear Barriz. Weare pegging out in a very com-
fortless spot. Hoping this letter may be found and sent to
you, I write a word of farewell . . . Good-bye. I am not at
all afraid of the end, but sad to miss manya humble pleasure
which I had planned for the future on our long marches. I
may not have proved a great explorer, but we have done
the greatest march ever made and come very near to great
success. Good-bye, my dear friend. Yours ever,

R. Seomm

We are in a desperate state, feet frozen, etc. No fuel
and a long way from food, but it would do your heart good
to bein our tent, to hear our songs and the cheery conversa-
tion as to what we will do when we get to Hut Point.

Later. We are very near the end, but have not and
will not lose our good cheer. We have four days of storm
in our tent and nowhere’s food or fuel. We did intend to
finish ourselves when things proved like this, but we have
decided to die naturally in the track.1

The following extracts are from letters written to other
friends:

‘¢

‘...I want to tell you that I was zor too old for this
job. It was the younger men that went under first... .
After all we are setting a good example to our countrymen,
if not by getting into a tight place, by facing it like men
when we were there. We could have come through had
we neglected the sick.”

‘* Wilson, the best fellow that ever stepped, has sacri-
ficed himself again and again to the sick men of the
pantyaeie ss

“|, . Our journey has been the biggest on record, and
nothing but the most exceptional hard luck at the end
would have caused us to fail to return.”

1 Scott’s Last Expedition, vol. i. pp. 584-599.

THE POLAR JOURNEY 541

“ What lots and lots I could tell you of this journey.
How much better has it been than lounging in too great
comfort at home.”’

MeEssAGE TO THE PuBLic

The causes of the disaster are not due to faulty organ-
ization, but to misfortune in all risks which had to be
undertaken.

1. The loss of pony transport in March 1g11 obliged
me to start later than I had intended, and obliged the limits
of stuff transported to be narrowed.

2. The weather throughout the outward journey, and
especially the long gale in 83° S., stopped us.

3. The soft snow in lower reaches of glacier again re-
duced pace.

We fought these untoward events with a will and con-
quered, but it cut into our provision reserve.

Every detail of our food supplies, clothing and depéts
made on the interior ice-sheet and over that long stretch of
700 miles to the Pole and back, worked out to perfection.
The advance party would have returned to the glacier in
fine form and with surplus of food, but for the astonish-
ing failure of the man whom we had least expected to fail.
Edgar Evans was thought the strongest man of the party.

The Beardmore Glacier is not difficult in fine weather,
but on our return we did not get a single completely fine
day ; this with a sick companion enormously increased our
anxieties.

As I have said elsewhere, we got into frightfully rough
ice and Edgar Evans received a concussion of the brain—
he died a natural death, but left us a shaken party with the
season unduly advanced.

But all the facts above enumerated were as nothing to
the surprise which awaited us on the Barrier. I maintain
that our arrangements for returning were quite adequate,
and that no one in the world would have expected the tem-
peratures and surfaces which we encountered at this time
of the year. On the summit in lat. 85°-86° we had - 20°,

- 30°. On the Barrier in lat. 82°, 10,000 feet lower, we

542 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD
had - 30° in the day, - 47° at night pretty regularly, with

continuous head-wind during our day marches. It is clear
that these circumstances come on very suddenly, and our
wreck is certainly due to this sudden advent of severe
weather, which does not seem to have any satisfactory
cause. I do not think human beings ever came through
such a month as we have come through, and we should
have got through’in spite of the weather but for the sick-
ening of a second companion, Captain Oates, and a short-
age of fuel in our depéts for which I cannot account, and
finally, but for the storm which has fallen on us within 11
miles of the depét at which we hoped to secure our final
supplies. Surely misfortune could scarcely have exceeded
this last blow. We arrived within 11 miles of our old One
Ton Camp with fuel for one last meal and food for two days.
For four days we have been unable to leave the tent—the
gale howling about us. We are weak, writing is difficult,
but for my own sake I do not regret this journey, which
has shown that Englishmen can endure hardships, help
one another, and meet death with as great a fortitude as
ever in the past. We took risks, we knew we took them ;
things have come out against us, and therefore we have no
cause for complaint, but bow to the will of Providence,
determined still to do our best to the last. But if we have
been willing to give our lives to this enterprise, which is
for the honour of our country, I appeal to our countrymen
to see that those who depend on us are properly cared for.

Had we lived, I should have had a tale to tell of the
hardihood, endurance, and courage of my companions
which would have stirred the heart of every Englishman.
These rough notes and our dead bodies must tell the tale,
but surely, surely a great rich country like ours will see
that those who are dependent on us are properly provided
for.—R. Scorr.!

1 Scott’s Last Expedition, vol. i. pp. 605-607.

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CHAPTER XIX

NEVER AGAIN

And now in age I bud again,
After so many deaths I live and write;
I once more smell the dew and rain,
And relish versing. O my onely light,
It cannot be
That I am he
On whom thy tempests fell all night.

Herperr.

I sHaLt inevitably be asked for a word of mature judgment
of the expedition of a kind that was impossible when we
were all close up to it, and when I was a subaltern of 24,
not incapable of judging my elders, but too young to have
found out whether my judgment was worth anything. I
now see very plainly that though we achieved a first-rate
tragedy, which will never be forgotten just because it was
a tragedy, tragedy was not our business. In the broad
perspective opened up by ten years’ distance, I see not
one journey to the Pole, but two, in startling contrast one
to another. On the one hand, Amundsen going straight
there, getting there first, and returning without the loss of
a single man, and without having put any greater strain on
himself and his men than was all in the day’s work of
polar exploration. Nothing more business-like could be
imagined. On the other hand, our expedition, running ap-
palling risks, performing prodigies of superhuman endur-
ance, achieving immortal renown, commemorated in august
cathedral sermons and by public statues, yet reaching the
Pole only to find our terrible journey superfluous, and
leaving our best men dead on the ice. To ignore such
543

544. WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

a contrast would be ridiculous: to write a book without
accounting for it a waste of time.

First let me do full justice to Amundsen. I have not
attempted to disguise how we felt towards him when, after
leading us to believe that he had equipped the Fram for an
Arctic journey, and sailed for the north, he suddenly made
his dash for the south. Nothing makes a more unpleasant
impression than a feint. But when Scott reached the Pole
only to find that Amundsen had been there a month before
him, his distress was not that of a schoolboy who has lost
arace. I have described what it had cost Scott and his four
companions to get to the Pole, and what they had still to
suffer in returning until death stopped them. Much of
that risk and racking toil had been undertaken that men
might learn what the world is like at the spot where the sun
does not decline in the heavens, where a man loses his orbit
and turns like a joint on a spit, and where his face, however
he turns, is always to the North. The moment Scott saw
the Norwegian tent he knew that he had nothing to tell
that was not already known. His achievement was a mere
precaution against Amundsen perishing on his way back ;
and that risk was no greater than his own. The Polar
Journey was literally laid waste: that was the shock that
staggered them. Well might Bowers be glad to see the
last of Norskies’ tracks as their homeward paths diverged.

All this heartsickness has passed away now ; and the
future explorer will not concern himself with it. He will
ask, what was the secret of Amundsen’s slick success ?
What is the moral of our troubles and losses ? I will take
Amundsen’s success first. Undoubtedly the very remark-
able qualities of the man himself had a good deal to do with
it. There is a sort of sagacity that constitutes the specific
genius of the explorer ; and Amundsen proved his posses-
sion of this by his guess that there was terra firma in the
Bay of Whales as solid as on Ross Island. Then there is
the quality of big leadership which 1s shown by daring to
take a big chance. Amundsen took a very big one indeed
when he turned from the route to the Pole explored and
ascertained by Scott and Shackleton and determined to

NEVER AGAIN say

find a second pass over the mountains from the Barrier
to the plateau. As it happened, he succeeded, and estab-
lished his route as the best way to the Pole until a better is
discovered. But he might easily have failed and perished
in the attempt; and the combination of reasoning and
daring that nerved him to make it can hardly be overrated.
All these things helped him. Yet any rather conservative
whaling captain might have refused to make Scott’s ex-
periment with motor transport, ponies and man-hauling,
and stuck to the dogs ; and to the use of ski in running
those dogs ; and it was this quite commonplace choice
that sent Amundsen so gaily to the Pole and back: with
no abnormal strain on men or dogs, and no great hardship
either. He never pulled a mile from start to finish.

The very ease of the exploit makes it impossible to infer
from it that Amundsen’s expedition was more highly en-
dowed in personal qualities than ours. We did not suffer
from too little brains or daring: we may have suffered
from too much. We were primarily a great scientific ex-
pedition, with the Pole as our bait for public support,
though it was not more important than any other acre of
the plateau. We followed in the steps of a polar expedi-
tion which brought back more results than any of its fore-
runners: Scott’s Discovery voyage. We had the largest
and most efficient scientific staff that ever left England.
We were discursive. We were full of intellectual interests
and curiosities of all kinds. We took on the work of two
or three expeditions.

It is obvious that there are disadvantages in such a
division of energy. Scott wanted to reach the Pole: a
dangerous and laborious exploit, but a practicable one.
Wilson wanted to obtain the egg of the Emperor penguin:
a horribly dangerous and inhumanly exhausting feat which
is none the less impracticable because the three men who
achieved it survived by a miracle. These two feats had to
be piled one on top of the other. What with the Depét
Journey and others, in addition to these two, we were
sledged out by the end of our second sledging season, and
our worst year was still to come. We, the survivors, went

2N

546 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

in search of the dead when there was a possibly living party
waiting in the ice somewhere for us to succour them. That
turned out all right, because when we got back, we found
Campbell’s party self-extricated and waiting for us, alive
and well. But suppose they also had perished, what would
have been said of us ?

The practical man of the world has plenty of criticism of
the way things were done. He says dogs should have been
taken; but he does not show how they could have been
got up and down the Beardmore. He is scandalized be-
cause 30 lbs. of geological specimens were deliberately
added to the weight of the sledge that was dragging the life
out of the men who had to haul it ; but he does not realize
that it is the friction surfaces of the snow on the runners
which mattered and not the dead weight, which in this case
was almost negligible. Nor does he know that these same
specimens dated a continent and may elucidate the whole
history of plant life. He will admit that we were all very
wonderful, very heroic, very beautiful and devoted: that
our exploits gave a glamour to our expedition that Amund-
sen’s cannot claim; but he has no patience with us, and
declares that Amundsen was perfectly right in refusing to
allow science to use up the forces of his men, or to interfere
for a moment with his single business of getting to the Pole
and back again. No doubt he was ; but we were not out
for a single business : we were out for everything we could
add to the world’s store of knowledge about the Antarctic.

Of course the whole business simply bristles with
‘ifs’: If Scott had taken dogs and succeeded in getting
them up the Beardmore : if we had not lost those ponies
on the Depét Journey: if the dogs had not been taken so
far and the One Ton Depét had been laid: if a pony and
some extra oil had been depéted on the Barrier: if a four-
man party had been taken to the Pole: if I had disobeyed
my instructions and gone on from One Ton, killing dogs
as necessary: or even if I had just gone on a few miles
and left some food and fuel under a flag upon a cairn: if
they had been first at the Pole: if it had been any other
season but that. . . . But always the bare fact remains

NEVER AGAIN $47

that Scott could not have travelled from McMurdo Sound
to the Pole faster than he did except with dogs; all the
king’s horses and all the king’s men could not have done
it. Why, then, says the practical man, did we go to
McMurdo Sound instead of to the Bay of Whales ? Be-
cause we gained that continuity of scientific observation
which is so important in this work: and because the
Sound was the starting-point for continuing the explora-
tion of the only ascertained route to the Pole, via the
Beardmore Glacier.

I am afraid it was all inevitable: we were as wise as
any one can be before the event. I admit that we, scrupu-
lously economical of our pemmican, were terribly prodigal
of our man-power. But we had to be: the draft, whatever
it may have been on the whole, was not excessive at any
given point; and anyhow we just had to use every man
to take every opportunity. There is so much to do, and
the opportunities for doing it are so rare. Generally speak-
ing, | don’t see how we could have done differently, but
I don’t want to see it done again; I don’t want it to be
necessary to do it again. I want to see this country tackle
the job, and send enough men to do one thing at a time.
They do it in Canada: why not in England too?

But we wasted our man-power in one way which could
have been avoided. I have described how every emergency
was met by calling for volunteers, and how the volunteers
were always forthcoming. Unfortunately volunteering was
relied on not only for emergencies, but for a good deal of
everyday work that should have been organised as routine;
and the inevitable result was that the willing horses were
overworked. It was a point of honour not to ca’ canny.
Men were allowed to do too much, and were told after-
wards that they had done too much; and that is not dis-
cipline. They should not have been allowed to do too
much. Until our last year we never insisted on a regular
routine,

Money was scarce: probably Scott could not have ob-
tained the funds for the expedition if its objective had not
been the Pole. There was no lack of the things which

548 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

could be bought across the counter from big business
houses—all landing, sledging, and scientific equipment
was first-class—but one of the first and most important
items, the ship, would have sent Columbus on strike, and
nearly sent us to the bottom of the sea.

People talk of the niggardly equipment of Columbus
when he sailed west from the Canaries to try a short-cut
to an inhabited continent of magnificent empires, as he
thought; but his three ships were, relatively to the re-
sources of that time, much better than the one old tramp
in which we sailed for a desert of ice in which the evening
and morning are the year and not the day, and in which
not even polar bears and reindeers can live. Amundsen
had the Fram, built for polar exploration ad hoc. Scott had
the Discovery. But when one thinks of these Nimrods and
Terra Novas, picked up second-hand in the wooden-ship
market, and faked up for the transport of ponies, dogs,
motors, and all the impedimenta of a polar expedition, to
say nothing of the men who have to try and do scien-
tific work inside them, one feels disposed to clamour for a
Polar Factory Act making it a crime to ship men for the
ice in vessels more fit to ply between London Bridge and
Ramsgate.

And then the begging that is necessary to obtain even
this equipment. Shackleton hanging round the doors of
rich men ! Scott writing begging letters for months to-
gether ! Is the country not ashamed ?

Modern civilized States should make up their minds to
the endowment of research, which includes exploration;
and as all States benefit alike by the scientific side of it
there is plenty of scope for international arrangement,
especially in a region where the mere grabbing of territory
is meaningless, and no Foreign Office can trace the frontier
between King Edward’s Plateau and King Haakon’s. The
Antarctic continent 1s still mostly unexplored; but enough
is known of it to put any settlement by ordinary pioneer
emigration, pilgrim fathers and the like, out of the ques-
tion. Ross Island is not a place for a settlement: it is a
place for an elaborately equipped scientific station, with a

NEVER AGAIN 549

staff in residence for a year at a time. Our stay of three
years was far too much: another year would have driven
the best of us mad. Of the five main journeys which fell to
my lot, one, the Winter Journey, should not have been
undertaken at all with our equipment; and two others,
the Dog Journey and the Search Journey, had better have
been done by fresh men. It is no use repeating that Eng-
lishmen will respond to every call and stick it to the death:
they will (some of them); but they have to pay the price
all the same; and the price in my case was an overdraft on
my vital capital which I shall never quite pay off, and in
the case of five bigger, stronger, more seasoned men, death.
The establishment of such stations and of such a service
- cannot be done by individual heroes and enthusiasts cadg-
ing for cheques from rich men and grants from private
scientific societies: it is a business, like the Nares Arctic
expedition, for public organization.

I do not suppose that in these days of aviation the next
visit to the Pole will be made by men on foot dragging
sledges, or by men on sledges dragged by dogs, mules or
ponies ; nor will depdts be laid in that way. The pack will
not, I hope, be broken through by any old coal-burning ship
that can be picked up in the second-hand market. Specially
built ships, and enough of them; specially engined trac-
tors and aeroplanes; specially trained men and plenty of
them, will all be needed if the work is to be done in any
sort of humane and civilized fashion; and Cabinet min-
isters and voters alike must learn to value knowledge that
is not baited by suffering and death. My own bolt is shot ;
I do not suppose I shall ever go south again before I go
west; but if I do it will be under proper and reasonable
conditions. I may not come back a hero; but I shall come
back none the worse; for J repeat, the Antarctic, in moder-
ation as to length of stay, and with such accommodation
as is now easily within the means of modern civilized
Powers, is not half as bad a place for public service as the
worst military stations on the equator. I hope that by the
time Scott comes home—for he is coming home : the
Barrier is moving, and not a trace of our funeral cairn was

550 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

found by Shackleton’s men in 1916—the hardships that
wasted his life will be only a horror of the past, and his
via dolorosa a highway as practicable as Piccadilly.

And now let me come down to tin tacks. No matter
how well the thing is done in future, its organizers will
want to know at first all we can tell them about oil, about
cold, and about food. First, as to oil.

Scott complains of a shortage of oil at several of his last
depéts. There is no doubt that this shortage was due to
the perishing of the leather washers of the tins which con-
tained the paraffin oil. All these tins had been subjected
to the warmth of the sun in summer and the autumn tem-
peratures, which were unexpectedly cold. In his Voyage
of the Discovery Scott wrote as follows of the tins in which
they drew their oil when sledging : ‘“‘ Each tin had a small
cork bung, which was a decided weakness; paraffin creeps
in the most annoying manner, and a good deal of oil
was wasted in this way, especially when the sledges were
travelling over rough ground and were shaken or, as fre-
quently happened, capsized. It was impossible to make
these bungs quite tight, however closely they were jammed
down, so that in spite of a trifling extra weight a much
better fitting would have been a metallic screwed bung.
To find on opening a fresh tin of oil that it was only three-
parts full was very distressing, and of course meant that the
cooker had to be used with still greater care.”’? Amund-
sen wrote of his parafiin: “We kept it in the usual cans
but they proved too weak ; not that we lost any paraffin,
but Bjaaland had to be constantly soldering to keep them
tight.” 2

7 Our own tins were furnished with the metallic screwed
stoppers which Scott recommended. There was no trouble
reported? until we came up to One Ton Camp when on
the Search Journey. Here was the depot of food and oil
which I had laid in the previous autumn for the Polar
Party, stowed in a canvas ‘ tank’ which was buried be-

1 Scott, Voyage of the Discovery, vol. i. p. 44.9.

2 Amundsen, The South Pole, vol. ii. p. 19.

3 Lashly’s diary records that the Second Return Party found a shortage of oil at
the Middle Barrier Depét (see p. 395).

NEVER AGAIN 551

neath seven feet of snow; the oil was placed on the top of
the snow, in order that the red tins might prove an addi-
tional mark for the depot. When we dug out the tank the
food inside was almost uneatable owing to the quantity of
parafin which had found its way down through seven feet
of snow during the winter and spring.

Wethen found the Polar Party and learned of the short-
age of oil. After our return to Cape Evans some one was
digging about the camp and came across a wooden case
containing ‘eight one-gallon tins of paraffin. These had
been placed there in September 1911, to be landed at Cape
Crozier by the Terra Nova when she came down. The
ship could not take them: they were snowed up during
the winter, lost and forgotten, until dug up fifteen months
afterwards. Three tins were full, three empty, one a third
full and one two-thirds full.

There can be no doubt that the oil, which was specially
_ volatile, tended to vaporize and escape through the stop-
pers, and that this process was accelerated by the perish-
ing, and I suggest also the hardening and shrinking, of the
leather washers. Another expedition will have to be very
careful on this point: they might reduce the risk by bury-
ing the oil.

The second point about which something must be said is
the unexpected cold met by Scott on the Barrier, which was
the immediate cause of the disaster. “‘ No one in the world
would have expected the temperatures and surfaces which
we encountered at this time of the year. . . . It is clear that
these circumstances come on very suddenly, and our wreck
is certainly due to this sudden advent of severe weather,
which does not seem to have any satisfactory cause.”’!

‘They came down the glacier in plus temperatures: nor
was there anything abnormal for more than a week after
they got on to the Barrier. Then there came a big drop to
a — 37° minimum on the night of February 26. It is signi-
ficant that the sun began to dip below the southern hori-
zon at midnight about this time. “There is no doubt the
middle of the Barrier is a pretty awful locality,” wrote Scott.

1 Scott, “* Message to the Public.”

552 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

Simpson, in his meteorological report, has little doubt
that the temperatures met by the Polar Party were abnor-
mal. The records “ clearly bring to light the possibility of
great cold at an extremely early period in the year within
a comparatively few miles of an open sea where the tem-

peratures were over 40 degrees higher.” “It is quite im-

possible to believe that normally there is a difference of
nearly 40 degrees in March between McMurdo Sound
and the South of the Barrier.”’ ‘The temperatures recorded
by other sledge parties in March 1912 and those recorded at
Cape Evans form additional evidence, in Simpson’s opinion,
that the temperatures experienced by Scott were not such
as might be expected during normal autumn weather.

Simpson’s explanation is based upon the observations
made in McMurdo Sound by sending up balloons with
self-recording instruments attached. These showed that
very rapid radiation takes place from the snow surface in
winter, which cools the air in the immediate neighbour-
hood: a cold layer of air is thus formed near the ground,
which may be many degrees colder than the air above it. It
becomes, as it were, colder than it ought to be. This, how-
ever, can only happen during an absence of wind: when a
wind blows the cold layer is swept away, the air is mixed
and the temperature rises.

Theabsence of wind from thesouth noted by Scott was,
in Simpson’s opinion, the cause of the low temperatures
met by Scott: the temperature was reduced ten degrees
below normal at Cape Evans, and perhaps twenty degrees
where Scott was.

The third question is that of food. It is this point which
is most important to future explorers. It is a fact that the
Polar Party failed to make their distance because they
became weak, and that they became weak although they
- were eating their full ration or more than their full ration
of food, save for a few days when they went short on the
way down the BeardmoreGlacier. The first man to weaken

1 A full discussion of these and other Antarctic temperatures is to be found in the
scientific reports of the British Antarctic Expedition, 1910-13, ‘“‘ Meteorology,” vol. i.
chap. ii., by G. C. Simpson.

t

NEVER AGAIN 553

was the biggest and heaviest man in the expedition: “the
man whom we had least expected to fail.”

The rations were of two kinds. ‘The Barrier (B) ration
was that which was used on the Barrier during the outward
journey towards the Pole. The Summit (S) ration was the
result of our experiments on the Winter Journey. I expect it
is the best ration which has been used to date, and consisted
of biscuits 16, pemmican 12, butter 2, cocoa 0.57, sugar 3
and tea 0.86 ounces; total 34.43 ounces daily per man.

The twelve men who went forward started this S ration
at the foot of the Beardmore, and it was this ration which
was left in all depdts to see them home. It was much
more satisfying than the Barrier ration, and men could not
have eaten so much when leading ponies or driving dogs
in the early stages of summer Barrier sledging: but man-
hauling is a different business altogether from leading
ponies or driving dogs.

It is calculated that the body requires certain propor-
tions of fat, carbohydrates and proteins to do certain work
~under certain conditions: but just what the absolute
quantities are is not ascertained. The work of the Polar
Party was laborious: the temperatures (the most important
of the conditions) varied from comparative warmth up and
down the glacier to an average of about - 20° in the
rarefied air of the plateau. The temperatures met by them
on their return over the Barrier were not really low for
more than a week, and then there came quite commonly
minus thirties during the day with a further drop to minus
forties at night, when for a time the sun was below the
horizon. These temperatures, which are not very terrible
to men who are fresh and whose clothing is new, were
ghastly to these men who had striven night and day almost
ceaselessly for four months on, as [ maintain, insufficient
food. Lid these temperatures kill them?

Undoubtedly the low temperatures caused their death,
inasmuch as they would have lived had the temperatures
remained high. But Evans would not have lived: he died
before the low temperatures occurred. What killed Evans ?P
And why did the other men weaken as they did, though

554 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

they were eating full rations and more? Weaken so much
that in the end they starved to death?

I have always had a doubt whether the weather condi-
tions weresufficient to cause the tragedy. These men on full
rations were supposed to be eating food of sufficient value to
enable them todo the work they were doing, under the con-
ditions which they actually met until the end of February,
without loss of strength. They had more than their full
rations, but the conditions in March were much worse than
they imagined to be possible: when three survivors out of the
five pitched their Last Camp they were in a terrible state.
After the war I found that Atkinson had come to wonder
much as I, but he had gone farther, for he had the values
of our rations worked out by a chemical expert according
to the latest knowledge and standards. I may add that,
being in commandafter Scott’s death, he increased the ration
for the next year’s sledging, so I suppose he had already
come to the conclusion that the previous ration was not
sufficient. The following are some of the data for which I
am indebted to him: the whole subject will be investigated
by him and the results published in a more detailed form.

According to the most modern standards the food
requirements for laborious work at a temperature of zero
Fahr. (which is a fair Barrier average temperature to take)
are 7714 Calories to produce 10,069 foot-tons of work.
The actual Barrier ration which we used would generate
4003 calories, equivalent to 5331 foot-tons of work.
Similar requirements for laborious work at — 10° Fahr.
(which is a high average plateau temperature) are 8500
calories to produce 11,094 foot-tons of work. The actual
Summit ration would generate 4889 calories, equivalent to
6608 foot-tons of work. These requirements are calculated
for total absorption of all food-stuffs : but in practice, by
visual proof, this does not take place: this is especially
noticeable in the case of fats, a quantity of which were
digested neither by men, ponies, nor dogs.

Several things go to prove that our ration was not
enough. In the first case we were probably not as fit as we
seemed after long sledge journeys. There is no doubt that

2

NEVER AGAIN Soe

when sledging men developed an automaticity of certain
muscles at the expense of other muscles: for instance, a
sledge could be hauled all day at the expense of the arms,
and we had little power to lift weights at the end of several
months of sledging. In relation to this I would add that,
when the relief ship arrived in February 1912, four of us
were at Cape Evans, but just arrived from three months of
the Polar Journey. The land party, we four among them,
were turned on to sledge stores ashore. This in practice
meant twenty miles every day dragging a sledge ; a good
deal of ‘humping’ heavy cases, from five o’clock in the
morning to very late at night ; with uncertain meals and
no rests. I can remember now how hard that work was to
myself and, I expect, to those others who had been away
sledging. The ship’s party sledged only every other day
“because they were not used to it.” This was extremely
bad organization, and in view of the possibility that some
of the men might be required for further sledging in the
autumn, just silly.
Again, there is the experience of the man-hauling parties
of the Polar Journey. There was, you may remember, a
man-hauling party on the way to the Beardmore Glacier.
They travelled witha light sledge but they lost weight on the
Barrier ration. It is significant that they picked up condi-
tion when they started the Summit ration, especially Lashly.
The Polar Party and the two returning parties, who
were on the Summit ration from the foot of the Beardmore
until the end of their journeys, weakened, in Atkinson’s
opinion, more than they should have done had their ration
been sufficient. The First Return Party covered approxi-
mately 110ostatute miles. At theend of their journey their
pulling muscles were all right, but Atkinson, who led the
party, considers that they wereat least 70 per cent weaker in
other muscles. They all lost a great deal of weight, though
they had the best conditions of the three returning parties,
and the temperatures met by them averaged well over zero.
The Second Return Party faced much worse conditions.
They were only three men, and one of the three was so sick
that for 120 miles he could not pull and for go miles he

§56 WORST JOURNEY IN- THE WORLD

had to be dragged on the sledge. The average temperature
approximated zero. They were extremely exhausted.

Scott makes constant reference to the increasing hunger
of the Polar Party: it is clear that the food did not com-
pensate for the conditions which were met in increasing
severity. Yet they were eating rather more than their full
ration a considerable part of the time. It has to be consid-
ered that the temperatures met by them averaged far below

— 10°: that they did not absorb all their food: that increased
heat was wanted not only for energy to do extra work caused
by bad surfaces and contrary winds, but alsoto heat their
bodies, and to thaw out their clothing and sleeping-bags.

I believe it to be clear that the rations used by us must not
only be increased by future expeditions, but co-ordinated in
different proportions of fats, proteins and carbohydrates.
Taking into consideration the fact that our bodies were not
digesting the amount of fats we had provided, Atkinson sug-
gests that it is useless to increase the fats at the expense of
the protein and carbohydrates. He recommends that fats
should total about 5 ounces daily. The digestion of carbo-
hydrates is easy and complete, and though that of protein is
more complicated there are plenty of the necessary digest-
ive ferments. The ration should be increased by equal
amounts of protein and carbohydrates; both should be
provided in as dry and pure a form as possible.

There is no censure attached to this criticism. Our
ration was probably the best which has been used: but
more is known now than was known then. Weare all out
to try and get these things right for the future.?

Campbell reached Hut Point only five days after we left
it with the dog-teams. A characteristic note left to greet
us on our return regretted they were too late to take part
in the Search Journey. If I had lived through ten months
such as those men had just endured, wild horses would not
have dragged me out sledging again. But they were keen

1 Modern research suggests that the presence or absence of certain vitamines makes
a difference, and it may be a very great difference, in the ability of any individual to
profit by the food supplied to him. If this be so, this factor must have had great influence
upon the fate of the Polar Party, whose diet was seriously deficient in, if not absolutely
free from, vitamines. The importance of this deficiency to the future explorer can hardly
be exaggerated, and I suggest that no future Antarctic sledge party can ever set out to

NEVER AGAIN S57

to get some useful work done in the time which remained
until the ship arrived.

We had the Polar records: Campbell and his men, un-
aided, had not only survived their terrible winter, but had
sledged down the coast after it. We ourselves, faced by a
difficult alternative, had fallen on our feet. We never hoped
for more than this: we seldom hoped for so much.

I wanted a series of Adélie penguin embryos from the
rookery at Cape Royds, but had not expected an opportunity
of getting them because I was away sledging during the
summer months. Now the chance had come. Atkinson
wanted to work on parasites at the same place, and others to
survey. But the real job was an ascent of Erebus, the active
volcano which rose from our doors to some 13,400 feet in
height. A party of Shackleton’s men under Professor David
went up it in March, and managed to haul a sledge up to
5800 feet, from which point they had to portage their gear.
A year before this Debenham, with the help of a telescope,
selected a route by which they could haul a sledge up to
gooo feet. There proved to be no great difficulty about it;
it was just a matter of legs and breath.

They were a cheery company, part-singing in the even-
ings and working hard all day. It was an uneventful trip,
Debenham said, and very harmonious: the best trip he
had down there. Both Debenham and Dickason suffered
from mountain sickness, however, and they were the two
smokers! The clearness of the air was marked. At 5000
feet they could plainly see Mount Melbourne and Cape
Jones, between two and three hundred miles away, and
several uncharted mountains over to the west, but they
were unable to plot them accurately because they could get
direction rays from one point only. The Sound itself was
covered by cloud most of the time, but Beaufort Island and
Franklin Island were clear. Unlike David’s party, they
could see no signs whatever of volcanic action on Mount

travel inland again without food which contains these vitamines. It is to be noticed
that, although’the Medical Research Council’s authoritative publication on the true
value of these accessory substances was not available when we went South in 1910, yet
Atkinson insisted that fresh onions, which had been brought down by the ship, be added
to our ration for the Search Journey. Compare recent work of Professor Leonard Hill
on the value of ultra-violet rays in compensating for lack of vitamines.—A. C.-G.

558 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

Bird, which is almost entirely covered with ice on which
it was to be expected that some mark might be left. At
go0oo feet Terror looked very imposing, but Mount Bird
and Terra Nova were insignificant and uninteresting. The
valley between the old crater and the slopes of the second
crater greatly impressed them, and they found a fine little
crevassed glacier in it. Both Priestley and Debenham are
of opinion that it is possible to get to Terror by this valley,
and that there are no crevassed areas or impossible slopes on
the way. All the same it would probably be more sensible
to go from Cape Crozier.

At a point about 9000 feet up, Priestley, Gran, Abbott
and Hooper started to make the ascent to the active crater
on December 10. They packed the tent, poles, bags, inner
cooker and cooking gear, with four days’ provisions, and
reached the second crater at about 11,500 feet, to be hung
up by cloud all the next day. At these altitudes the tem-
perature varied between - 10° and - 30°, though at sea-
level simultaneously they were round about freezing-point.
By 1 a.M. on the 12th the conditions were good—clear,
with a southerly wind blowing the steam away from the
summit. The party gotaway as soonas possibleand reached
the lip of the active crater in a few hours. Looking down
they were unable to see the bottom, for it was full of steam:
the sides sloped at a steep angle for some 500 feet, when
they became sheer precipices: the opening appeared to be
about 14,000 paces round. The top is mostly pumice, but
there is also a lot of kenyte, much the same as at sea-level :
the old crater was mostly kenyte, proving that this is the
oldest rock of the island: felspar crystals must be continu-
ally thrown out, for they were lying about on the top of the
snow; I have one nearly 34 inches long.

Two men went back to the camp, for one had a frost-
bitten foot. This left Priestley and Gran, who tried to boil
the hypsometer but failed owing to the wind, which was
variableand enveloped them from time to time in steamand
sulphur vapour. They left a record on a cairn and started
to return. But when they had got 500 feet down Priestley
found that he had left a tin of exposed films on the top

NEVER AGAIN “559

instead of the record. Gran said he would go back and
change it. He had reached the top when there was a loud
explosion: large blocks of pumice were hurled out with a
big smoke cloud; probably a big bubble had burst. Gran
was in the middle of it, heard it gurgle before it burst,
saw “‘blocks of pumiceous lava, in shape like the halves of
volcanic bombs, and with bunches of long, drawn-out, hair-
like shreds of glass in their interior.”1 This was Pélé’s
hair. Gran was a bit sick from sulphur dioxide fumes after-
wards. They reached Cape Royds on the 16th, the very
successful trip taking fifteen days.

Meanwhile Shackleton’s old hut was very pleasant at this
time of year: in winter it was a bit toodraughty. With bright
sunlight, alop on the sea which splashed and gurgled under
the ice-foot, the beautiful mountains all round us, and the
penguins nesting at our door, this was better than the Beard-
more Glacier, where we had expected to be at this date.
What then must it have been to the six men who were just re-
turned from the very Gate of Hell? And the food : “ Truly
Shackleton’s men must have fed like turkey-cocks from all
the delicacies here: boiled chicken, kidneys, mushrooms,
ginger, Garibaldi biscuits, soups of all kinds: it is a splen-
did change. Best of all are the fresh-buttered skua’s eggs
which we make for breakfast. In fact, life is bearable with
all that has been unknown so long at last cleared up, and
our anxieties for Campbell’s party laid at rest.” ?

For three weeks | worked among the Adélie penguins
at Cape Royds, and obtained a complete series of their
embryos. It was always Wilson’s idea that embryology
was the next job of a vertebral zoologist down south. I
have already explained that the penguin is an interesting
link in the evolutionary chain, and the object of getting
this embryo is to find out where the penguins come in.
Whether or no they are more primitive than other non-
flying birds, such as the apteryx, the ostrich, the rhea and
the moa, which last is only just extinct, is an open question.
But wingless birds are still hanging on to the promontories
of the southern continents, where there 1s less rivalry than

1 Scozt’s Last Expedition, vol. ii. p. 356. 2 My own diary. 3 See p. 234.

560 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

in the highly populated land areas of the north. It may be
that penguins are descended from ancestors who lived in
the northern hemisphere in a winged condition (even now
you may sometimes see them try to fly), and that they have
been driven towards the south.

If penguins are primitive, it is rational to infer that the
most primitive penguin is farthest south. These are the
two Antarcticists, the Emperor and the Adélie. The latter
appears to be the more numerous and successful of the
two, and for this reason we are inclined to search among
the Emperors as being among the most primitive pen-
guins, if not the most primitive of birds now living: hence
the Winter Journey. I was glad to get, in addition, this
series of Adélie penguins’ embryos, feeling somewhat like
a giant who had wandered on to the wrong planet, and who
was distinctly in the way of its true inhabitants.

We returned too late to see the eggs laid, and therefore
it was impossible to tell how old the embryos were. My
hopes rose, however, when I saw some eggless nests with
penguins sitting upon them, but later I found that these were
used as bachelor quarters by birds whose wives were sit-
ting near. I tried taking eggs from nests and was delighted
to find that new eggs appeared: these I carefully marked,
and it was not until I opened one two days later to find
inside an embryo at least two weeks old, that I realized
that penguins added baby-snatching to their other im-
moralities. Some of those from whom I took eggs sat upon
stones of a similar size and shape with every appearance of
content: one sat upon the half of the red tin of a Dutch
cheese. They are not very intelligent.

All the world loves a penguin: | think it is because in
many respects they are like ourselves, and in some respects
what we should like to be. Had we but half their physical
courage none could stand against us. Had wea hundredth
part of their maternal instinct we should have to kill our
children by the thousand. Their little bodies are so full of
curiosity that they have no room for fear. ‘They like moun-
taineering, and joy-riding on ice-floes: they even like to

drill.

NEVER AGAIN 561
One day there had been a blizzard, and lying open to

the view of all was a deserted nest, a pile of coveted stones.
All the surrounding rookery made their way to and fro,
each husband acquiring merit, for, after each journey, he
gave his wife a stone. This was the plebeian way of doing
things; but my friend who stood, ever so unconcerned,
upon a rock knew a trick worth two of that: he and his
wife who sat so cosily upon the other side.

The victim was a third penguin. He was without a
mate, but this was an opportunity to get one. With all the
speed his little legs could compass he ran to and fro, taking
stones from the deserted nest, laying them beneath a rock,
and hurrying back for more. On that same rock was my
friend. When the victim came up with his stone he had his
back turned. But as soon as the stone was laid and the
other gone for more, he jumped down, seized it with his
beak, ran round, gave it to his wife and was back on the
rock (with his back turned) before you could say Killer
Whale. Every now and then he looked over his shoulder,
to see where the next stone might be.

I watched this for twenty minutes. All that time, and I
do not know for how long before, that wretched bird was
bringing stoneafter stone. And there were no stones there.
Once he looked puzzled, looked up and swore at the back
of my friend on his rock, but immediately he came back,
and he never seemed to think he had better stop. It was
getting cold and I went away: he was coming for another.

The life of an Adélie penguin is one of the most un-
christian and successful in the world. The penguin which
went in for being a true believer would never stand the
ghost of a chance. Watch them go to bathe. Some fifty
or sixty agitated birds are gathered upon the ice-foot,
peering over the edge, telling one another how nice it will
be, and what a good dinner they are going to have. But
this is all swank: they are really worried by a horrid sus-
picion that a sea-leopard is waiting to eat the first to dive.
The really noble bird, according to our theories, would
say, ‘‘I will go first and if I am killed I shall at any rate
have died unselfishly, sacrificing my life for my com-

20

562 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

panions’’ ; and in time all the most noble birds would be
dead. What they really do is to try and persuade a com-
panion of weaker mind to plunge: failing this, they hastily
pass a conscription act and push him over. And then—
bang, helter-skelter, in go all the rest.

They take turns in sitting on their eggs, and after many
days the fathers may be seen waddling down towards the
sea with their shirt-fronts muddied, their long trick done.
It may be a fortnight before they return, well-fed, clean,
pleased with life, and with a grim determination to relieve
their wives, to do their job. Sometimes they are met by
others going to bathe. They stop and pass the time of day.
Well! Perhaps it would be more pleasant, and what does
a day or two matter anyhow. They turn; clean and dirty
alike are off to the seaside again. This is when they say,
“The women are splendid.”

Life is too strenuous for them to have any use for the
virtues of brotherly love, good works, charity and bene-
volence. When they mate the best thief wins: when they
nest the best pair of thieves hatch out their eggs. Ina long
unbroken stream, which stretches down below the sea-ice
horizon, they march in from the open sea. Some are walk-
ing on their human feet: others tobogganing upon their
shiny white breasts. After their long walk they must have
a sleep, and then the gentlemen make their way into the
already crowded rookery to find them wives. But first a
suitor must find, or steal, a pebble, for such are the pen-
guin jewels: they are of lava, black, russet or grey, with
almond-shaped crystals bedded inthem. They are rareand
of all sizes, but that which is most valued is the size of a
pigeon’s egg. Armed with one of these he courts his maid,
laying it at her feet. If accepted he steals still more stones:
she guards them jealously, taking in the meantime any safe
opportunity to pick others from under her nearest neigh-
bours. Any penguin which is unable to fight and steal
successfully fails to make a good high nest, or loses it when
made. Then comes a blizzard, and after that a thaw: for
it thaws sometimes right down by the sea-shore where the
Adélies have their nurseries. The eggs of the strong and

NEVER AGAIN 563

wicked hatch out, but those of the weak are addled. You
must have a jolly good pile of stones to hatch eggs after a
blizzard like that in December 1911, when the rookeries
were completely snow-covered: nests, eggs, parents and all.

Once hatched the chicks grow quickly from pretty grey
atoms of down to black lumps of stomach topped bya small
and quite inadequate head. They are two or more weeks
old, and they leave their parents, or their parents leave
them, I do not know which. If socialism be the national-
ization of the means of production and distribution, then
they are socialists. They divide into parents and children.
The adult community comes up from the open sea, bring-
ing food inside them: they are full of half-digested shrimps.
But not for their own children: these, if not already dead,
are lost in a crowd of hungry tottering infants which be-
siege each food-provider as he arrives. But not all of them
can get food, though all of them are hungry. Some have
already been behindhand too long : they have not managed
to secure food for days, and they are weak and cold and
very weary.

‘‘ As we stood there and watched this race for food we
were gradually possessed with the idea that the chicks
looked upon each adult coming up full-bellied from the
shore as not a parent only, but a food-supply. The parents
were labouring under a totally different idea, and intended
either to find their own infants and feed them, or else to
assimilate their already partially digested catch themselves.
The more robust of the young thus worried an adult until,
because of his importunity, he was fed. But with the less
robust a much more pathetic ending was the rule. A chick
that had fallen behind in this literal race for life, starving
and weak, and getting daily weaker because it could not
run fast enough to insist on being fed, again and again ran
off pursuing with the rest. Again and again it stumbled
and fell, persistently whining out its hunger in a shrill and
melancholy pipe, till at last the race was given up. Forced
thus by sheer exhaustion to stop and rest, it had no chance
of getting food. Each hurrying parent with its little fol-
lowing of hungry chicks, intent on one thing only, rushed

564 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

quickly by, and the starveling dropped behind to gather
strength for one more effort. Again it fails, a robuster bird
has forced the pace, and again success is wanting to the
runt. Sleepily it stands there, with half-shut eyes, in a
torpor resulting from exhaustion, cold, and hunger, won-
dering perhaps what all the bustle round it means, a little
dirty, dishevelled dot, in the race for life a failure, deserted
by its parents, who have hunted vainly for their own off-
spring round the nest in which they hatched it, but from
which it may by now have wandered half a mile. And so it
stands, lost to everything around, till a skua in its beat
drops down beside it, and with a few strong, vicious pecks
puts an end to the failing life.” 4

There is a great deal to be said for this kind of treat-
ment. ‘The Adélie penguin has a hard life: the Emperor
penguin a horrible one. Why not kill off the unfit right
away, before they have had time to breed, almost before
they have had time to eat ? Life is a stern business in any
case: why pretend that it is anything else? Or that any
but the best can survive at all? And in consequence, I
challenge you to find a more jolly, happy, healthy lot of old
gentlemen in the world. We must admire them: if only
because they are so much nicer than ourselves! But it is
grim: Nature is an uncompromising nurse.

Nature was going to give us a bad time too if we were
not relieved, and on January 17, as there were still no signs
of the ship, it was decided to prepare for another winter.
We were to go on rations; to cook with oil, for nearly all
the coal was gone; to kill andstore up seal. On January 18
we started our preparations, digging a cave to store more
meat, and so forth. I went off seal hunting after breakfast,
and having killed and cut up two, came back across the
Cape at mid-day. All the men were out working in the
camp. There was nothing to be seen in the Sound, and
then, quite suddenly, the bows of the ship came out from
behind the end of the Barne Glacier, two or three miles
away. We watched her cautious approach with immense
relief.

1 Wilson, Nat. Ant. Exp., 1901-1904, * Zoology,’’ Part ii. pp. 44-45.

NEVER AGAIN 565

“ Are you all well,” through a megaphone from the
bridge.

“The Polar Party died on their return from the Pole:
we have their records.”’ A pause and then a boat.

Evans, who had been to England and made a good
recovery from scurvy, was in command: with him were
Pennell, Rennick, Bruce, Lillie and Drake. They reported
having had a very big gale indeed on their way home last
year.

We got some apples off the ship, ‘‘ beauties, I want
nothing better. . . . Pennell is first-class, as always... .”
“One notices among the ship’s men a rather unnatural
way of talking: not so much in special instances, but as a
whole, contact with civilization gives it an affected sound:
I notice it in both officers and men.” }

“Fanuary 19. On board the Terra Nova. After 28
hours’ loading we left the old hut for good and all at
4 P.M. this afternoon. It has been a bit of a rush and
little sleep last night. It is quite wonderful now to be
travelling a day’s journey in an hour: we went to Cape
Royds in about that time and took off geological and zoo-
logical specimens. I should like to sit up and sketch all
these views, which would have meant long travelling with-
out the ship, but I feel very tired. The mail is almost too
good for words. Now, with the latest waltz on the gramo-
phone, beer for dinner and apples and fresh vegetables to
eat, life is more bearable than it has been for many a long
weary week and month. I leave Cape Evans with no re-
gret: I never want to see the place again. The pleasant
memories are all swallowed up in the bad ones.’’?

Before the ship arrived it was decided among us to urge
the erection of a cross on Observation Hill to the memory
of the Polar Party. On the arrival of the ship the carpenter
immediately set to work to make a great cross of jarrah
wood. There was some discussion as to the inscription, it
being urged that there should be some quotation from the
Bible because ‘‘the women think a lot of these things.”
But I was glad to see the concluding line of Tennyson’s

1 My own diary. 2 Ibid.

566 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

“‘Ulysses”’ adopted: ‘‘ To strive, to seek, to find, and not
to yield.”

The open water stretched about a mile and a half south
of Tent Island, and here we left the ship to sledge the cross
to Hut Point at 8 a.m. on January 20. The party con-
sisted of Atkinson, Wright, Lashly, Crean, Debenham,
Keohane and Davies, the ship’s carpenter and myself.

“ Evening. Hut Point. We had a most unpleasant ex-
perience coming in. We struck wind and drift just about
a mile from Hut Point: then we saw there was a small
thaw pool off the Point, and came out to give it a wide
berth. Atkinson put his feet down into water: we turned
sharp out, and then Crean went right in up to his arms,
and we realized that the ice was not more than three or
four inches of slush. I managed to give him a hand out
without the ice giving, and we went on floundering about.
Then Crean went right in again, and the sledge nearly went
too: we pulled the sledge, and the sledge pulled him out.
Except for some more soft patches that was all, but it was
quite enough. I think we got out of it most fortunately.”

“Crean got some dry clothes here, and the cross has
had a coat of white paint and is drying. We went up
Observation Hill and have found a good spot right on the
top, and have already dug a hole which will, with the
rock alongside, give us three feet. From there we can
see that this year’s old ice is in a terrible state, open water
and open water slush all over near the land—I have never
seen anything like it here. Off Cape Armitage and at the
Pram Point pressure it is extra bad. I only hope we can
find a safe way back.”

“You would not think Crean had had such a pair of
duckings to hear him talking so merrily to-night... .”

“I really do think the cross is going to look fine.” 4

Observation Hill was clearly the place for it, it knew
them all so well. Three of them were Discovery men who
lived three years under its shadow: they had seen it time
after time as they came back from hard journeys on the
Barrier: Observation Hill and Castle Rock were the two

1 My own diary.

NEVER AGAIN 567

whichalways welcomed themin. Itcommanded McMurdo
Sound on one side, where they had lived: and the Barrier
onthe other, where they had died. No more fitting pedestal,
a pedestal which in itself is nearly 1000 feet high, could
have been found.

‘Tuesday, Fanuary 22. Rousing out at 6 a.m. we got
the large piece of the cross up Observation Hill by 11 a.m.
It was a heavy job, and the ice was looking very bad all
round, and I for one was glad when we had got it up by
5 o’clock or so. It is really magnificent, and will be a per-
manent memorial which could be seen from the ship nine
miles off with a naked eye. It stands nine feet out of the
rocks, and many feet into the ground, and I do not believe
it will ever move. When it was up, facing out over the
Barrier, we gave three cheers and one more.”

We got back to the ship all right and coasted up the
Western Mountains to Granite Harbour; a wonderfully
interesting trip to those of us who had only seen these
mountains from a distance. Gran went off to pick up a
depdt of geological specimens. Lillie did a trawl.

This was an absorbing business, though it was only one
of a long and important series made during the voyages of
the Terra Nova. Here were all kinds of sponges, siliceous,
glass rope, tubular, and they were generally covered with
mucus. Somefedon diatoms so minute that they can only be
collected by centrifuge: some have gastric juices to dissolve
the siliceous skeletons of the diatoms on which they feed:
they anchor themselves in the mud and pass water in and
out of their bodies: sometimes the current is stimulated by
cilia. There were colonies of Gorgonacea, which share their
food unselfishly; and corals and marine degenerate worms,
which started to live in little cells like coral, but have gone
down in the world. And there were starfishes, sea-urchins,
brittle-stars, feather-stars and sea-cucumbers. The sea-
urchins are formed of hexagonal plates, the centre of each
of which 1s a ball, upon which a spine works on a ball and
socket joint. These spines are used for protection, and
when large they can be used for locomotion. But the real
means of locomotion are five double rows of water-tube

568 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

feet, working by suction, by which they withdraw the
water inside a receptacle in the shell, thereby forming a
vacuum ; starfishes do the same. We found a species of
sea-urchin which had such large spines that they practi-
cally formed bars; the spines were twice as long as the
sea-urchin and shaped just like oars, being even fluted. A
lobster grows by discarding his suit, hiding and getting
another, growing meanwhile. A snail or an oyster retains
his original shell, and adds to it in layers all the way down,
increasing one edge. But our sea-urchin grows by an incre-
ment of calcareous matter all round the outside of each
plate. As the animal grows the plates get bigger.

There was a sea-cucumber which nurses its young,
having a brood cavity which is really formed out of the
mouth: this is a peculiarity of a new Antarctic genus found
first on the Discovery. It has the most complex water-
tubes, which it uses as legs, and a few limy rods in its soft
skin instead of the bony calcareous plates of sea-urchins
and starfish. After them came the feather-stars, a relic of
the old crinoids which used to flourish in the carboni-
ferous period, examples of which can be found in the
Derbyshire limestone; and there were thousands of brittle-
stars, like beautiful wheels of which the hubs and spokes
remained, but not the circumference. These spokes or legs
are muscular, sensory and locomotive; they differ from the
starfishes in that they have no digestive glands in their
legs, and from the feather-stars in that they do not use
their legs to waft food into their mouths. Once upon a
time they had a stalk and were anchored to a rock, and
there are still very rare old stalked echinoderms living in
the sea. This apparently geological thing was found by
Wyville Thomson in 1868 still living in the seas to the
north of Scotland, and this find started the Challenger
Expedition for deep-sea soundings in 1872. But the
Challenger brought back little in this line. Most of the
species we found were peculiar to the Antarctic.

There were Polychaete worms by the hundred, show-
ing the protrusable mouth, which is shoved into the mud
and then brought back into the body, and the bristles on

SRA eae

NEVER AGAIN 569

the highly developed projections which act as legs, by
which they get about the mud. These beasts have ap-
parently given rise to the Arthropods. In a modified and
later form they had taken to living in a tube, both for pro-
tection and because they found that they could not go
through the mud, which had become too viscous for them.
So they stand up in a tube and collect the sediment which
is falling by means of tentacles. They spread from one
locality to another by going through a plankton embryonic
stage in their youth. They may be compared to the mason
worms, which also build tubes.

But as Lillie squatted on the poop surrounded by an
inner ring of jars and tangled masses of the catch, and an
outer ring of curious scientists, pseudo-scientists and sea-
men, no find pleased him so muchas the frequent discovery
of pieces of Cephalodiscus rarus, of which even now there
are but some four jars full in the world. It is as interesting
as it is uncommon, for its ancestor was a link between the
vertebrates and invertebrates, though no one knows what
it was like. It has been a vertebrate and gone back, and
now has the signs of a notochord in early life, and it also
has gills. First found on the Graham’s Land side of the Ant-
arctic continent, it has only recently been discovered in the
Ross Sea, and occurs nowhere else in the world so far as is
known.

We left Granite Harbour in the early morning of
January 23, and started to make our way out. Our next
job was to pick up the geological specimens at Evans
Coves, where Campbell and his men had wintered in the
igloo, and also to leave a depédt there for future explorers.
We met very heavy pack, having to return at least twelve
miles and try another way. ‘‘ The sea has been freezing
out here, which seems an extraordinary thing at this time
of year. There was a thin layer of ice over the water be-
tween the floes this morning, and I feel sure that most of
these big level floes, of which we have seen several, are the
remains of ice which has frozen comparatively recently.’’!
The propeller had a bad time, constantly catching up on

1 My own diary.

570 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

ice. At length we were some thirty miles north of Cape
Bird making roughly towards Franklin Island. That night
we made good progress in fairly open water, and we passed
Franklin Island during the day. But the outlook was so
bad in the evening (January 24) that we stopped and
banked fires. ‘‘ We lay just where we stopped until at
§ A.M. on January 25, when the ice eased up sufficiently
for us to get along, and we started to make the same slow
progress—slow ahead, stop (to the engine-room)—bump
and grind for a bit—then slow astern, stop—slow ahead
again, and so on, until at 7 p.M., after one real big bump
which brought the dinner some inches off the table, Cheet-
ham brought us out into open water.” 1

Mount Nansen rose sheer and massive ahead of us
with a table top, and at 3 a.m. on January 26 we were pass-
ing the dark brown granite headland of the northern foot-
hills. We were soon made fast to a stretch of some 500
yards of thick sea-ice, upon which the wind had not left a
particle of snow, and before us the foothills formed that
opening which Campbell had well named Hell’s Gate.

I wish I had seen that igloo: with its black and blubber
and beastliness. Those who saw it came back with faces of
amazement and admiration. We left a depot at the head of
the bay, marked with a bamboo and a flag, and then we
turned homewards, counting the weeks, and days, and
then the hours. In the early hours of January 27 we left
the pack. On January 29 we were off Cape Adare, “head
sea, and wind, and fog, very ticklish work groping along
hardly seeing the ship’s length. Then it lifts and there is a
fair horizon. Everybody pretty sea-sick, including most of
the seamen from Cape Evans. Allof us feeling rotten.” ®
Very thick that night, and difficult going. At mid-day
(lat. 69° 50’ S.) a partial clearance showed a berg right
ahead. By night it was blowing a full gale, and it was not
too easy to keep in our bunks. Our object was now to
make east in order to allow for the westerlies lateron. We
passed a very large number of bergs, varied every now and
then by growlers. On February 1, latitude 64° 15’ S. and

1 My own diary. 2 Tbid.

NEVER AGAIN 571

longitude 159° 15’ E., we coasted along one side of a berg
which was twenty-one geographical miles long: the only
other side of which we got a good view stretched away until
lost below the horizon. In latitude 62° 10’ S. and longi-
tude 158° 15’ E. we had “‘a real bad day: head wind from
early morning, and simply crowds of bergs all round. At
8 a.m. we had to wedge in between a berg and a long line of
pack before we could find a way through. Then thick fog
came down. At 9.45 a.m. I went out of the ward-room
door, and almost knocked my head against a great berg
which was just not touching the ship on the starboard side.
There was a heavy cross-swell, and the sea sounded cold
as it dashed against the ice. After crossing the deck it was
just possible to see in the fog that there was a great Barrier
berg just away on the port side.” We groped round the
starboard berg to find others beyond. Our friend on the
opposite side was continuous and apparently without end.
It was soon clear that we were in a narrow alley-way—be-
tween one very large berg and a number of others. It took
an hour and a quarter of groping to leave the big berg
behind. At 4 p.M., six hours later, we were still just feeling
our way along. And we had hopes of being out of the ice
in this latitude!

The Terra Nova is a wood barque, built in 1884 by
A. Stephen & Sons, Dundee; tonnage 764 gross and 400
net; measuring 187’ x 31’x 19’; compound engines with
two cylinders of 140 nominal horse-power; registered at St.
Johns, Newfoundland. She is therefore not by any means
small as polar ships go, but Pennell and his men worked
her short-handed, with bergs and growlers all round them,
generally with a big sea running and often in darkness or
fog. On this occasion we were spared many of the most
ordinary dangers. It was summer. Our voyage was an
easy one. There was twilight most of the night: there were
plenty of men on board, and heaps of coal. Imagine then
what kind of time Pennell and his ship’s company had in
late autumn, after remaining in the south until only a bare
ration of coal was left for steaming, until the sea was freezing
round them and the propeller brought up dead as they tried

572. WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

to force their way through it. Pennell was a very sober
person in his statements, yet he described the gale through
which the Terra Nova passed on her way to New Zealand
in March 1912 as seeming to blow the ship from the top of
one wave to the top of the next; and the nights were dark,
and the bergs were all round them. They never tried to
lay a meal in those days, they just ate what they could hold
in their hands. He confessed to me that one hour he did
begin to wonder what was going to happen next: others
told me that he seemed to enjoy every minute of it all.

Owing to press contracts and the necessity of preventing
leakage of news the Terra Nova had to remain at sea for
twenty-four hours after a cable had been sent to England.
Also it was of the first importance that the relatives should be
informed of the facts before the newspapers published them.

And so at 2.30 a.m. on February 10 we crept like a
phantom ship into the little harbour of Oamaru on the
east coast of New Zealand. With what mixed feelings we
smelt the old familiar woods and grassy slopes, and saw
the shadowy outlines of human homes. With untiring
persistence the little lighthouse blinked out the message,
“What ship’s that?’ “What ship’s that?’ They were
obviously puzzled and disturbed at getting no answer. A
boat was lowered and Pennell and Atkinson were rowed
ashore and landed. The seamen had strict orders to answer
no questions. After a little the boat returned, and Crean
announced: “‘ We was chased, sorr, but they got nothing
out of us.”

We put out to sea.

When morning broke we could see the land in the dis-
tance—greenness, trees, every now and then a cottage.
We began to feel impatient. We unpacked the shore-
going clothes with their creases three years old which had
been sent out from home, tried them on—and they felt
unpleasantly tight. We put on our boots, and they were
positively agony. We shaved off our beards! There was a
hiatus. There was nothing to do but sail up and down the
coast and, if possible, avoid coastwise craft.

In the evening the little ship which runs daily from

NEVER AGAIN 573

Akaroa to Lyttelton put out to sea on her way and ranged
close alongside. “‘ Are all well?” ‘‘ Where’s Captain
Scott?” “Did you reach the Pole?”’ Rather unsatis-
factory answers and away they went. Our first glimpse,
however, of civilized life.

At dawn the next morning, with white ensign at half-
mast, we crept through Lyttelton Heads. Always we looked
for trees, people and houses. How different it was from the
day we left and yet how much the same : as though we had
dreamed some horrible nightmareand could scarcely believe
we were not dreaming still.

The Harbour-master came out in the tug and with him
Atkinson and Pennell. “‘Come down here a minute,”’ said
Atkinson to me, and “It’s made a tremendous impression,
I had no idea it would make so much,” hesaid. And indeed
we had been too long away, and the whole thing was so
personal to us, and our perceptions had been blunted: we
never realized. We landed to find the Empire—almost the
civilized world—in mourning. It was as though they had
lost great friends.

To a sensitive pre-war world the knowledge of these
men’s deaths came as a great shock: and now, although
the world has almost lost the sense of tragedy, it appeals to
their pity and their pride. ‘The disaster may well be the
first thing which Scott’s name recalls to your mind (as
though an event occurred in the life of Columbus which
caused you to forget that he discovered America); but
Scott’s reputation is not founded upon the conquest of the
South Pole. He came to a new continent, found out how
to travel there, and gave knowledge of it to the world: he
discovered the Antarctic, and founded a school. He is the
last of the great geographical explorers : it is useless to try
and light a fire when everything has been burned; and he
is probably the last old-fashioned polar explorer, for, as I
believe, the future of such exploration is in the air, but not
yet. And he was strong : we never realized until we found
him lying there dead how strong, mentally and physically,
that man was.

In both his polar expeditions he was helped, to an

574. WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

extent which will never be appreciated, by Wilson: in the
last expedition by Bowers. I believe that there has never
been a finer sledge party than these three men, who com-
bined in themselves initiative, endurance and high ideals
to an extraordinary degree. And they could organize:
they did organize the Polar Journey and their organization
seemed to have failed. Did it fail? Scott said No. “‘’The
causes of this disaster are not due to faulty organization,
but to misfortune in all risks which had to be undertaken.”
Nine times out of ten, says the meteorologist, he would
have come through: but he struck the tenth. “ We took
risks, we knew we took them; things have come out
against us, and therefore we have no cause for complaint.”
No better epitaph has been written.

He decided to use the only route towards the Pole
of which the world had any knowledge, that is to go up
the Beardmore Glacier, then the only discovered way up
through the mountains which divide the polar plateau
from the Great Ice Barrier: probably it is the only possible
passage for those who travel from McMurdo Sound. The
alternative was to winter on the Barrier, as Amundsen did,
so many hundred miles away from the coast-line that, in
travelling south, the chaos caused in the ice plain by the
Beardmore in its outward flow would be avoided. To do
so meant the abandonment of a great part of the scientific
programme, and Scott was not a man to go south just to
reach the Pole. Amundsen knew that Scott was going to
McMurdo Sound when he decided to winter in the Bay
of Whales: otherwise he might have gone to McMurdo
Sound. Probably no man would have refused the know-
ledge which had already been gained.

I have said that there are those who say that Scott
should have relied on ski and dogs. If you read Shackle-
ton’s account of his discovery and passage of the Beard-
more Glacier you will not be prejudiced in favour of dogs :
and as a matter of fact, though we found a much better way
up than Shackleton, I do not believe it possible to take
dogs up and down, and over the ice disturbances at the
junction with the plateau, unless there is ample time to

NEVER AGAIN 575

survey a route, if then. ‘‘ Dogs could certainly have come
up as far as this,” 1 heard Scott say somewhere under the
Cloudmaker, approximately half-way up the glacier, but
the best thing you could do with dogs in pressure such as
we all experienced on our way down would be to drop
them into the nearest chasm. If you can avoid such messes
well and good : if not, you must not rely on dogs, and the
people who talk of these things have no knowledge.

If Scott was going up the Beardmore he was probably
right not to take dogs: actually he relied on ponies to the
foot of the glacier and man-haulage on from that point.
Because he relied on ponies he was not able to start before
November : the experience of the Depdt Journey showed
that ponies could not stand the weather conditions before
that date. But he could have started earlier if he had
taken dogs, in place of ponies, to the foot of the glacier.
This would have gained him a few days in his race against
the autumn conditions when returning.

Such tragedies inevitably raise the question, “Is it
worth it?” What is worth what? Is life worth risking for
a feat, or losing for your country ? To face a thing because
it was a feat, and only a feat, was not very attractive to
Scott : it had to contain an additional object—knowledge.
A feat had even less attraction for Wilson, and it is a most
noteworthy thing in the diaries which are contained in this
book, that he made no comment when he found that the
Norwegians were first at the Pole : it is as though he felt
that it did not really matter, as indeed it probably did
not.

It is most desirable that some one should tackle these
and kindred questions about polar life. There is a wealth
of matter in polar psychology: there are unique factors
here, especially the complete isolation, and four months’
darkness every year. Even in Mesopotamia a long-suffer-
ing nation insisted at last that adequate arrangements must
be made to nurse and evacuate the sick and wounded. But
at the Poles a man must make up his mind that he may be
rotting of scurvy (as Evans was) or living for ten months
on half-rations of seal and full rations of ptomaine poison-

576 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

ing (as Campbell and his men were) but no help can reach
him from the outside world for a year, if then. There is
no chance of a ‘cushy’ wound: if you break your leg on
the Beardmore you must consider the most expedient way
of committing suicide, both for your own sake and that of
your companions.

Both sexually and socially the polar explorer must make
up his mind to be starved. To what extent can hard work,
or what may be called dramatic imagination, provide a sub-
stitute? Compare our thoughts on the march; our food
dreams at night ; the primitive way in which the loss of a
crumb of biscuit may give a lasting sense of grievance.
Night after night I bought big buns and chocolate at a stall
on the island platform at Hatfield station, but always woke
before I got a mouthful to my lips ; some companions who
were not so highly strung were more fortunate, and ate
their phantom meals.

And the darkness, accompanied it may be almost con-
tinually by howling blizzards which prevent you seeing
your hand before your face. Life in such surroundings is
both mentally and physically cramped ; open-air exercise
is restricted and in blizzards quite impossible, and you
realize how much you lose by your inability to see the
world about you when you are out-of-doors. I am told that
when confronted by a lunatic or one who under the in-
fluence of some great grief or shock contemplates suicide,
youshould take that man out-of-doors and walk him about:
Nature: will do the rest. To normal people like ourselves
living under abnormal circumstances Nature could do
much to lift our thoughts out of the rut of everyday affairs,
but she loses much of her healing power when she cannot
be seen, but only felt, and when that feeling is intensely
uncomfortable.

Somehow in judging polar life you must discount com-
pulsory endurance ; and find out what a man can shirk,
remembering always that it 1s a sledging life which is the
hardest test. It is because it is so much easier to shirk
in civilization that it is difficult to get a standard of what
your average man can do. It does not really matter much

NEVER AGAIN 577

whether your man whose work lies in or round the hut
shirks a bit or not, just as it does not matter much in civiliz-
ation : it is just rather a waste of opportunity. But there’s
precious little shirking in Barrier sledging : a week finds
most of us out.

There are many questions which ought to be studied.
The effect upon men of going from heat to cold, such as
Bowers coming to us from the Persian Gulf: or vice versa
of Simpson returning from the Antarctic to India; differ-
ences of dry and damp cold ; what is a comfortable tem-
perature in the Antarctic and what is it compared to a com-
fortable temperature in England, the question of women
in these temperatures . . . ? The man with the nerves
goes farthest. What is the ratio between nervous and
physical energy ? What is vitality? Why do some things
terrify you at one time and not at others? What ts this
early morning courage ? What is the influence of imagin-
ation? How far can a man draw on his capital? Whence
came Bowers’ great heat supply? And my own white
beard? and X’s blue eyes: for he started from England
with brown ones and his mother refused to own him when
he came back ? Growth and colour change in hair and
skin?

There are many reasons which send men to the Poles,
and the Intellectual Force uses them all. But the desire
for knowledge for its own sake is the one which really
counts and there is no field for the collection of know-
ledge which at the present time can be compared to the
Antarctic.

Exploration is the physical expression of the Intel-
lectual Passion.

And I tell you, if you have the desire for knowledge
and the power to give it physical expression, go out and
explore. If you are a brave man you will do nothing: if
you are fearful you may do much, for none but cowards
have need to prove their bravery. Some will tell you that
you are mad, and nearly all will say, ‘“‘ What is the use?”’
For we are a nation of shopkeepers, and no shopkeeper
will look at research which does not promise him a financial

2P

578 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

return within a year. And so you will sledge nearly alone,
but those with whom you sledge will not be shopkeepers :
that is worth a good deal. If you march your Winter
Journeys you will have your reward, so long as all you
want is a penguin’s egg.

EPOSSARY

Buizzarp. An Antarctic blizzard is a high southerly wind generally
accompanied by clouds of drifting snow, partly falling from above,
partly picked up from the surface. In the daylight of summer a tent
cannot be seen a few yards off : in the darkness of winter it is easy to be
lost within a few feet of a hut. ‘There is no doubt that a blizzard has
a bewildering and numbing effect upon the brain of any one exposed
to it.

Bras. Small ice fragments from a floe which is breaking up.

Croup. ‘The commonest form of cloud, and also that typical of blizzard
conditions, was a uniform pall stretching all over the sky without dis-
tinction. ‘This was logged by us as stratus. Cumudus clouds are the
woolly billows, flat below and rounded on top, which are formed by
local ascending currents of air. They were rare in the south and only
formed over open water or mountains. Cirrus are the “ mare’s tails ”
and similar wispy clouds which float high in the atmosphere. ‘These
and their allied forms were common. Generally speaking, the clouds
were due to stratification of the air into layers rather than to ascending
currents.

Crusts. Layers of snow in a snow-field with air space between them.
Finnesko. Boots made entirely of fur, soles and all.

Frost SMoxe. Condensed water vapour which forms a mist over open sea
in cold weather.

Icz-roor. Fringes of ice which skirt many parts of the Antarctic shores :
many of them have been formed by sea-spray.

Nunatak. An island of land in a snow-field. Buckley Island is the top of
a mountain sticking out of the top of the Beardmore Glacier.

PizpMonT. Stretches of ancient ice which remain along the Antarctic
coasts.

Pram. A Norwegian skiff, with a spoon bow.
Sarnnecrass. A kind of Norwegian hay used as packing in finnesko.

Sastruci are the furrows or irregularities formed on a snow plain by the
wind. ‘They may be a foot or more deep and as hard and as slippery

579 2)P2

580 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

as ice: they may be quite soft: they may appear as great inverted
pudding bowls: they may be hard knots covered with soft powdery
snow.

Stepcinc Distances. All miles are geographical miles unless otherwise
stated. 1 statute or English mile=0o-87 geographical mile: 1 geo-
graphical mile =1-15 statute miles.

Tank. A canvas “ hold-all” strapped to the sledge to contain food bags.

‘Tipe Crack. A working crack between the land ice and the sea ice which
rises and falls with the tide.

Winp. Wind forces are logged according to the Beaufort scale, which is

as follows :

No. Description Se

Gy Calm: : : : : : 3 é fe)

Tei eight ame i) ‘ : : : é : I

2. Light breeze ; ‘ j : , a 4

3- Gentle breeze ‘ ; ; : ; ; 9

4. Moderate breeze . : 4 : : oy a hE!

5. Fresh breeze ¢ , : : : ae

6. Strong breeze : : i : : ee

7. Moderate gale : 3 : ‘ : a tay ee

8. Fresh gale . : : , : ‘ Ss afte '
9. Strong gale . ‘ 2 5 : 4 “pa ;
10. Whole gale . ; ; j : ; «Wy oe 4
11. Storm : ; i : : ; , hie

12. Hurricane , ‘ ; : : 5c aEtg2

INDEX

Abbott, George P., lv, lvii, 558

Adam Mountains, 361

Adare, Cape, xxiii, xxix, xxxiv, 409, 570

Adélie Land, xxii

penguins. See Penguins, Adélie

Adventure, the, xvili

Albatross, capture of, 39

Alexander Land, xxi

Alexandra, Queen, 507

Amundsen, Roald, telegram to Scott, 41 ;
arrives in Bay of Whales, 1283 char-
acter, 134.5 letter to King of Norway,
482; forestalls Scott at Pole, 506;
reason of success, 544

‘ Antarctic Adventures ’ (Priestley), Ixi

Antarctic Continent, theories of, xxi

‘ Antarctic Penguins ’ (Levick), lxi

Antarctic regions, early explorations, xviii 5
Ross’s expedition, xxv; importance of
Scott’s work, lxii ; marine life, 568

Anton (pony boy), 224, 429

Aptenodytes forsteri. See Penguin, Em-
peror

Archer, W. W., 429, 438, 472

Arctic regions, exploration in, xxix-xxxili

Arethusa. See Portuguese man-of-war

Armitage, Cape, 108, 566

Arrival Bay, xlvi

Heights, 98, 185

Atkinson, Edward L., his responsibilities,
1; on the Terra Nova, 33; character,
43 on South Trinidad, 193; accident
to foot, 111; lecture on scurvy, 215 ;
lost in blizzard, 303; Barrier Journey,
324.3 in command of First Return
Party, 381; meets Lashly and Evans,
404 3 difficulties during Scott’s absence,
4113 attempts to find Scott, 426;
in command of Main Party, 427;
journey to Hutton Cliffs, 428; sledge
journey, 429; fish-trap, 444 spring
journey, 467; reads Burial Service
over Scott, 481 ; lands in New Zealand,
572

Atmosphere, observations on, 35

Aurora borealis, 244

Balloon Bight, xxxiv, 130

Barne Glacier, 184, 307, 459

Barrie, Sir J. M., Scott’s letter to, 540

Barrier, the, Ross’s journey, xxiil ; Scott’s
survey, 1902, xxxiv; first arrival at,
81; Scott’s paper on, 2143; snow
surface, 239; Wright’s lecture, 455 ;
movement, 468

Beardmore Glacier, journey across, 350-

67

Benito Island, 557

Bellingshausen, xxi

Bernacchi, Cape, 425

Biology, marine, importance of Ross’s
expedition, xxvii; Terra Nova observa-
tions, 7, 567

Bird, Cape, xxiv

» Mt., 558

Peninsula, 409

Biscuit Depot, 473

Black Island, xxv

Blacksand Beach, 100

Blizzards, 112, 447

Blubber, uses of, lvi

Bluff Depét, 114, 119, 4.18

Borchgrevink, xxviii

Bowers, Lieut. H. R., on Terra Nova, 3 ;
character and personality, 4, 208;
at South Trinidad, 16; on Depdt
Journey, 105; on Winter Journey,
2343 trip to Western Mountains, 306 5
commencement of Polar Journey, 325 5
passage of the Beardmore Glacier, 351
seq.; Plateau Journey, 368 seg.; body
discovered, 480; journey to Pole, 496
seq. ; return from Pole, 511 seg.

Bowers, Mrs., Scott’s letter to, 539

Browning, Frank V., lv, lvi, lvii, viii

Brown Island, xxv

Bruce, Wilfred M., 565

Buckley Island, 362

Butter Point, 425

Campbell, Victor, at Inexpressible Island,
lii seg.; on Terra Nova, 2; character,
43 Terra Nova attempts to relieve,

581

582

4093; possibility of rescuing, 441;
rescued, 493

Cardiff, Wales, 1

Castle Rock, xxxv, 152, 185, 434

Cephalodiscus rarus, 569

Challenger Expedition, xxviii, 568

Cherry-Garrard, Apsley, functions, 2 ;
on Winter Journey, 233 seg.; Beard-
more Glacier Journey, 351 seq. 3
journey with dogs, 416 seg. 3 illness,
427; work on penguins, 5,59

Christmas Day celebration, 1911, 373

Clissold, Thomas, 309, 383, 4.29

Cloudmaker, 356, 359, 382

Colbeck, Cape, 129

Cook, Captain James, Antarctic explora-
tions, xvill, xix, xx, xxi

Corner Camp, 112, 122, 135, 166, 306,
468, 473

Crater Heights, 98, 162

Crean, Thomas, Depét Journey, 104 seg. ;
Beardmore Glacier Journey, 351 seg. ;
Plateau Journey, 368 seg.; snow-
blindness, 385 ; journey for help, 406 ;
duties, 438 ; on search journey, 4.72

Crozier, Capt., xxix

Crozier, Cape, discovery, xxiii, xl, 252,

558

Darwin, Mt., 366, 388

David, Professcr, xlvii

Davies, Francis, 92

Day, Bernard C., 310, 383, 429

Debenham, Frank, 217, 309, 437, 438,
465, 472, 557

Dellbridge Islands, 169

De Long, G. W., xxix

Derrick Point, 98

Dickason, Harry, liv, lvili, 557

Diet, Cook’s precautions, xviii; experi-
ments on Winter Journey, 256; im-
portance of good cooking, 3303 effects
of unsuitability, 552

Dimitri (dog boy), 104, 310, 323, 404,
419, 420, 428, 467

Disaster Camp, 160

Discovery, Mt., 151, 186

Discovery Expedition, 1901-1904, xxxiii
Seq., 4.56

Discovery hut, 97, 185

Dogs, on Scott’s first expedition, xxxvi 5
on board ship, 49; effect of blizzards,
1135 ponies as food for, 339 ; successful
use, 3535 rate of return, 3835; new
batch, 410; hospital, 437; behaviour
in camp, 440; accommodation, 450 ;
diet, 4525 disease among, 4533 be-
haviour while driving, 469

Dolphins, observations on, 37

Dominion Range, 362, 370

WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

Drake, Frank, 3, 97, 565
Drygalski Ice Tongue, lviii
Dunedin, N.Z., 48

Dunlop Island, 307
D’Urville, Dumont, xxii

Emperor Penguin.
peror

Enderby, Messrs., xxi

Equator, crossing of, 10

See Penguin, Em-

Erebus, Mt., discovery, xxiii; first
glimpse of, 815 activity, 1845 ascent
of, 557

Erebus, the, xxii, xxix

Eskers, the, 4.32

Evans, Lieut. Edward, functions, 2 ;
character, 4; on Depét Journey, 104
seq. ; lectures, 217 5 Beardmore Glacier
Journey, 351 seg.; Plateau Journey,
368 seg.; snow-blindness, 391;
symptoms of scurvy, 393 ; illness, 399 5
sent home, 423; returns on Terra
Nova, 565

, Seaman Edgar, on Discovery
Expedition, xxxix; as Neptune, 10;
trip to Western Mountains, 306 seg. ;
Beardmore Glacier Journey, 351 seg. ;
Plateau Journey, 368 seg.; accident
to hand, 378; journey to Pole, 496
seg.; return from Pole, 511 seqg.;
death, 528

Evans, Cape, xlviil, 86, 96, 181, 317, 4.34,
444 447, 493, 502

——. Coves, ], liii, 409, 569

Fahrt, 4.58

Ferrar Glacier, xxxvili

Fire, outbreaks of, 462
Fodder Depét, 109

Forde, Robert, 104, 306, 429
Forster, Mr., xx

Fram, the, xxix seq., xlviii, 46, 133
Franklin, Sir John, xxix
Franklin Island, 557, 570
Franz Josef Land, xxxii
Funchal, Madeira, 3

Gap, the, 98

Gateway, the, 339, 351

Geelmuyden, Professor, xxxi

Glacier Tongue, 152, 185, 430, 449
Gran, Tryggve, 4, 104 Seq. 429, 4.34, 4.38,

447, 472, 558, 567
Granite Harbour, lviii, 409, 567
Pillars, 393
Great Razorback Island, 169, 186
Greely, A. W., xxix, xxx

Haig, Sir Douglas, Scott’s letter to, 410
Halley, Edmund, rr

INDEX

| M(‘Clintock, Sir F. L., xxix

Hare, xxxv

Hell’s Gate, 570

Helminthology, 17

High Peak, 183

Hobart, Tasmania, xxii

Hooker, Sir Joseph D., xxv

Hooker, Mt., 186

Hooper, F. J., 15, 28, 310, 383, 438,
472, 477, 558

Hooper, Mt. See Upper Barrier Depét

Hope, Mt., 34.3, 393

sland, xlvii

Horses. See Ponies, Manchurian

Horseshoe Bay, 98

Hut Point, lix, 97, 157, 461, 566

Point Peninsula, xxiv, xxxiv, 185

Hutton Cliffs, 169, 185, 428

Hyperoodon rostrata. See Whale, bottle-
nosed

Ice, Cook’s observations, xx; the Fram,
xxx; formation of pack, 59; move-
ment, 440

cap, Antarctic, xxxvill

Icebergs, 61, 570

* Igloo back,” lvii

Inaccessible Island, 186, 4.34

Inexpressible Island, conditions on, liii

Island Lake, 182

Jackson-Harmsworth Expedition, xxxii,
216

Jeannette, the, xxix

Johansen, Lieut., xxx, 132

Jones, Cape, 557

Kayaks, Nansen’s use of, xxxi

Keltie Glacier, 358

Keohane, Patrick, 104 seg., 353, 382,
426, 428, 434, 438, 473

Killer whale. See Whale, killer

King Edward VII.’s Land, xxxiv, xlviii

Kinsey, Mr. J. J., 48

Knight, E. F., 12, 18

Knoll, the, xl, 252, 260

Kyffin, Mt., 352

Land crabs, at South Trinidad, 14, 18

Lashly, W., on Discovery Expedition,
xxxvili; diary, 311 seg.; Beardmore
Glacier Journey, 351 seg.3 nurses
Lieut. Evans, 393 seg.; duties, 4.38 ;
on Search Journey, 472

Levick, G. Murray, liii, 3

Lillie, Denis G., 4, 565, 569

Lister, Mt., 186

Little Razorback Island, 171, 186, 449

Lower Glacier Depét, 352

Lyttelton, N.Z., 2, 44, 573 ©

583

McMurdo Sound, xxiv, xxxiv, 409

Magnetic Pole, South, xxii, xxv

Markham, Sir Clements, xxix

Markham, Mt., 337

Marshall Mountains, 362

Meares, Cecil H., 97, 104, 213, 310,
323s 347» 353, 382, 429

Melbourne, Mt., 1, 557

Middle Barrier Depot, 338

Mill Glacier, 362

Milne, A. A., on Scott’s character, lx

Minna Bluff, xxiv, 186

Mirage, 118, 386, 4.23

Morning, Mt., 186

Morning, the, xxxvii

Mules, use of, 410, 450, 462, 473, 475,
478, 490

Nansen, Fridtjof, Arctic explorations,
XxIX Seg. 3 OM scurvy, 2163 on equip-
ment, 4.56

Nansen, Mt., 570

Nares, Sir G. S., xxix

Neale, W. H., 28

Nelson, Edward W., 4, 215, 383, 438,
4455 472 477

North Bay, 172, 438, 444, 445

Oamaru, N.Z., 572

Oates, Capt. L. E. G., on Terra Nova, 2,
4.3 Depdt Journey, 104. seg.; care of
ponies, 179, 3183 lecture on horses,
2173 Beardmore Glacier Journey, 351 5
Plateau Journey, 369; suggests use of
mules, 410; death, 485; commemo-
rative inscription, 4.87 ; journey to Pole,

497 :
Observation Hill, 98, 565

CGéstrelata arminjoniana. See Petrel,
black-breasted

trinitatis. See Petrel, white-
breasted

Oil, shortage of, 550

Oil fuel, its advantages, 4.6

One and a Half Degree Depot, 502

One Ton Depét, 116, 314, 326, 383, 398,
4.13, 418

Orca gladiator. See Whale, killer

Pagoda Cairn, 117

Parry, Sir W. E., xxix

Peary, R. E., xlvili

Penguin, Adélie, appearance, xxxix ;
Levick’s book, lxi; habits, 63, 561 ;
rookery discovered, 83; curiosity, 86 ;
embryos obtained, 559 3 breeding, 562 ;
feeding of young, 563

, Emperor, eggs, xxii, 299; habits

and breeding, xxxix seg., 82 5 embryo-

584 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD

logy, 234.5 discovery of rookery, 252,
268 ; care of young, 269; eagerness-
to sit, 270

Pennell, Harry L. L., liii, 3, 4, 8, 565, 572

Petrel, Antarctic, 63

, black-breasted, 13

» giant, 50

» snowy, xix, 50

, white-breasted, 13

Plankton, 6, 69

Pole, South, Scott’s final arrangements,
3793 altitude, 502 ; Amundsen’s ar-
rival, 5063; Scott’s arrival, 506; char-
acteristics of area, 508

Polheim (camp), 507

Polychaete worms, 568

Ponies, Manchurian, on board ship, 49 ;
their uses, 883; effect of blizzards on,
1135 Scott’s care of, 114.3 behaviour
on ice, 1413 fodder, 1793 exercis-
ing, 190; treatment and diseases,
2183 Scott’s decision, 3273; weights
lightened, 3313 difficulties on march,
342 5 destroyed, 349

Ponting, Herbert G., 90, 173, 213, 320,
a29

Portuguese man-of-war, 7

Pram, 17, 19

Pram Point, 98, 162, 466, 566

Priestley, Raymond E., liii, 130, 558

Ptomaine poisoning, lvii

Pulleyn, Lieut. George, 410

Ramp, the, 168

Rennick, H. E. de P., 3, 565

Resolution, the, xviii

Roberts, Cape, lvili, 425

Ross, Sir James C., xxii, 11, 12

Ross Island, xxiii

Sea, xxili, xxviti, xlii

Royal Society Range, 493

Royds, Cape, xlv, xlvii, 98, 183, 461,
559

Sabine, Mt., xxiii, 80

Safety Camp, 110, 122, 136, 306

St. Paul, island, 33

Scott, Capt. R. F., on early explorations,
xx; on Ross, xxvii; first expedition,
IQOI-1904, xxxiii; excellence of
equipment, Ixii; commencement of
second expedition, 1; visits South
Trinidad, 1901, 125 joins Terra Nova,
313 Depdt Journey, 104 character
and achievements, 200, §73 5 paper on
Barrier, 214.3 trip to Western Moun-
tains, 306; Barrier stage of Polar
Journey, 319 seg.; Beardmore Glacier
Journey, 350 seg.; Plateau Journey,
3685 strength of team, 37735 altera-

tion in units, 3793 tries new sledge
runners, 4573 body discovered, 480;
burial, 4835; his account of journey
to Pole, 496 seg.; return from Pole,
S11 seg. ; message to the public, 541 5.
drawbacks of his plan, 54.5

“Scott’s Last Expedition,” lix

Scurvy, lvii, 215, 393

Sea, freezing of, 448

Sea-cucumber, 568

Sea-leopard, 65, 66

Sea-urchins, 567

Seal, 66, 67, 162

, crab-eating, 67, 68

——, Ross, 66

» Weddell, 66, 67, 161, 464, 466

Shackleton, Sir Ernest, xxxvii, xlvii

Shambles Camp, 349, 502

Simon’s Bay, 31

Simpson, G. C., 4, 215, 306 seg., 429,
502, 504

Ski, use of, 355, 458, 498

Ski Slope, 152

Skua gulls, 464, 499

Skua Lake, 95, 182

Sledge meters, 385, 4.17, 461

runners, Nansen on, 4.56, 457

Sledges, Nansen’s innovation,
motor, 88, 92, 321

Smoking, limitations on, 195

Snow-blindness, 353

South Bay, 447

‘South Polar Times,’ 437, 445

South Trinidad, landing, 13; bird life,
13, 143 land crabs, 14: difficulty of
leaving, 15, 18

Southern Barrier Depét, 338

Sverdrup, O. N., xxx

26.040

Taylor, Griffith, lxi, 215, 307, 308, 317,
429

Temperature, of polar plateau,
effect on Polar party, 553

Tent Island, 186, 439, 566

Terra Australis, belief in existence of, xviii

Terra Nova Bay, 493

Terra Nova, the, on Scott’s first expedi-
tion, xlv; commencement of voyage,
IgI0, 13 crew, 23 arrangement of
cabins, 33 defects in pumps, 5, 28 ;
plankton nets, 6; fire on board, 6;
biological observations, 7; lack of
fresh water, 8; refits at Lyttelton,
443; overloading, 503; suitability for
ice work, 73 ; anchorage, ror 3 arrival
with mails, 409; defects, 548; ex-
pedition finally relieved, 564: trawling,
567

Terror, Mt., xxiii, xxiv, xli, 252, 558

Terror, the, xxii, xxix

5°55

INDEX 585

Terror Point, 253 Whales, Bay of, xlviii, 128, 130
Tersio peronii, 37 White Island, xxiv, 111, 493
Three Degree Depot, 502 Wild, Frank, xxxv
Tremasome, parasitic growth on, 444 Wild Mountains, 362
Turk’s Head, 185 Wilkes, Charles, xxii
Turtleback Island, 4.34 Williamson, Thomas S., 429, 438, 472
Wilson, Dr. E. A., on Emperor penguins,
Upper Barrier Depét, 333 xli; functions, 2; character and per-
Glacier Depét, 369, 502 sonality, 4, 203; Depét Journey, 104;
Winter Journey, 233 seg.; Beardmore
Victoria Land, xxxiv Glacier Journey, 351 ; Plateau Journey,
Vince’s Cross, xxxv 368; body discovered, 480; journey
to Pole, 496 seg.; return from Pole,
Waves, height of, 58 512 seq.
Weddell, James, xxv Wilson, Mrs., Scott’s letter to, 539
Western Mountains, 151, 306, 567 Wind Vane Hill, 95, 182
Whale, 37 Wright, Charles S., 4, 215, 319, 351,
——, blue, 70, 71 381, 382, 429, 434, 438, 447, 455
, bottle-nosed, 156 472, 481, 489
——.,, killer, 69, 90, 142, 154
——-, piked, 70 X Cairn, 120
THE END

Printed in Great Britain by R. & R. Crarx, Limitrep, Edinburgh.

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