 Section 7 of Scott's Last Expedition, Volume 1 This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Jim Armstrong Scott's Last Expedition, Volume 1 The Journals of Robert Falcon Scott, arranged by Leonard Huxley. Second Part of Chapter 3 Land The Landing A Week's Work Whilst we were on shore, Campbell was taking the first steps towards landing our stores. Two of the motor sledges were soon hoisted out, and day with others was quickly unpacking our luck stood again. In spite of all the bad weather and the tons of sea water which had washed over them, the sledges and all the accessories appeared as fresh and clean as if they had been packed on the previous day. Much credit is due to the officers who protected them with tarpaulins and lashings. After the sledges came the turn of the ponies. There was a good deal of difficulty in getting some of them into the horse-box, but oats rose to the occasion and got most in by persuasion whilst others were simply lifted in by the sailors. Though all are thin and some few looked pulled down, I was agreeably surprised at the evident vitality which they still possessed. Some were even skittish. I cannot express the relief when the whole seventeen was safely picketed on the flow. From the moment of getting on the snow they seemed to take a new lease of life, and I haven't a doubt they will pick up very rapidly. It really is a triumph to have got them through safely and as well as they are. Poor brutes! How they must have enjoyed their first roll, and how glad they must be to have freedom to scratch themselves! It is evident all have suffered from skin irritation. One can imagine the horror of suffering from such an ill for weeks without being able to get at the part that itched. I note that now they are picked together, they administer kindly officers to each other, one sees them gnawing away at each other's flanks in most amicable and obliging manner. Mears and the dogs were out early and have been running to and fro most of the day with light loads. The great trouble with them has been due to the fatuous conduct of the penguins. Groups of these have been constantly leaping onto our flow. From the moment of landing on their feet their whole attitude expressed devouring curiosity and a pig-headed disregard for their own safety. They waddle forward, poking their heads to and fro in their usually absurd way, in spite of a string of howling dogs straining to get at them. Hello, they seem to say. Here's a game. What do all you ridiculous things want? And they come a few steps nearer. The dogs make a rush as far as their leashes or harness allow. The penguins are not daunted in the least, but their ruffs go up and they squawk with semblance of anger, for all the world as though they were rebuking a rude stranger. Their attitude might be imagined to convey, oh, that's the sort of animal you are. Well, you've come to the wrong place. We aren't going to be bluffed and bounced by you. And then the final fatal steps forward are taken and they come within reach. There is a spring, a squawk, a horrid red patch on the snow, and the incident is closed. Nothing can stop these silly birds. Members of our party rush to head them off, only to be met with evasions. The penguins squawk and duck as much as to say, what's it going to do with you, you silly ass? Let us alone. With the first spilling of blood, the skewer-girls assemble, and soon, for them at least, there is a gruesome satisfaction to be reaped. Oddly enough, they don't seem to excite the dogs. They simply alight within a few feet and wait for their turn in the drama, clamouring and quarrelling amongst themselves when the spoils a crew. Such incidents were happening constantly today, and seriously demoralising the dog teams. Mears was exasperated again and again. The motor sledges were running by the afternoon, day managing one, and Nelson the other. In spite of a few minor breakdowns, they hold good loads to the shore. It is early to call them a success, but they are certainly extremely promising. The next thing to be got out of the ship was the hut, and the large quantity of timber comprising it was got out this afternoon. And so, tonight, with the sun still shining, we look on a very different prospect from that of forty-eight or even twenty-four hours ago. I have just come back from the shore. The site for the hut is levelled, and the erecting party is living on shore in our large green tent, with a supply of food for eight days. Nearly all the timber, etc., of the hut, is on shore. The remainder halfway there. The ponies are picketed in a line on a convenient snow slope so that they cannot eat sand. Oats and Anton are sleeping ashore to watch over them. The dogs are tied to a long length of chain stretched on the sand. They are coiled up after a long day, looking fitter already. Mears and Dmitry are sleeping in the green tent to look after them. A supply of food for ponies and dogs, as well as for the men, has been landed. Two motor sledges, in good working order, are safely on the beach. A fine record for our first day's work. All hands start again at six a.m. tomorrow. It's splendid to see it last the effect of all the months of preparation and organization. There is much snoring about me, as I write, two p.m., for men tired after a hard day's work and preparing for such another to-morrow. I also must sleep, for I have had none for forty-eight hours, but it should be to dream happily. Thursday, January fifth. All hands were up at five this morning and at work at six. Words cannot express the splendid way in which everyone works, and gradually the work gets organized. I was a little late on the scene this morning, and thereby witnessed a most extraordinary scene. Some six or seven killer whales, old and young, were skirting the fast-flow edge ahead of the ship. They seemed excited and dived rapidly, almost touching the flow. As we watched, they suddenly appeared astern, raising their snouts out of water. I had heard weird stories of these beasts, but had never associated serious danger with them. Close to the water's edge lay the wire stern-rope of the ship, and our two Eskimo dogs were tethered to this. I did not think of connecting the movements of the whales with this fact, and seeing them so close I shouted to Ponting, who was standing abreast of the ship. He seized his camera and ran towards the flow edge to get a close picture of the beasts, which had momentarily disappeared. The next moment the whole flow under him and the dogs heaved up and split into fragments. One could hear the booming noise as the whales rose under the ice and struck it with their backs. Whale after whale rose under the ice, setting it rocking fiercely. Luckily Ponting kept his feet and was able to fly to security. By an extraordinary chance also the splits had been made around and between the dogs, so that neither of them fell into the water. Then it was clear that the whales shared our astonishment, for one after another their huge hideous heads shot vertically into the air through the cracks which they had made. As they reared them to a height of six or eight feet, it was possible to see their tawny head markings, their small glistening eyes, and their terrible array of teeth, by far the largest and most terrifying in the world. There cannot be a doubt that they looked up to see what had happened to Ponting and the dogs. The latter were horribly frightened and strained to their chains, whining. The head of one killer must certainly have been within five feet of one of the dogs. After this whether they thought the game insignificant or whether they missed Ponting is uncertain. But the terrifying creatures passed on to other hunting grounds, and we were able to rescue the dogs, and what was even more important, our petrol, five or six tons of which was waiting on a piece of ice which was not split away from the main mass. Of course we have known well that killer whales continually skirt the edge of the flows, and that they would undoubtedly snap up anyone who was unfortunate enough to fall into the water. But the fact that they could display such deliberate cunning, that they were able to break ice of such thickness at least two and a half feet, and that they could act in unison, were a revelation to us. It is clear that they are endowed with singular intelligence, and in future we shall treat that intelligence with every respect. Notes on the killer Orgrampus, Orca gladiator. One killed at Greenwich, thirty-one feet, teeth about two and a half inches above the jaw, about three and a half inches total length, British quadrupeds, bell. The fierceness and voracity of the killer in which it surpasses all other known citations. In stomach of a twenty-one foot specimen were found remains of thirteen porpoises and fourteen seals. A herd of white whales has been seen driven into a bay and literally torn to pieces. Teeth large, conical, and slightly recurred, eleven or twelve on each side of either jaw. Mammals, flower and lie-decker. Distinguished from all their allies by great strength and ferocity, combining packs to hunt down and destroy full-sized whales, marine mammalia, scammon, adult males average twenty feet, females fifteen feet, strong, sharp, conical teeth which interlock, combines great strength with agility, spout, low, and bushy. Habits exhibit a boldness and cunning peculiar to their carnivorous propensities. Three or four do not hesitate to grapple the largest baleen whales who become paralyzed with terror, frequently, if in snow efforts to escape. Instances have occurred where a band of orcas laid siege to whales in tow and although frequently lanced and cut with boat-spades, made away with their prey. Inclined to believe it rarely attacks larger citations, possessed of great swiftness, sometimes seen peering above the surface with a seal in their bristling jaws, shaking and crushing their victims and swallowing them apparently with gusto. Tear white whales into pieces. Ponting has been ravished yesterday by a view of the ship seen from a big cave in an iceberg and wished to get pictures of it. He succeeded in getting some splendid plates. This forenoon I went to the iceberg with him and agreed that I had rarely seen anything more beautiful than this cave. It was really a sort of crevasse in a tilted berg parallel to the original surface. The strata on either side had bent outwards. Through the back the sky could be seen through a screen of beautiful icicles. It looked a royal purple, whether by contrast with the blue of the cavern, or whether from optical illusion, I do not know. Through the larger entrance could be seen also partly through icicles the ship, the western mountains, and a lilac sky. A wonderfully beautiful picture. Ponting is simply entranced with this view of Mount Erebus, and with the two bergs in the foreground and some volunteers, he works up foregrounds to complete his picture of it. I go to bed very satisfied with the day's work, but hoping for better results with the improved organization and familiarity with the work. Today we landed the remainder of the woodwork of the hut, all the petrol, paraffin, and oil of all descriptions, and a quantity of oats for the ponies, besides odds and ends. The ponies are to begin work tomorrow, they did nothing today, but the motor sledges did well. They are steadying down to their work and made nothing but non-stop runs today. One begins to believe they will be reliable, but I'm still fearing that they will not take such heavy loads as we'd hoped. Day is very pleased and thinks he's going to do wonders, and Nelson shares his optimism. The dogs find the day work terribly heavy, and Mears is going to put them on to night work. The framework of the hut is nearly up, the hands work till one a.m. this morning, and we're at it again at seven a.m., an instance of the spirit which actuates everyone. The men, teams formed of the after-guard, brought in good loads, but they are not yet in condition. The hut is about eleven or twelve feet above the water, as far as I can judge. I don't think spray can get so high in such a sheltered spot, even if we get a northerly gale when the sea is open. In all other respects the situation is admirable. This work makes one very tired for diary writing. Friday, January 6th. We got to work at six again this morning. Wilson, Atkinson, Cherry, Gareth, and I took each a pony, returned to the ship, and brought a load ashore. We then changed ponies, and repeated the process. We each took three ponies in the morning, and I took one in the afternoon. Bruce, after relief by Renwick, took one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Of the remaining five, Oates deemed two unfit for work, and three requiring some breaking in, before getting to serious business. I was astonished at the strength of the beasts I handled. Three out of the four pulled hard the whole time, and gave me much exercise. I brought back loads of seven hundred pounds, and on one occasion over a thousand pounds. With ponies, motor sledges, dogs, and men parties, we have done an excellent day of transporting. Another such day should practically finish all the stores, and leave only fuel and fodder, sixty tons, to complete our landing. So far it has been remarkably expeditious. The motor sledges are working well, but not very well. The small difficulties will be got over, but I rather fear they will never draw the loads we expected them. Still they promise to be a help, and they are lively and attractive features of our present scene, as they drone along over the flow. At a little distance without silences, they sound exactly like threshing machines. The dogs are getting better, but they only take very light loads still, and get back from each journey pretty deadbeat. In their present state they don't inspire confidence, but the hot weather is much against them. The men parties have done splendidly. Campbell and his eastern party made eight journeys in the day, a distance of over twenty four miles. Everyone declares that the ski sticks greatly help pulling. It is surprising that we never thought of using them before. Atkinson is very bad with snow blindness tonight, also Bruce. Others have a touch of the same disease. It's well for people to get experience of the necessity of safeguarding their eyes. The only thing which troubles me at present is the wear on our sledges owing to the hard ice. No great harm has been done so far thanks to the excellent wood of which the runners are made, but we can't afford to have them worn. Wilson carried out a suggestion of his own tonight by covering the runners of a nine-foot sledge with strips from the skin of a seal which he killed and flensed for the purpose. Note from the glossary, flints, to cut the blubber from a skin or carcass. I shouldn't wonder if this acted well, and if it does we will cover more sledges in a similar manner. We shall also try day's new underrunners to-morrow. After forty-eight hours of brilliant sunshine we have a haze over the sky. List of sledges. Twelve foot, eleven in use, fourteen spare. Ten foot, ten not now used. Nine foot, ten in use. Today I walked over our peninsula to see what the southern side was like. Hundreds of skewers were nesting and attacked in the usual manner as I passed. They fly round, shrieking wildly, until they have gained some altitude. They then swoop down with great impetus directly at one's head, lifting again when within a foot of it. The bolder ones actually beat on one's head with their wings as they pass. At first it is alarming, but experience shows that they never strike except with their wings. A skewer is nesting on a rock between the ponies and the dogs. People pass every few minutes within a pace or two, yet the old bird has not deserted its chick. In fact it seems gradually to be getting confidence for it no longer attempts to swoop at the intruder. Today Ponting went within a few feet and by dint of patience managed to get some wonderful cinematograph pictures of its movements in feeding and tending its chick, as well as some photographs of these events at critical times. The main channel for Thor Water at Cape Evans is now quite a rushing stream. Evans, Penel and Renwick have got sight for meridian distance. We ought to get a good longitude fix. Saturday, January 7th. The sun has returned. Today it seemed better than ever, and the glare was blinding. There are quite a number of cases of snow blindness. We have done splendidly. Tonight all the provisions except some in bottles are ashore, and nearly all the working paraphernalia of the scientific people, no light item. There remains some hut furniture, two and a half tons of carbide, some bottled stuff, and some odds and ends which should occupy only part of tomorrow. Then we come to the two last and heaviest items, coal and horse fodder. If we are not through in the week we shall be very near it. Meanwhile the ship is able to lay at the ice edge without steam, a splendid saving. There has been a steady stream of cases passing along the shore route all day, and transport arrangements are hourly improving. Two parties of four and three officers made ten journeys each, covering over 25 miles, and dragging loads one way, which averaged 250 to 300 pounds per man. The ponies are working well now, but beginning to give some excitement. On the whole they are fairly quiet beasts, but they get restive with their loads, mainly but indirectly owing to the smoothness of the ice. They know perfectly well that the swingle trees and traces are hanging about their hawks, and they hate it. I imagine it gives them the nervous feeling that they are going to be carried off their feet. This makes it hard to start them, and when going they seem to appreciate the fact that the sledges will overrun them should they hesitate or stop. The result is that they are constantly fretful, and the more nervous ones tend to become refractory and unmanageable. Oats is splendid with them. I do not know what we should do without him. A whole host of minor ills, besides snow blindness, have come upon us. Saw faces and lips, blistered feet, cuts and abrasions. There are few without some troublesome ailment, but of course such things are part of the business. The souls of my feet are infernally sore. Of course the elements are going to be troublesome, but it is good to know them as the only adversary, and to feel there is so small a chance of internal friction. Ponting had an alarming adventure about this time. Bent on getting artistic photographs with striking objects, such as hummocked flows or reflecting water in the foreground, he used to depart with his own small sledge, laden with cameras and cinematograph, to journey alone to the grounded icebergs. One morning, as he trumped along, harnessed to his sledge, his snow-glasses clouded with the mist of perspiration. He suddenly felt the ice giving under his feet. He describes the sensation as the worst he has ever experienced, and one can well believe it. There was no one near to have lent assistance had he gone through. Instinctively he plunged forward, the ice giving at every step, and the sledge dragging through water. Providentially the weak area he had struck was very limited, and in a minute or two he pulled out on a firm surface. He remarked that he was perspiring very freely. Looking back, it is easy to see that we were terribly unconscious in our treatment of this decaying ice. Chapter 4 Settling In Sunday, January 8. A Day of Disaster I stupidly gave permission for the third motor to be got out this morning. This was done first thing, and the motor placed on firm ice. Later Campbell told me one of the men had dropped a leg through crossing a sludgy patch some two hundred yards from the ship. I didn't consider it very serious, as I imagine the man had only gone through the surface crust. About 7 a.m. I started for the shore with a single man load, leaving Campbell looking about for the best crossing for the motor. I sent Meers and the dogs over with a can of petrol on arrival. After some twenty minutes he returned to tell me the motor had gone through. Soon after, Campbell and Day arrived to confirm the dismal tidings. It appears that getting frightened of the state of affairs, Campbell got out a line and attached it to the motor. Then, manning the line well, he attempted to rush the machine across the weak place. A man on the rope, Wilkinson, suddenly went through to the shoulders, but was immediately hauled out. During the operation the ice under the motor was seen to give and suddenly it and the motor disappeared. The men kept hold of the rope, but it cut through the ice towards them with an ever-increasing strain, obliging one after another to let go. Half a minute later nothing remained but a big hole. Perhaps it was lucky there was no accident to the men, but it's a sad incident for us in any case. It's a big blow to know that one of the two best motors, on which so much time and trouble had been spent, now lies at the bottom of the sea. The actual spot where the motor disappeared was crossed by its fellow motor with a very heavy load, as well as by myself with heavy ponies only yesterday. Mears took Campbell back and returned with the report that the ice in the vicinity of the accident was hourly getting more dangerous. It was clear that we were practically cut off, certainly as regards heavy transport. Bowers went back again with Mears and managed to ferry over some wind-clothes and odds and ends. Since that no communication has been held, the shore party have been working, but the people on board have had half a holiday. At six I went to the ice edge farther to the north. I found a place where the ship could come and be near the heavy ice over which sledging is still possible. I went near the ship and semaphore directions for her to get to this place as soon as she could, using steam if necessary. She is at present wedged in with the pack and I think Pennell hopes to warp her along when the pack loosens. Mears and I marked the new trail with kerosene tins before returning. So here we are waiting again till fortune is kinder. Meanwhile the hut proceeds. Altogether there are four layers of boarding to go on, two of which are nearing completion. It will be some time before the rest and the insulation is on. It's a big job getting settled in like this, and a tantalizing one when one is hoping to do some depot work before the season closes. We had a keen north wind tonight and a haze, but wind is dropping and sun shining brightly again. Today seemed to be the hottest we have yet had. After walking across I was perspiring freely, and later as I sat in the sun after lunch one could almost imagine a warm summer day in England. This is my first night ashore. I'm riding in one of my new dome tents which makes a very comfortable apartment. Monday January 9th. I didn't poke my nose out of my tent till 6.45 and the first object I saw was the ship, which had not previously been in sight from our camp. She was now working her way along the ice edge with some difficulty. I heard afterwards that she had started at 6.15 and she reached the point I marked yesterday at 8.15. After breakfast I went on board and was delighted to find a good solid road right up to the ship. A flag was hoisted immediately for the ponies to come out, and we commenced a good day's work. All day the sledges have been coming to and fro, but most of the pulling work has been done by the ponies. The track is so good that these little animals haul anything from 12 to 1800 weight. Both dogs and men parties have been useful addition to the haulage. No party or no single man comes over without a load averaging 300 pounds per man. The dogs working 5 to a team haul 5 to 600 weight, and of course they travel much faster than either ponies or men. In this way we transported a large quantity of miscellaneous stores. First about 3 tons of coal for present use, then 2.5 tons of carbide, all the many stores, chimney, and ventilators for the hut. All the biologists gear, a big pile, the remainder of the physicists gear, and medical stores, and many old cases. In fact a general clear up of everything except the two heavy items of forage and fuel. Later in the day we made a start on the first of these, and got 7 tons of shore before ceasing work. We closed with a good day to our credit, marred by an unfortunate incident. One of the dogs, a good puller, was seen to cough after a journey. He was evidently trying to bring something up. Two minutes later he was dead. Nobody seems to know the reason, but a postmortem is being held by Atkinson, and I suppose the cause of death will be found. We can't afford to lose animals of any sort. All the ponies except three have now brought loads from the ship. Oates thinks these three are too nervous to work over this slippery surface. However he tried one of the hardest cases tonight, a very fine pony, and got him in successfully with a big load. Tomorrow we ought to be running some 12 or 13 of these animals. Griffith tailors bolted on three occasions, the first two times more or less due to his own fault, but the third owing to the stupidity of one of the sailors. Nevertheless a third occasion couldn't be overlooked by his messmates, who made such merriment of the event. It was still funnier when he brought his final load, an exceptionally heavy one, with a set face and ardent pace, vouchsafing not a word to anyone he passed. We have achieved fair organization today. Evans is in charge of the road and periodically goes along searching for bad places and bridging cracks with boards and snow. Bowers checks every case as it comes on shore, and dashes off to the ship to arrange the precedents of different classes of goods. He proves a perfect treasure. There is not a single case he does not know or a single article of any sort which he can up put his hand on at once. Renek and Bruce are working gallantly at the discharge of stores on board. Williamson and Lease load the sledges and are getting very clever and expeditious. Evans, seamen, is generally super-intending the sledging and camp outfit. Ford, Cohane, and Abbott are regularly assisting the carpenter whilst Day, Lashley, Lily, and others give intermittent help. Wilson, Cherry Garard, Wright, Griffith Taylor, Debenham, Kreen, and Browning have been driving ponies, a task at which I have assisted myself once or twice. There was a report that the ice was getting rotten, but I went over it myself and found its sound throughout. The accident with the motor sledge has made people nervous. The weather has been very warm and fine on the whole with occasional gleams of sunshine, but tonight there is a rather chill wind from the south. The hut is progressing famously. In two more working days we ought to have everything necessary on shore. Tuesday, January 10. We have been six days in McMurdo's sound and tonight I can say we are landed. Were it impossible to land another pound we could go on without hitch. Nothing like it has been done before. Nothing so expeditious and complete. This morning the main loads were fodder. Sledge after sledge brought the bales and early in the afternoon the last, except for about a ton stowed with eastern party shores, was brought on shore. Some addition to our patent fuel was made in the morning, and later in the afternoon it came in a steady stream. We have more than twelve tons and could make this do if necessity arose. In addition to this, oddments have been arriving all day, instruments, clothing, and personal effects. Our camp is becoming so perfect in its appointments that I am almost suspicious of some drawback hidden by the summer weather. The hut is progressing apace and all agree that it should be the most perfectly comfortable habitation. It amply repays the time and attention given to the planning. The sides have double boarding inside and outside the frames with a layer of our excellent quilted seaweed insulation between each pair of boardings. But on the outside is a match boarding, then a layer of two-ply rubberoid, then a layer of quilted seaweed, then a second match boarding, and finally a cover of three-ply rubberoid. The first floor is laid but over this there will be a quilting, a felt layer, a second boarding, and finally linoleum. As the plenteous volcanic sand can be piled well up on every side, it is impossible to imagine that drafts can penetrate into the hut from beneath, and it is equally impossible to imagine great loss of heat by contact or radiation in that direction. To add to the wall insulation, the south and east sides of the hut are piled high with compressed forage bales, whilst the north side is being prepared as a winter stable for the ponies. The stable will stand between the wall of the hut and a wall built of forage bales, six bales high and two bales thick. This will be roofed with rafters and tarpaulin, as we cannot find enough boarding. We shall have to take care that too much snow does not collect on the roof, otherwise the place should do excellently well. Some of the ponies are very troublesome, but all except two have been running today, and until this evening there were no excitement. After tea, Oates suggested leading out the two intractable animals behind other sledges. At the same time, he brought out the strong, nervous gray pony. I led one of the supposedly safe ponies, and all went well whilst we made our journey. Three loads were safely brought in. But whilst one of the sledges was being unpacked, the pony, tied to it, suddenly got scared. A way he dashed with sled attached. He made straight for the other ponies, but finding the incubus still fast to him, he went in wider circles, galloped over hills and boulders, narrowly missing ponding in his camera, and finally dashed downhill to camp again, pretty exhausted. Oddly enough, neither sledge nor pony was much damaged. Then we departed again in the same order. Halfway over the flow, my rear pony got his foreleg foul of his halter. Then got frightened, tugged at his halter, and lifted the unladen sledge to which he was tied. Then the halter broke and away he went. But by this time the damage was done. My pony snorted wildly and sprang forward as the sledge banged to the ground. I just managed to hold him till oats came up. Then we started again, but he was thoroughly frightened. All my blandishments failed when he reared and plunged a second time, and I was obliged to let go. He galloped back, and the party dejectedly returned. At the camp Evans got hold of the pony, but in the moment it was off again, knocking Evans off his legs. Finally he was captured and led forth once more between oats and Anton. He remained fairly well on the outward journey, but on the homework grew rest of again. Evans, who was now leading him, called for Anton and both tried to hold him, but to no purpose. He dashed off, upset his load, and came back to camp with the sledge. All these troubles arose after he had made three journeys without a hitch, and we had come to regard him as a nice placid, gritty pony. Now I'm afraid it will take a deal of trouble to get him safe again, and we have three very troublesome beasts instead of two. I have written this in some detail to show the unexpected difficulties that arise with these animals and the impossibility of knowing exactly where one stands. The majority of our animals seem pretty quiet now, but any one of them may break out in this way if things go awry. There is no doubt that the bumping of the sledges close at the heels of the animals is the root of the evil. The weather has the appearance of breaking. We had a strongest northerly breeze at midday with snow and hail storms, and now the wind has turned to the south and the sky is overcast with threatenings of a blizzard. The flow is cracking and pieces may go out. If so, the ship will have to get up steam again. The hail at noon made the surface very bad for some hours. The men and dogs felt it most. The dogs are going well, but Mir says he thinks that several are suffering from snow blindness. I never knew a dog to get it before, but Day says the Shackleton's dog suffered from it. The postmortem on last night's death revealed nothing to account for it. Atkinson didn't examine the brain and wonders if the cause lay there. There is a certain satisfaction in believing that there is nothing infectious. Wednesday, January 11. A week here today. It seems quite a month. So much has been crammed into a short space of time. The threatened blizzard materialized at about four o'clock this morning. The wind increased to four, six, or seven at the ship and continued to blow with drift throughout the forenoon. Campbell and his sledging party arrived at the camp at eight a.m., bringing a small load. There seemed little object, but I suppose they liked the experience of a march in the blizzard. They started to go back, but the ship being blotted out, turned and gave us their company at breakfast. The day was altogether too bad for outside work, so we turned our attention to the hut interior, with the result that tonight all the match boarding is completed. The floor linoleum is the only thing that remains to be put down. Outside, the roof and ends have to be finished. Then there are several days of odd jobs for the carpenter, and all will be finished. It is a first-rate building in an extraordinarily sheltered spot. Whilst the wind was raging at this ship this morning, we enjoyed comparative peace. Campbell says there was an extraordinary change as he approached the beach. I sent two or three people to dig into the hard snowdrift behind the camp. They got into solid ice immediately, became interested in the job, and have begun the making of a cave which is to be our larder. Already they have tunneled six or eight feet in, and have begun side channels. In a few places, they will have made quite a spacious apartment, an ideal place to keep our meat store. We had been speculating as to the origin of this solid drift and attached great antiquity to it, but the diggers came to a patch of earth with scua feathers, which rather knocks our theories on the head. The wind began to drop at midday, and after lunch I went to the ship. I was very glad to learn that she can hold steam at two hours notice on an expenditure of 1,300 weight. The ice anchors had held well during the blow. As far as I can see, the open water extends to an east and west line, which is a little short of the glacier tongue. Tonight the wind has dropped all together, and we return to the glorious conditions of a week ago. I trust they may last for a few days, at least. Thursday, January 12th. Bright sun again all day, but in the afternoon a chill wind from the south-south-west. Again we are reminded of the shelter afforded by our position. Tonight the anemometers on Observatory Hill show a 20 mile wind. Down in our valley we only have mild puffs. Sludging began as usual this morning. Seven ponies and the dog teams were hard at it all the forenoon. I ran six journeys with five dogs, driving them in the Siberian fashion for the first time. It was not difficult, but I kept forgetting the Russian words at critical moments. Ki, meaning right. Chui, meaning left. Ita, right ahead. Here is a blank in my memory and in diary. Get along. Pa, stop. Even my short experience makes me think that we may have to reorganize this driving to suit our particular requirements. I am inclined for smaller teams than the driver behind the sledge. However it's early days to decide such matters, and we shall learn much on the depot journey. Early in the afternoon a message came from the ship to say that all stores had been landed. Nothing remains to be brought but mutton, books and pictures, and the Pianola. So at last we really are a self-contained party ready for all emergencies. We are landed eight days after our arrival. A very good record. The hut could be inhabited at this moment, but probably we shall not begin to live in it for a week. Meanwhile the carpenter will go on steadily fitting up the darkroom and various other compartments, as well as Simpson's Corner. The grotto party are making headway into the ice for our larder, but it is slow and very arduous work. However once made it will be an admirable store in every way. Tomorrow we begin sending ballast off the ship. Some 30 tons will be sledge off by the ponies. The hut and grotto parties will continue and the arrangements for the depot journey will be commenced. I discuss these with Bowers this afternoon. He is a perfect treasure, enters into one's ideas at once, and evidently thoroughly understands the principles of the game. I have arranged to go to Hutt Point with Mears and some dogs tomorrow to test the ice and see how the land lies. As things are at present we ought to have little difficulty in getting the depot party away any time before the end of the month, but the ponies will have to cross the cape without loads. There was a way down on the south side straight across and another way around, keeping the land on the north side and getting on ice at the cape itself. Probably the ship will take the greater part of the loads. Saturday January 14. The completion of our station is approaching with steady progress. The wind was strong from south-south east yesterday morning sweeping over the camp. The temperature fell to 15 degrees. The sky became overcast. To the south the land outlines were hazy with drift, so my dog tour was abandoned. In the afternoon with some moderation of conditions the ballast party went to work and wrought so well that more than 10 tons were got off before night. The organization of this work is extremely good. The loose rocks are piled up, some 30 or 40 up the hillside, placed on our heavy rough sledges and rushed down to the flow on a snow track. Here they are laden on pony sledges and transported to the ship. I slept on board the ship and found it colder than the camp. The cabins were below freezing all night and the only warmth existed in the cheery spirit of the company. The cold snap froze the water in the boiler and Williams had to light one of the fires this morning. I shaved and bathed last night the first time for 10 days and wrote letters from breakfast till tea time today. Meanwhile the ballast team has been going on merrily and tonight Penel must have some 26 tons on board. It was good to return to the camp and see the progress which had been made even during such a short absence. The grotto has been much enlarged and is in fact now big enough to hold all our mutton and a considerable quantity of seal and penguin. Close by Simpson and Wright have been making surprising progress in excavating for the differential magnetic hut. They have already gone in 7 feet and turning a corner commenced the chamber which is to be 13 feet by 5 feet. The hard ice of this slope is a godsend and both grottos will be ideal for their purposes. The cooking range and stove have been placed in the hut and now chimneys are being constructed. The porch is almost finished as well as the interior. The various carpenters are busy with odd jobs and it will take them some time to fix up the many small fittings that different people require. I have been making arrangements for the depot journey telling off people for ponies and dogs etc. Tomorrow will be our first rest day but next week everything will be tending towards sludging preparations. I have also been discussing and writing about the provisions of animals to be brought down in the Terra Nova next year. The wind is very persistent from south southeast rising and falling. Tonight it has sprung up again and is rattling the canvas of the tent. Some of the ponies are not turning out so well as I expected. They are slow walkers and must inevitably impede the faster ones. Two of the best had been told off for Campbell by Oates but I must alter the arrangement. Then I am not quite sure they are going to stand the cold well and on this first journey they may have to face pretty severe conditions. Then of course there is the danger of losing them on thin ice or by injuries sustained in rough places. Although we have fifteen now, two having gone for the eastern party, it is not at all certain that we shall have such a number when the main journey is undertaken next season. One can only be careful and hope for the best. Sunday January 15. We had decided to observe this day as a day of rest and so it has been. At one time or another the majority have employed their spare hours in writing letters. We rose late having breakfast at nine. The morning promised well and the day fulfilled the promise. We had bright sunshine and practically no wind. At ten a.m. the men and officers streamed over from the ship and we all assembled on the beach in I read Divine Service, our first service at the camp and impressive in the open air. After service I told Campbell that I should have to cancel his two ponies and give him two others. He took it like the gentleman he is, thoroughly appreciating the reason. He had asked me previously to be allowed to go to Cape Roids over the glacier and I had given permission. After our talk we went together to explore the route which we expected to find much crevast. I only intended to go a short way but on reaching the snow above the uncovered hills of our Cape I found the surface so promising and so free from cracks that I went quite a long way. Eventually I turned leaving Campbell, Grant and Nelson roped together and on ski to make their way onward but not before I felt certain that the route to Cape Roids would be quite easy. As we topped the last rise we saw Taylor and Wright some way ahead on the slope. They had come by a different route. Evidently they are bound for the same goal. I returned to camp and after lunch Mears and I took a sledge and nine dogs over to the Cape to the sea ice on the south side and started for Hutt Point. We took a little provision and a cooker and our sleeping bags. Mears had found a way over the Cape which was on snow all the way except a hundred yards. The dogs pulled well and we went towards the glacier tongue at a brisk pace, found much of the ice uncovered. Towards the glacier tongue there were some heaps of snow much windblown. As we rose the glacier we saw the Nimrod depot some way to the right and made for it. We found a good deal of compressed fodder and boxes of maize but no grain crushed as expected. The open water was practically up to the glacier tongue. We descended by an easy slope quarter mile from the end of the glacier tongue but found ourselves cut off by an open crack some 15 feet across and had to get on the glacier again and go some half mile farther in. We came to a second crack but avoided it by skirting to the west. From this point we had an easy run with difficulty to Hutt Point. There was a small pool of open water and a longish crack off Hutt Point. I got my feet very wet crossing the ladder. We passed hundreds of seals at the various cracks. On the arrival at the hut to Maisha Grinn we found it filled with snow. Shackleton reported that the door had been forced by the wind but that he had made an entrance by the window and found shelter inside. Other members of his party used it for the shelter but they actually went away and left the window which they had forced open. As a result nearly the whole of the interior of the hut is filled with hard icy snow and it is now impossible to find shelter inside. Mears and I were able to clamor over the snow to some extent and to examine the neat pile of cases in the middle but they will take much digging out. We got some asbestos sheeting from the magnetic hut and made the best shelter we could to boil our cocoa. There was something too depressing in finding the old hut in such a desolate condition. I had had so much interest in seeing all the old landmarks and huts apparently intact. To camp outside and feel that all the old comfort and cheer had departed was dreadfully heart-rending. I went to bed thoroughly depressed. It stems a fundamental expression of civilized human sentiment that men who come to such places as this should leave what comfort they can to welcome those who follow. The Journals of Robert Falcon Scott Arranged by Leonard Huxley Second Part of Chapter 4 Settling In Monday, January 16 We slept badly till the morning and therefore late. After breakfast we went up the hills. There was a keen southeast breeze but the sun shone and my spirits revived. There was very much less snow everywhere than I had ever seen. The ski run was completely cut through in two places. The gap and observation hill almost bare. A great bare slope on the side of arrival heights and on top of crater heights an immense bare table land. How delighted we should have been to see it like this in the old days. The pond was thawed and the confervee green in fresh water. The hole which we had dug in the mound in the pond was still there as Mears discovered by falling into it up to his waist and getting very wet. On the south side we could see the pressure ridges beyond pram point as of old Horseshoe Bay calm and unpressed. The sea ice pressed on pram point and along the gap ice foot and a new ridge running around sea armitage about two miles off. We saw for Arr's old thermometer tubes standing out of the snow slope as though they'd been placed yesterday. Vince's cross must have been placed yesterday. The paint was so fresh and the inscriptions so legible. The flagstaff was down the stays having carried away but in five minutes it could be put up again. We loaded some asbestos sheeting from the old magnetic hut on our sledges for Simpson and by standing a quarter mile off Hutt Point got a clear run to Glacier Tongue. I had hoped to get across the wide crack by going west but found that it ran a great distance and had to get on the glacier at the place at which we had left it. We got to camp about tea time. I found our larder in the grotto completed and stored with mutton and penguins. The temperature inside has never been above 27 degrees so that it ought to be a fine place for our winter store. Simpson has almost completed the differential magnetic cave next door. The hut stove was burning well in the interior of the building already warm and home-like. A day or two and we shall be occupying it. I took Ponting out to see some interesting thaw effects on the ice cliffs east of the camp. I noted that the ice layers were pressing out over thin dirt bands as though the ladder made the cleavage lines over which the stratus slid. It has occurred to me that although the sea ice may freeze in our bays early in March, it will be a difficult thing to get ponies across it owing to the cliff edges at the side. We must therefore be prepared to be cut off for a longer time than I had anticipated. I heard that all the people who journeyed towards sea roids yesterday reached their destination in safety. Campbell, Levick and Priestly had just departed when I returned, Tuesday, January 17th. We took up our abode in the hut today and are simply overwhelmed with its comfort. After breakfast this morning I found Bowers making cubicles as I had arranged, but I soon saw these would not fit in so instructed him to build a bulkhead of cases which shuts off the officer's space from the men's. I am quite sure to the satisfaction of both. The space between my bulkhead and the men's I allotted to five, Bowers, Oats, Atkinson, Mears, and Cherry Garard. These five are all special friends and have already made their dormitory very habitable. Simpson and Wright are near the instruments in their corner. Next come Day and Nelson in a space which includes the latter's lab near the big window. Next to this is a space for three, Debenham, Taylor, and Grant. They also have already made their space part dormitory and part workshop. It is fine to see the way everyone sets to work to put things straight. In a day or two the hut will become the most comfortable of the houses. And in a week or so the whole station, instruments, routine, men, and animals will be in working order. It is really wonderful to realize the amount of work which has been got through of late. It will be a fortnight tomorrow since we arrived in McMurdo Sound. And here we are absolutely settled down and ready to start on our depot journey. Directly the ponies have had a proper chance to recover from the effects of the voyage. I had no idea we should be so expeditious. It snowed hard all last night. There were about three or four inches of soft snow over the camp this morning. And Simpson tells me some six inches out by the ship. The camp looks very white. During the day it has been blowing very hard from the south with a great deal of drift. Here in this camp as usual we do not feel it much but we see the anemometer racing on the hill and the snow clouds sweeping past the ship. The flow is breaking between the point and the ship though curiously it remains fast on a direct route to the ship. Now the open water runs parallel to our ship road and only a few hundred yards south of it. Yesterday the whaler was rode in close to the camp and if the ship had steam up she could steam around to within a hundred yards of us. The big wedge of ice to which the ship is holding on the outskirts of the bay can have very little grip to keep it in and must inevitably go out very soon. I hope this may result in the ship finding a more sheltered and secure position close to us. A big iceberg sailed past the ship this afternoon. Atkinson declares it was the end of the Cape Barn Glacier. I hope they will know in the ship as it would be interesting to witness the birth of a glacier in this region. It is clearing tonight but still blowing hard. The ponies don't like the wind but they are all standing the cold wonderfully and all their sores are healed up Wednesday January 18. The ship had a poor time last night steam was ordered but the flow began breaking up fast at 1 a.m. and the rest of the night was passed and struggling with ice anchors. Steam was reported ready just as the ship broke adrift. In the morning she secured to the ice edge on the same line as before but a few hundred yards nearer. After getting things going at the hut I walked over and suggested that panels should come around the corner close in shore. The ice anchors were tripped and we steam slowly in making fast to the flow within 200 yards of the ice foot and 400 yards of the hut. For the present the position is extraordinarily comfortable. With a southerly blow she would simply bind to the ice receiving great shelter from the end of the Cape. With an orderly blow she might turn rather close to the shore where the soundings run to three fathoms but behind such a stretch of ice she could scarcely get a sea or swell without warning. It looks a wonderfully comfortable little nook but of course one can be certain of nothing in this place. One knows from experience how deceptive the appearance of security may be. Penel is truly excellent in his present position. He's invariably cheerful, unceasingly watchful and continuously ready for emergencies. I have come to possess implicit confidence in him. The temperature fell to four degrees last night with a keen south southeast breeze. It was very unpleasant outside after breakfast. Later in the forenoon the wind dropped and the sun shone forth. This afternoon it fell almost calm but the sky clouded over again and now there is a gentle warm southerly breeze with light falling snow and an overcast sky. Rather significant of a blizzard if we had had not such a lot of wind lately. The position of the ship makes the casual transport that still proceeds very easy but the ice is rather thin at the edge. In the hut all is marching towards the utmost comfort. Bowers has completed a storeroom on the south side an excellent place to keep our traveling provisions. Every day he conceives or carries out some plan to benefit the camp. Simpson and Wright are worthy of all admiration. They have been unceasingly active in getting things to the fore and I think we will be ready for routine work much earlier than was anticipated. But indeed it is hard to specialize praise where everyone is working so indefatigably for the cause. Each man in his way is a treasure. Clisold the cook has started splendidly, has served seal, penguin, and scua now. And I can honestly say that I have never met these articles of food in such a pleasing guise. This point is of the greatest practical importance as it means the certainty of good health for any number of years. Hooper was landed today much to his joy. He got to work at once and will be a splendid help freeing the scientific people of all dirty work. Anton and Dimitri are both most anxious to help on all occasion. They are excellent boys. Thursday January 19. The hut is becoming the most comfortable dwelling place imaginable. We have made unto ourselves a truly seductive home within the walls of which peace quiet and comfort reign supreme. Such a noble dwelling transcends the word hut and we pause to give it a more fitting title only from lack of the appropriate suggestion. What shall we call it? The word hut is misleading. Our residence is really a house of considerable size in every respect the finest that has ever been erected in the polar regions. 50 feet long by 25 feet wide and 9 feet to the eaves. If you can picture our house nestling below this small hill on a long stretch of black sand with many tons of provisions cases ranged in neat blocks in front of it and the sea lapping the ice foot below you'll have some idea of our immediate vicinity. As for our wider surroundings it would be difficult to describe their beauty in sufficiently glowing terms. Cape Evans is one of the many spurs of Erebus and the one that stands closest under the mountains so that always towering above us we have the grand snowy peak with its smoking summit. North and south of us are deep bays beyond which great glaciers come rippling over the lower slopes to thrust high blue walled snouts into the sea. The sea is blue before us dotted with shining bergs of ice flows while far over the sound yet so bold and magnificent as to appear near stand the beautiful western mountains with their numerous lofty peaks their deep glacial valley and clear cut scarps a vision of mountain scenery that can have few rivals. Punting is the most delighted of men he declares this is the most beautiful spot he has ever seen and spends all day and most of the night in what he calls quote gathering it in quote with camera and cinematographer the wind has been boisterous all day to advantage after the last snowfall as it has been drifting the loose snow along and hardening the surfaces. The horses don't like it naturally but it wouldn't do to pamper them so soon before our journey. I think the hardening process must be good for animals though not for men. Nature replies to it in the former by growing a thick coat with wonderful promptitude. It seems to me that the shaggy coats of our ponies are already improving. The dogs seem to feel the cold little so far but they are not so exposed. A milder situation might be found for the ponies if we could only pick at them off the snow. Bowers has completed his southern storeroom and brought the wing across the porch on the windward side connecting the roofing with that of the porch. The improvement is enormous and will make the greatest difference to those who dwell near the door. The carpenter has been setting up standards and roof beams for the stables which will be completed in a few days. Internal affairs have been straightening out as rapidly as before and every hour seems to add some new touch for the better. This morning I overhauled all the first sleeping bags and found them in splendid order. On the whole the skins are excellent since that I have been trying to work out sledge details but my head doesn't seem half as clear on the subject as it ought to be. I have fixed the 25th as the date for our departure. Evans is to get all the sledges and gear ready whilst Bowers super intends the filling of provision bags. Griffith Taylor and his companions have been seeking advice as to their western trip. Wilson, dear chap, has been doing his best to coach them. Ponting has fitted up his own darkroom doing the carpentering work with extraordinary speed and to everyone's admiration. Tonight he made a window in the darkroom in an hour or so. Meers has become enamored of the gramophone. We find we have a splendid selection of records. The Pianola is being brought in sections but I'm not at all sure it will be worth the trouble. Oates goes steadily on with the ponies. He is perfectly excellent and untiring in his devotion to the animals. Dayan Nelson having given much thought to the proper fitting up of their corner have now begun work. There seems to be little doubt that these ingenious people will make the most of their allotted space. I have done quite a lot of thinking over the autumn journeys and a lot remains to be done, mainly on account of the prospect of being cut off from our winter quarters. For this reason we must have a great deal of food for animals and men. Friday, January 20. Our house has assumed great proportions. Bauer's annex is finished, roof and all thoroughly snowtight, an excellent place for spare clothing, furs, and ready use doors, and its extension affording complete protection to the entrance ports of the hut. The stables are nearly finished, a thoroughly stout well-roofed lean-to on the north side. Nelson has a small extension on the east side and Simpson a pre-arranged projection on the southeast corner so that on all sides the main building has thrown out its limbs. Simpson has almost completed his ice cavern, light tight lining, niches, floor, and all. Right and forward have almost completed the absolute hut, a patchwork building for which the framework only was brought. But it will be very well adapted for our needs. Grant has been putting record on the ski runners. Record is a mixture of vegetable tar, paraffin, soft soap, and linseed oil, with some patent addition which prevents freezing, this according to Grant. P.O. Evans and Crane have been preparing sledges. Evans shows himself wonderfully capable and I haven't a doubt as to the working of the sledges he has fitted up. We have been serving out some sledging gear and wintering boots. We are delighted with everything. First the felt boots and felt slippers made by Jaeger, and then summer windclothes and fer mitts. Nothing could be better than these articles. Finally tonight we have overhauled and served out two pairs of finesco fur boots to each traveler. They are excellent in quality. At first I thought they seemed small, but stiffness due to cold and dryness misled me. A little stretching and all was well. They are very good indeed. I have an idea to use putties to secure our wind trousers to the finesco, but indeed the whole time we are thinking of devices to make our traveling work easier. We have now tried most of our stores and so far we have not found a single article that is not perfectly excellent in quality and preservation. We are well repaid for all the trouble which has taken in selecting the food list and the firms from which the various articles could best be obtained, and we are showering blessings on Mr. Wyatt's head for so strictly safeguarding our interests in these particulars. Our clothing is as good as good. In fact first and last running through the whole extent of our outfit I can say with some pride that there is not a single arrangement which I would have altered. An emperor penguin was found on the cape well advanced in molt, a good specimen skin. Atkinson found cysts formed by a tapeworm in the intestines. It seems clear that this parasite is not transferred from another host and that its history is unlike that of any other known tapeworm. In fact Atkinson scores a discovery in parasitology of no little importance. The wind has turned to the north tonight and is blowing quite fresh. I don't much like the position of the ship as the ice is breaking away all the time. The sky is quite clear and I don't think the wind often lasts long under such conditions. The Pianola has been erected by Renek. He is a good fellow and one feels for him much at such a time. It must be rather dreadful for him to be returning when he remembers that he was once practically one of the shore party. The Pianola has been his special care and it shows well that he should give so much pains in putting it right for us. Day has been explaining the manner in which he hopes to be able to cope with the motor sledge difficulty. He is hopeful of getting things right but I fear it won't do to place more reliance on the machines. Everything looks hopeful for the depot journey if only we can get our stores and ponies past the glacier tongue. We had some real resoals today so extraordinarily well cooked that it was impossible to distinguish them from the best beef resoals. I told two of the party they were beef and they made no comment till I enlightened them after that they had eaten two each. It is the first time I have tasted sea without being aware of its particular flavor. But even its own flavor is acceptable in our cook's hands. He really is excellent. Saturday January 21. My anxiety for the ship was not unfounded. Fearing a little trouble I went out of the hut in the middle of the night and saw at once that she was having a bad time. The ice was breaking with an orderly swell and the wind increasing with the ship on deadly shore. Luckily the ice anchors had been put well into the flow and some still held. Penel was getting steam and his men struggling to replace the anchors. We got out the men and gave some help. At six steam was up and I was right glad to see the ship back out to windward leaving us to recover anchors and housers. She stood away to the west and almost immediately after a large berg drove in and grounded in the place she had occupied. We spent the day measuring our provisions and fixing up clothing arrangements for our journey. A good deal of progress has been made. In the afternoon the ship returned to the northern ice edge. The wind was still strong about north 30 to the west and loose ice all along the edge. Our people went out with the ice anchors and I saw the ship pass west again. Then as I went out on the flow came the report that she was ashore. I ran out to the cape with Evans and saw that the report was only too true. She looked to be firmly fixed and in a very uncomfortable position. It looked as though she had been trying to get around the cape and therefore I argued she must have been going at a good pace as the drift was making rapidly to the south. Later Pennell told me he had been trying to look behind the berg and had been going astern some time before he struck. My heart sank when I looked at her and I sent Evans off in the whaler to sound recover the ice anchors again, set the people to work and walk disconsolently back to the cape to watch. Visions of the ship failing to return to New Zealand and of 60 people waiting here arose in my mind with sickening pertinacity. And the only consolation I could draw from such imaginations was the determination that the southern work should go on as before. Meanwhile the least ill possible seemed to be an extensive lightning of the ship with boats as the tide was evidently high when she struck, a terribly depressing prospect. Some three or four of us watched it gloomily from the shore whilst all was a bustle on board. The men shifting cargo aft. Pennell tells me they shifted ten tons in a very short time. The first ray of hope came when by careful watching one could see that the ship was turning very slowly then one saw the men running from side to side and knew that an attempt was being made to roll her off. The rolling produced a more rapid turning movement at first and then she seemed to hang again but only for a short time. The engines had been going astern all the time and presently a slight movement became apparent. But we only knew she was getting clear when we heard cheers on board and more cheers from the whaler. Then she gathered stern way and was clear. The relief was enormous. The wind dropped as she came off and she is now securely moored off the northern ice edge where I hope the greater number of her people are finding rest. For here and now I must record the splendid manner in which these men are working. I find it difficult to express my admiration for the manner in which the ship is handled and worked under these very trying circumstances. From Pennell down there is not an officer or man who has not done his job nobly during the past weeks and it will be a glorious thing to remember the unselfish, loyal help they are giving us. Pennell has been over to tell me about it tonight. I think I like him more every day. Campbell and his party returned late this afternoon. I have not heard details. Mirrors and oats went to the glacier tongue and satisfied themselves that the ice is good. It only has to remain another three days and it would be poor luck if it failed in that time. Sunday January 22nd. A quiet day with little to record. The ship lies peacefully in the bay. A brisk northerly breeze in the forenoon died to light airs in the evening. It is warm enough the temperature in the hut was 63 degrees this evening. We have had a long busy day at clothing. Everyone's sewing away diligently. The eastern party ponies were put on board the ship this morning. Monday January 23rd. Placid conditions last for a very short time in these regions. I got up at five this morning to find the weather calm and beautiful. But to my astonishment, an opening lane of water between the land and the ice in the bay. The latter was going out in a solid mass. The ship discovered it easily. Got up her ice anchors and sent a boat ashore and put out to sea to dredge. We went on with our preparations but soon Mirrors brought word that the ice in the south bay was going in equally rapid fashion. This proved an exaggeration but an immense piece of flow had separated from the land. Mirrors and I walked till we came to the first ice. Luckily we found that it extends for some two miles along the rock of our cape and we discovered a possible way to lead ponies down to it. It was plain that only the ponies could go by it. No loads. Since that, everything has been rushed and a wonderful day's work has been resulted. We have got all the forage and food sledges and equipment off to the ship. The dogs will follow in an hour, I hope, with pony harness, etc. That is everything to do with our depot party except the ponies. As at present arranged, they are to cross the cape and try to get over to the southern road tomorrow morning. One breathes a prayer that the road holds for the few remaining hours. It goes in one place between a berg and open water and a large pool of the glacier face. It may be weak in that part and at any moment the narrow isthmus may break away. We are doing it on a very narrow margin. If all is well, I go to the ship tomorrow morning after the ponies have started and then to Glacier Tongue. End of Chapter 4 Depot Lane to 110 Camp Tuesday, January 24th People were busy in the hut all last night. We got away at 9 a.m. A boat from the Taranova fetched the western party and myself as the ponies were led out of the camp. Marys and Wilson went ahead of the ponies to test the track. On board the ship, I was taken in to see Lily's catch of sea animals. It was wonderful. Quantities of sponges, isopods, pentapods, large shrimps, corals, etc., etc., but the pays theirs in stones was the capture of several buckets full of cephalodiscous of which only seven pieces had been previously caught. Lily is immensely pleased, feeling that it alone repays the whole enterprise. In the forenoon we skirted the island, getting 30 and 40 fathoms of water north and west of an inaccessible island. With a telescope we could see the string of ponies steadily progressing over the sea ice past the razorback islands. As soon as we saw them well advanced, we steamed on to the glacier tongue. The open water extended just around the corner and the ship made fast in a narrow angle made by the sea ice with the glacier. Her portside flushed with the surface of the ladder. I walked over to meet the ponies whilst Campbell went to investigate a broad crack in the sea ice on the southern road. The ponies were gone on the tongue without much difficulty, then across the glacier and picketed on the sea ice close to the ship. Meanwhile Campbell informed me that the big crack was 30 feet across. It was evident we must get past it on the glacier and I asked Campbell to peg out a road clear of cracks. Oats reported the ponies ready to start again after tea and they were led along Campbell's Road, their loads having already been taken on the flow. All went well until the animals got down on the flow level and oats led across an old snowed-up crack. His and the next pony got across but the third made a jump at the edge and sank to its stomach in the middle. It couldn't move and with such struggles as it made it sank deeper till only its head and foreleg showed above the slush. With some trouble we got ropes on these and hauling together pulled the poor creature out looking very weak and miserable and trembling much. We led the other ponies round farther to the west and eventually got all out on the flow, gave them a small feed and started them off with their loads. The dogs' new mob gave some excitement. Starting on hard ice with a light load, nothing could hold them and they dashed off over everything. It seemed wonderful that we all reached the flow in safety. Wilson and I drive one team, Wilson's and Murray's drive the other. I withhold my opinion of the dogs and much doubt as to whether they are going to be a real success. But the ponies are going to be real good. They work with such extraordinary steadiness, stepping out briskly and cheerfully, following in each other's tracks. The great drawback is the ease with which they sink in soft snow. They go through in lots of places where the men scarcely make an impression. They struggle pluckily when they sink but it is trying to watch them. We came with the loads noted below and one bale of fodder, 105 pounds, added to each sludge. We are camped six miles from the glacier and two from Hutt Point, a cold east wind. Tonight the temperature, 19 degrees. Autumn party to start January 25th, 1911. Twelve men, eight ponies, 26 dogs. Footnote, Viz Atkinson and Crayon, who were left at safety camp. E. Evans, Ford and Keohane, who returned with the weaker ponies on February 13th. Murray's and Wilson with the dog teams. And Scott, Bowers, Oates, Cherry Gerard and Lashley. End of footnote. First load estimated 5,385 pounds, including 14 weeks food and fuel for men. Taken to cash, number one. Ship transports following to Glacier Tongue. 130 bales compressed fodder, 13,650 pounds. 24 cases dog biscuit, 1,400 pounds. 10 sacks of oats, 1600 pounds, question mark. Total, 16,650 pounds. Teams returned to ship to transport this load to cash, number one. Dog teams also take on 500 pounds of biscuit from Hutt Point. Pony sledges, pounds on all sledges. Sledge with straps and tank, 52 pounds. Pony furniture, 25 pounds. Driver's ski and sleeping bag, et cetera, 40 pounds. Numbers one and five. Cooker and primus instruments, 40 pounds. Note from the glossary, primus. A portable stove for cooking, end of note. Tank containing biscuit, 172. Sack of oats, 160. Tent and poles, 28. Alpine rope, 5. One oil can and spirit can, 15. Total, 537. Numbers two and six. Oil, 100. Tank contents, food bags, 285. Ready provision bag, 63. Two picks, 20. Total, 468. Numbers three and seven. Oil, 100. Tank contents, biscuit, 196. Sack of oats, 160. Two shovels, nine. Total, 465. Numbers four and eight. Box with tools, and such, 35. Cookers, and such, 105. Tank contents, food bags, 252. Sack of oats, 160. Three long bamboos, and spare gear, 15. Total, 567. Spare gear, per man. Two pairs under socks. Two pairs outer socks. One pair hair socks. One pair night socks. One pajama jacket. One pajama trousers. One woolen mitts. Two finesco. Skane, equals 10 pounds. Book, styries, tobacco, and such, two. Total, 12 pounds. Dress. Best in drawers. Woolen shirt. Jersey. Balaclava. Wind suit. Two pair socks. Ski boots. Dogs, number one. Sledge straps, and tanks, 54 pounds. Driver's ski, and bags, 80. Cooker primers, and instruments, 50. Tank contents. Biscuit, 221. Alpine rope, five. Lamps and candles, four. Two shovels, nine. Ready provision bag, 63. Sledge meter, two. Total, 488 pounds. Number two. Sledge straps, and tanks, 54. Driver's ski, and bags, 80. Tank contents. Food bags, 324. Tent and poles, 33. Total, 491 pounds. Ten foot sledge. Men's harness, extra tent. Thursday, January 26th. Yesterday, I went to the ship with the dog team. All went well, till the dogs caught sight of a whale breaching in the 30 foot lead, and promptly made for it. It was all we could do to stop them before we reached the water. Spent the day writing letters and completing arrangements for the ship. A brisk North livery sprang up in the night, and the ship bumped against the glacier, until the pack came in as protection from the swell. Ponies and dogs arrived about 1 p.m., and at 5, we all went out for the final start. A little earlier, Penel had the men aft, and I thanked them for their splendid work. They had behaved like bricks, and a fine lot of fellows never sailed in the ship. It was good to get their hearty send off. Before we could get away, Pontyn had his half hour, photographing us, the ponies, and the dog teams. I hope he will have made a good thing of it. It was a little sad to say farewell to all these good fellows, and Campbell and his men. I do most heartily trust that all will be successful in their ventures, for indeed their insuffishness, and their generous high spirit deserves reward. God bless them. So here we are, with all our loads. One wonders what the upshot will be. It will take three days to transport the loads to complete safety. The breakup of the sea ice ought not to catch us before that. The wind is from the southeast again tonight. Friday, January 27th, Camp 2. Started at 9.30, and moved a load of fodder, three and three-quarter miles south. Returned to camp to lunch, then shifted camp and provisions. Our weights are now divided into three loads, two of food for ponies, one of men's provisions with some ponies' food. It is slow work, but we retreat slowly, but surely, from the chance of going out on the sea ice. We are camped about a mile south of Sea Armitage. After camping, I went to the east, till the rest of Pram Point, finding the ice dangerously thin off Sea Armitage. It is evident we must make a considerable detour to avoid danger. The rest of the party went to the Discovery Hut to see what could be done towards sticking it out. The report is unfavorable, as I expected. The drift inside has become very solid. It would take weeks of work to clear it. A great deal of biscuit and some butter, cocoa, and such was seen, so that we need not have any anxiety about provisions, if delayed in returning to Cape Evans. The dogs are very tired tonight. I have definitely handed the control of the second team to Wilson. He was very eager to have it, and will do well, I'm sure. But certainly, also the dogs will not pull heavy loads. Five hundred pounds proved a back breaking mode for eleven dogs today. They brought it at a snail's pace. Mirrors has estimated to give them two-thirds of a pound of biscuit a day. I felt sure he will find this too little. The ponies are doing excellently. Their loads run up to eight hundred and nine hundred pounds, and they make very light of them. Oat says he could have gone on for some time tonight. Saturday, January 28th, Camp 2. The ponies went back for the last load at Camp 1, and I walked south to find a way round the Great Pressure Ridge. The sea-eye south is covered with confused or regular sastrugy, well remembered from discovery days. The Pressure Ridge is new. The broken ice of the ridge ended east of the spot I approached, and the pressure was seen only in a huge domed wave, the hall of which, on my left, was surrounded with a countless number of seals. These lay about, sleeping or, apparently, gambling in the shallow water. I imagine the old ice in this hollow has gone well under, and that the seals have a pool above it, which may be warmer on such a bright day. It was evident that the ponies could be brought round by this route, and I returned to Camp to hear the one of the ponies, Keohanes, had gone lame. The soldier took a gloomy view of the situation, but he's not an optimist. It looks as though a tendon had been strained, but it is not at all certain. Bauer's pony is also weak in the forelegs, but we knew this before. It is only a question of how long he will last. The pity is that he is an excellently strong pony, otherwise. Atkinson has a bad heel and, laid up all day, his pony was tied behind another sledge, and went well, a very hopeful sign. In the afternoon I led the ponies out, two and three-quarter miles south to the crossing of the pressure bridge, then east, one and a quarter, till we struck the barrier edge and ascended it. Going about a half a mile in, we dubbed the loads. The ponies sank deep just before the loads were dropped, but it looked as though the softness was due to some rise in the surface. We saw a dark object a quarter of a mile north as we reached the barrier. I walked over and found it to be the tops of two tents, more than half buried, Shackleton's tents, we suppose. A molting emperor penguin was sleeping between them. The canvas on one tent seemed intact, but half stripped from the other. The ponies pulled splendidly today, as also the dogs, but we have decided to load both lightly from now on, to mark them easily and to keep as much life as possible in them. There's much to be learned as to their powers of performance. Keohane says, come on lad, you'll be getting to the pole by way of cheering his animal. All the party is cheerful, there never were a better set of people. Sunday, January 29th, Camp Two This morning after breakfast I read prayers. Excellent day. The seven good ponies have made two journeys to the barrier, covering eighteen geographical miles, half with good loads. None of them were at all done. Oates' pony, a spirited, nervous creature, got away at start when his head was left for a moment and charged the camp at a gallop. Finally his sledge canoned into another. The swingletree broke and he galloped away, kicking furiously at the dangling trace. Oates fetched him when he had quieted down, and we found that nothing had been heard or broken, but the swingletree. Gran tried going on ski with his pony. All went well while he was alongside, but when he came up from the back, the swish of the ski frightened the beast, who fled faster than his pursuer. That is, the pony and load were going better than the Norwegian on ski. Gran is doing very well. He has a lazy pony and a good deal of work to get him along, and does it very cheerfully. The dogs are doing excellently, getting into better condition every day. They ran the first load, one mile, twelve hundred yards past the stores on the barrier, to the spot chosen for safety camp, the big home depot. I don't think that any part of the barrier is likely to go, but it's just as well to be prepared for everything, and our camp must deserve its distinctive title of safety. In the afternoon, the dogs ran a second load to the same place, covering over twenty-four geographical miles in the day, an excellent day's work. Footnote from Dr. Wilson's journal, January 29th. The seals have been giving a lot of trouble. That is, just to marry and send myself with our dogs. The whole teams go absolutely crazy when they sight them or get wind of them, and there are literally hundreds along some of the cracks. Occasionally, when one pictures oneself quite away from trouble of that kind, an old seal will pop its head up at a blowhole, a few yards ahead of the team, and they are all on top of him before one can say knife. Then one has to rush in with the whip, and every one of the team of eleven jumps over the harness of the dog next to him, and the harnesses become a muddle that takes much patience to unravel. Not to mention care, lest the whole team should get away with the sledge, and it's slowed and leave one behind to follow one foot at leisure. I never did get left the whole of this depot journey, but I was often very near it, and several times had only time to seize a strap or a part of the sledge, and be dragged along helter-skelter over everything that came in the way, till the team got sick of galloping and one could struggle to one's feet again. One gets very wary and wide awake when one has to manage a team of eleven dogs and the sledge load by oneself. But it was the most interesting experience, and I had a delightful leader, Starryk by name, Russian for old man, and he was the most wise old man. We have to use Russian terms with all our dogs. Kai-kai means go to the right, Chui means go to the left, Eshto means lie down, and the remainder are mostly swear words which mean everything else which one has to say to a dog team. Dog driving, like this in the orthodox manner, is a very different thing to the beastly dog driving we perpetrated in the discovery days. I got to love all my team and they got to know me well, and my old leader, even now, six months after I've had anything to do with him, never fails to come and speak to me whenever he sees me, and he knows me in my voice ever so far off. He is quite a ridiculous old man, and quite the nicest, quietest, cleverest old dog I have ever come across. He looks and faces if he knew all the wickedness of all the world, and all its cares, and as if he were bored to death by them. End of footnote. Evans and I took a load out on foot over the pressure ridge. The camp load alone remains to be taken to the barrier. Once we get to safety camp, we can stay as long as we like before starting our journey. It is only when we start that we must travel fast. Most of the day it has been overcast, but tonight it is cleared again. There is very little wind. The temperatures of late have been ranging from nine degree at night to 24 degree in the day. Very easy circumstances for sludging. Monday, January 30th, Camp 3, Safety Camp, Barrens, Latt 77.55, Cape Armitage North, 64 West, Camel's Hump of Blue Glacier Left, Extreme, Castle Rock North, 40 West, called the camp at 730, finally left with ponies at 1130. There was a good deal to do, which partly accounts for delays, but we shall have to buck up with our camp arrangement. Atkinson had his foot lanced and should be well in a couple of days. I led the lame pony. His leg is not swelled, but I fear he's developed a permanent defect. There are signs of ring bone and the hoof is split. A great shock came when we passed the depot fodder and made for the camp. The ponies sank very deep and only bought on, their loads with difficulty, getting pretty hot. The distance was but one and a half miles, but it took more out of them than the rest of the march. We camped and held a council of war after lunch. I unfolded my plan, which is to go forward with five weeks food for men and animals, to depot a fortnight supply after 12 or 13 days, and return here. The loads for ponies thus arranged work out a little over 600 pounds, for the dog team's 700 pounds, both apart from sledges. The ponies ought to do it easily if the surface is good enough for them to walk, which is doubtful. The dogs may have to be lightened, such as it is. It is the best we can do under the circumstances. This afternoon I went forward on ski to see if the conditions changed. In two or three miles I could see no improvement. Bowers' garage and the three men went and dug out the Nimrod tent. They found a cooker and provisions and remains of a hastily abandoned meal. One tent was half full of hard ice, the result of thaw. The Williston canvas was rotten except some material used for the doors. The floor cloth could not be freed. The soldier doesn't like the idea of fetching up the remainder of the loads to this camp with the ponies. I think we will bring on all we can with the dogs and take the risk of leaving the rest. The Nimrod camp was evidently made by some relief or ship party. And if that has stood fast for so long, there should be little fear for our stuff in a single season. Tomorrow we muster stores, build the depot, and pack our sledges. Tuesday, January 31st, camp three. We have everything ready to start, but this afternoon we tried our one pair of snowshoes on Weary Willy. The effect was magical. He strolled around as though walking on hard ground in places where he floundered woefully without them. Oats hasn't had any faith in these shoes at all, and I thought that even the quietest pony would need to be practiced in their use. Immediately after our experiment, I decided that an effort must be made to get more. And within half an hour, Meers and Wilson were on their way to the station more than twenty miles away. There is just the chance that the ice may not have gone out, but it is a very poor one, I fear. At present it looks as though we might double our distance with the snowshoes. Atkinson is better today, but not by any means while, so that the delay is in his favor. We cannot start on till the dogs return with or without the shoes. The only other hope for this journey is that the barrier gets harder farther out, but I feel that the prospect of this is not very bright. In any case, it is something to have discovered the possibilities of these shoes. Low temperature at night for first time, Min 2.4 degree, quite warm in tent, and the first part of Chapter 5.