Monday, 12 February 1912

Scott

"We are in a rather nasty hole tonight," wrote Oates in his diary. "Got among bad crevasses and pressure, all blue ice. We struggled in this chaos until about 9 p.m., when we were absolutely done." [1]

"By a fatal chance we kept too far to the left," Scott wrote, "and then we struck uphill and, tired and despondent, arrived in a horrid maze of crevasses and fissures. Divided councils caused our course to be erratic after this, and finally, at 9 P.M. we landed in the worst place of all. After discussion we decided to camp, and here we are, after a very short supper and one meal only remaining in the food bag; the depot doubtful in locality. We must get there to-morrow. Meanwhile we are cheerful with an effort. It's a tight place, but luckily we've been well fed up to the present. Pray God we have fine weather to-morrow." [2]

"It's an extraordinary thing about Evans," added Oates, "he's lost his guts and behaves like an old woman or worse. He's quite worn out with the work, and how he's going to do the 400 odd miles we've still got to do, I don't know." [3]


Notes:

[1] L.E.G. Oates, diary, 12 February, 1912, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.520.
[2] R.F. Scott, diary, 12 February, 1912, quoted in Scott's Last Expedition, v.1.
[3] L.E.G. Oates, diary, 12 February, 1912, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.521.