Wednesday, 3 January 1912

Scott

"Last night I decided to reorganise," wrote Scott, "and this morning told off Teddy Evans, Lashly, and Crean to return. They are disappointed, but take it well." [1]

"'You've got a bad cold, Crean,' said Scott. But Crean saw through him. 'I understand a half-sung song, sir.'" [2]

Scott also told Lt. Evans privately that he wanted Bowers to go on with Scott's own team. Evans recalled, "He asked me to spare Bowers from mine if I thought I could make the return journey of 750 miles short-handed; this, of course, I consented to do, and so little Bowers left us to join the Polar Party. Captain Scott said he felt I was the only person capable of piloting the last supporting party back without a sledge meter. I felt very sorry for him having to break the news to us, although I had foreseen it." [3]

"I never thought for a moment that he [Lt. Evans] would be in the final party," Bowers wrote, "but he had buoyed himself up with the idea of going till the last minute.... Poor Teddy -- I am sure it was for his wife's sake he wanted to go. He gave me a little silk flag she had given him to fly at the pole." [4]

"Bowers is to come into our tent," Scott continued, "and we proceed as a five man unit to-morrow. We have 5 1/2 units of food -- practically over a month's allowance for five people -- it ought to see us through."

"I am one of the five to go on to the Pole," Wilson wrote to his wife. "It seems too good to be true that this long journey to the Pole should be realizing itself -- we ought to be there in less than a fortnight now..... Our five are all very nice together and we shall be a happy party." [5]

"The Captain said he was satisfied we were all in good condition," wrote Lashly, "fit to do the journey, but only so many could go on, so it was his wish Mr. Evans, Crean and myself should return. He was quite aware we should have a very stiff job, but we told him we did not mind that, providing he thought they could reach the Pole with the assistance 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 [Lt. Evans], 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." [6]

Oates' last letter home was dated "The Plateau, 3rd Jan '12. Dear Mother, I have been selected to go on to the Pole with Scott as you will have seen by the papers. I am of course delighted but I am sorry I shall not be home for another year as we shall miss the ship. We shall get to the Pole alright. We are now within 50 miles of Shackleton's farthest South.

"It is pretty cold up here (9500 feet) and the work has been very heavy but it is easier now as we can ski. The last supporting party takes this home. I am now lying writing this in my bag, we had -20° last night. I am very fit indeed and have lost condition less than anyone else almost. I hope the alterations at Gestingthorpe have been carried out I mean the archway between Violet's room & my room and my gear is in the room opposite the bath room, it shd be nice in there as I can have a fire at night better than in my old one. My clothes I left in the ship for returning to Lyttleton [sic] in will be in a fearful state from damp I am afraid so I have enclosed a list of things I should like sent out for me if you will, also I enclose a note for Brujum it is about the filly. Can you please also ask Col. Boucher to send me 1/2 doz books so that I can start working for my Major's exam on the way home. These things should be addressed to the Terra Nova at Lyttleton. What a lot we shall have to talk about when I get back. God bless you & keep you well until I come home.... 4th Waiting in the tent for hoosh. We get plenty of food & as soon as we start back we have plenty in the depots. Please give my love to Violet Lilian & Eric, & mention me to Algy. I am afraid the letter I wrote you from the hut was full of grumbles but I was very anxious about setting off with those ponies." [7] He enclosed the list of clothing he wanted sent out, adding at the end tobacco, cigarettes, and a big box of caramel creams.

"My feet are giving me a bit of trouble," he confessed in his diary. "They've been continually wet since leaving Hut Point. And now walking along this hard ice [on the Beardmore] has made rather hay of them." [8]

Back at Cape Adare, the Terra Nova put in at Robertson Bay to collect the Northern Party. "I sighted her," Levick noted at 8:30 a.m., " and hoisted a flag to alert the five men in the hut." Heavy pack meant that time was short, and many of Levick's specimens had to be left behind, to his great disappointment. Campbell, however, wrote, "We were not sorry to leave that gelid desolate spot, our place of abode for so many dreary months." [9] Pennell's orders were to drop off the Northern Party at Evans Coves, and to collect from the same place Debenham's Second Western Party, around January 8th.

Gran with his mule Lal Khan at Cape Evans, date unknown. [10]

The ship also carried a new set of dogs and seven mules. Oates had earlier persuaded Scott that mules would be a better form of transport on the Barrier than ponies, specifically trained Indian Transport mules.


Amundsen

Since the weather was fine and the going good, Amundsen abandoned his timetable and drove twenty miles, stopped for a five-hour rest, and continued on. After the first ten miles, they picked up their line of cairns.


Notes:

[1] R.F. Scott, diary, 3 January, 1912, quoted in Scott's Last Expedition, v.1.
[2] Tryggve Gran, Kampen om Sydpolen, p.158, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.472.
[3] E.R.G.R. Evans, South with Scott (London : Collins, 1947), p.210, quoted by David Crane in Scott of the Antarctic (New York : Knopf, c2005), p.482.
[4] H.R. Bowers, quoted by David Crane in Scott of the Antarctic (New York : Knopf, c2005), p.480.
[5] E.A. Wilson, letter to Oriana Wilson, 3 January, 1912, quoted by David Crane in Scott of the Antarctic (New York : Knopf, c2005), p.483.
[6] William Lashly, diary, 3 January, 1912, quoted by Apsley Cherry-Garrard in The Worst Journey in the World, ch.XII.
[7] L.E.G. Oates, letter, 3 January 1912, reproduced by Sue Limb and Patrick Cordingly in Captain Oates, Soldier and Explorer (London : Batsford, 1982), p.153-155. Violet and Lilian were Oates' sisters; Oates and the unmarried Violet lived with their mother in the family home at Gestingthorpe Hall, near Sudbury in Essex.
[8] L.E.G. Oates, diary, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.474.
[9] Both quoted by Katherine Lambert in The Longest Winter (Washington DC : Smithsonian Books, c2004), p.105-106.
[10] R.F. Scott, Scott's last expedition, v.2 (GoogleBooks edition), facing p.216. Note that the header on this e-book states that it is volumes 1 and 2, but is in fact only volume 2, which contains the various accounts of the Winter Journey, the Northern Party and Western Journeys, the second winter at Cape Evans, and scientific reports.

Tuesday, 2 January 1912

Scott

It was, Scott noted in his diary, "a plod for the foot people and pretty easy going for us." [1]


Amundsen

The Norwegians were forced by fog to camp soon after starting in the evening. "[But] just as we had got our pemmican down, the sun broke through, and shortly after it was the finest weather. In a quarter of an hour, we had packed up and were under way ... directly West in the hope of finding the depot ... but no depot was there to see." [2] Deep wave formations obscured their view, and they quickly agreed not to waste time floundering about but to head straight for the Butcher's Shop.

A familiar ridge of ice made them realise that they were indeed too far to the west, and, turning eastwards soon found their bearings at last and could see the point at the foot of the Devil's Glacier where the depot lay, behind them. "Under these circumstances," Amundsen wrote, "we all thought it would be wrong to leave the depot without trying to find it." [3] He sent Bjaaland and Helmer Hanssen back with Hanssen's unloaded sledge. With Bjaaland as forerunner, Hanssen wrote later, "the dogs had as much as they could to follow him. He wasn't from Telemark and an old Holmenkollen skier for nothing." [4]

The terrain, though, was harder than the two men expected, and they worried that they would be caught by the weather without sleeping bags. "[The] Captain said he thought it was 8 miles," Bjaaland wrote, "but rubbish I said. We went 11 miles, partly in fog and drift, without seeing anything. Luckily it cleared a little ahead, and soon we saw the [depot flags] across our course [about two] miles away, and our pleasure was vast, you can be sure." [5]

Reaching the depot, the two first gave their dogs a double ration of pemmican, with a little chocolate for themselves, and then loaded the supplies onto the empty sledge and started back. The return journey "went like a bomb," Bjaaland said. "After 10 hours on the march we were back at the camp [and] now we are rich in provisions." [6]

Amundsen, having stayed up the whole time that Bjaaland and Hanssen were gone, saw them reappear over the top of an ice ridge and rushed into the tent to wake the others, and to start up the primus to melt water. He wrote proudly in his diary that the two men had done forty-two miles with no rest and little food, "at an average speed of 3 miles an hour! Come and say that dogs are useless in this terrain." [7]

He also realised why he had been lost, that some error in navigation had gotten them a point and a half (17 degrees) off-course.

It was five days to the next depot, and they had ten days' rations for men and dogs, as well as emergency reserves.


Notes:

[1] R.F. Scott, diary, 2 January, 1912, quoted in Scott's Last Expedition, v.1.
[2] Roald Amundsen, diary, 3 January, 1912, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.501.
[3] Roald Amundsen, diary, 3 January, 1912, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.501.
[4] Helmer Hanssen, Gjennem Isbaksen, p. 98, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.501.
[5] Olav Bjaaland, diary, 3 January, 1912, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.500-501.
[6] Olav Bjaaland, diary, 3 January, 1912, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.500-501.
[7] Roald Amundsen, diary, 3 January, 1912, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.502.

Monday, 1 January 1912

Scott

"Stick of chocolate to celebrate the New Year," wrote Scott. "The supporting party not in very high spirits, they have not managed matters well for themselves. Prospects seem to get brighter -- only 170 miles to go and plenty of food left." [1]

That evening, with an extra cup of tea in the newly-double-lined tent, the five officers sat up until two in the morning, writing and talking. Oates, Lt. Evans recalled, "talked on and on, and his big, kind, brown eyes sparkled as he recalled little boyish escapades at Eton. ... [He] talked for some hours. At length Captain Scott reached out and affectionately seized him in the way that was itself characteristic of our leader, and said, 'You funny old thing, you have quite come out of your shell, Soldier. Do you know, we have all sat here talking for nearly four hours?'... [That night,] we warmed to each other in a way that we had never thought of, quite oblivious to cold, hardship, scant rations, or the great monotony of sledge hauling." [2]


Amundsen

The Norwegians reached the Devil's Glacier, but having arrived back at a different spot had hit a path between the chasms and avoided the Devil's Ballroom completely. "We were bloody lucky," Amundsen wrote with obvious relief. "In a few hours the whole glacier was conquered." [3]

They still were not completely certain where they were, and thus of the location of their next depot at the edge of the glacier. "The Captain thinks we are East of the depot," Bjaaland wrote, "so do the others. I, on the other hand, believe just as firmly that were are a little to the West. Tomorrow we shall see." [4]


Notes:

[1] R.F. Scott, 1 January, 1912, quoted in Scott's Last Expedition : the Journals, v.1. This is apparently a bowdlerized version, as Roland Huntford gives the phrase as "they have mismanaged matters for themselves" (Race for the South Pole, p.216).
[2] E.R.G.R. Evans, "My Recollections of a Gallant Comrade", Strand Magazine, December 1913, quoted by Sue Limb and Patrick Cordingly in Captain Oates, Soldier and Explorer (London : Batsford, 1982), p.152.
[3] Roald Amundsen, diary, 2 January 1912, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.500.
[4] Olav Bjaaland, diary, 2 January 1912, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.500.

Sunday, 31 December 1911

Scott

The camp on 31st December, at 86°56' S, before Lt. Evans turned back with Crean and Lashly. Bowers took this photograph. [1]

"The second party depoted its ski and some other weights equivalent to about 100 lbs.," wrote Scott. "I sent them off first; they marched, but not very fast. We followed and did not catch them before they camped by direction at 1.30. By this time we had covered exactly 7 miles (geo.), and we must have risen a good deal." [2] He did not give a reason for the depoting of the skis.

After a short march, Scott made camp and had the men dismantle the sledges and shorten them from twelve feet to ten, in order to lighten them and improve their running. This took eight hours, longer than Scott had intended, and Evans cut his hand badly in the process.


Amundsen

"Dear Diary," wrote Bjaaland, "wasn't the first day of the New Year fine and easy, the loveliest day of all." [3]

Because of fog and blizzard on the way up, the Norwegians were seeing the landscape for the first time, and for a few days were unable to tell exactly where they were. Amundsen had relied for his bearings on a distinctive mountain at the edge of the Norway Glacier, known today as Mount Bjaaland, but now, confused by the unfamiliar angle and changing light, as well as being cagey about his short-sightedness, could not seem to find it. "We are in truth running through an enigma. To recognise where we are is an impossibility." [4] They had stopped taking astronomical observations since leaving the Pole, and had lost the line of cairns after 88° S, but son picked up the mountains around the Butcher's Shop in the distance.

The Norwegians and the British were in fact barely a hundred miles apart, Amundsen approaching the descent from the Polar Plateau via the Axel Heiberg Glacier, and Scott just coming up to it from the Beardmore.

Wisting came down with toothache. He was the one with dental training, and since, he wrote later, "it was a little far to the nearest dentist, I asked [Amundsen] if he would take care of the beast. He instantly declared himself willing, and our forceps were got out. On account of the cold, it first had to be warmed over the Primus. Then I knelt in my sleeping bag, and he sat over me in his, and pulled as hard as he could. After a tremendous fuss the operation -- eventually -- succeeded, and with that all my troubles were over." [5]

Prestrud's Eastern Party started out on their third survey journey, this time to the southwestern corner of the Bay of Whales. They were surprised to find, he later wrote, that "the solid Barrier divided into small islands, separated by comparatively broad sounds. These isolated masses of ice could not possibly be afloat, although the depth in one or two places, where we had a chance of making soundings, proved to be as much as 200 fathoms. The only rational explanation we could think of was that there must be a group of low-lying islands here, or in any case shoals." [6]


Notes

[1] Wikipedia.
[2] R.F. Scott, diary, 1 January 1912, quoted in Scott's Last Expedition, v.1.
[3] Olav Bjaaland, diary, [1 January, 1912], quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.499.
[4] Roald Amundsen, diary, 1 January, 1912, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.499.
[5] Oscar Wisting, 16 År med Roald Amundsen, p.38, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.500. Amundsen had studied medicine as a young man at the request of his mother; when she died, he gave it up almost immediately to dedicate himself to polar exploration.
[6] Kristian Prestrud, "The Eastern Sledge Journey", in Roald Amundsen's The South Pole, ch.15. Note that the date is given as 1st January 1912; see Hinks' note on dates in "The Observations of Amundsen and Scott at the South Pole" (The Geographical Journal, April 1944, p.169).

Saturday, 30 December 1911

Scott

"Scott's own diary of this first fortnight on the plateau shows the immense shove of the man," Cherry wrote later, "he was getting every inch out of the miles, every ounce out of his companions. Also he was in a 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 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. Always a fraction of a mile more. On December 30 he writes, 'We have caught up Shackleton's dates.'" [1]


Amundsen

"The dogs are in splendid form now," wrote Amundsen, "hale and hearty. Passed 87° S.Lat. last night at 11 o'clock. As usual we have done our 15 nautical miles in 5 hours. W. always sets sail on his sledge and it helps him a great deal." [2]


Notes:

[1] Apsley Cherry-Garrard, The Worst Journey in the World, ch.XI.
[2] Roald Amundsen, diary, 31 December 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in Race for the South Pole : the expedition diaries of Scott and Amundsen (London : Continuum, c2010), p.214.

Friday, 29 December 1911

Scott

"Sledging", a watercolour by Wilson, date unknown. This was later published in Scott's Last Expedition. [1]

"The worst surface we have struck, very heavy pulling," wrote Scott, "but we came 6 1/2 miles (geo.). It will be a strain to keep up distances if we get surfaces like this. We seem to be steadily but slowly rising. The satisfactory thing is that the second party now keeps up, as the faults have been discovered; they were due partly to the rigid loading of the sledge and partly to the bad pacing." [2]

"The marches are terribly monotonous," he added. "One's thoughts wander occasionally to pleasanter scenes and places, but the necessity to keep the course, or some hitch in the surface, quickly brings them back. There have been some hours of very steady plodding to-day; these are the best part of the business, they mean forgetfulness and advance." [3]


Amundsen

The terrain on the descent was a mixture of sastrugi and blue ice. "We went with the speed of lightning," wrote Amundsen. He and the other skiers "had a hard job to keep up with the sledges. The drivers support themselves on their sledges, are pulled along on skis, and have halcyon days." [4]

The skiing, wrote Bjaaland, was "as easy as it could possibly be [but] had my work cut out to keep ahead of Helmer's dogs. Just as I thought they were well behind, I found them sticking their noses in front, just next to me." [5]

Wisting rigged a sail on his sledge.


Notes:

[1] "Pictures From the Terra Nova Expedition : Watercolours by Dr. E. A. Wilson" at Cool Antarctica.
[2] R.F. Scott, diary, 29 December, 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in Race for the South Pole : the expedition diaries of Scott and Amundsen (London : Continuum, c2010), p.212-213. This part of the entry does not appear in the online version of Scott's journals at Project Gutenberg. It seems to have been conflated with the entry for 30th December, possibly an error and not a deliberate omission, as it appears in print editions such as that by Methuen.
[3] R.F. Scott, diary, 29 December, 1911, quoted in Scott's Last Expedition, v.1.
[4] Roald Amundsen, diary, 30 December, 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.498.
[5] Olav Bjaaland, diary, 30 December, 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.498.

Thursday, 28 December 1911

Scott

"When Scott and Amundsen Passed". [1]

Teddy Evans' team were "fagged out," Scott decided, "and I have told them plainly that they must wrestle with the trouble and get it right for themselves." [2] Evans' sledge was running badly, and Scott blamed Evans for strapping the loads too tightly, thus distorting the framework and runners.

"There is no possible reason why they should not get along as easily as we do," he added. [3] Evans and Lashly had now been man-hauling since the motors broke down, almost the whole length of the Barrier, and Evans was, although it was unknown at the time, already in the early stages of scurvy.

"My unit pulled away easy this morning," Scott wrote, "and stretched out for two hours -- the second unit made heavy weather. I changed with [Lt.] Evans and found the second sledge heavy -- could keep up, but the team was not swinging with me as my own team swings. Then I changed P.O. Evans for Lashly. We seemed to get on better, but at the moment the surface changed and we came up over a rise with hard sastrugi. At the top we camped for lunch. What was the difficulty? One theory was that some members of the second party were stale. Another that all was due to the bad stepping and want of swing; another that the sledge pulled heavy. In the afternoon we exchanged sledges, and at first went off well, but getting into soft snow, we found a terrible drag, the second party coming quite easily with our sledge. So the sledge is the cause of the trouble, and talking it out, I found that all is due to want of care. The runners ran excellently, but the structure has been distorted by bad strapping, bad loading, this afternoon and only managed to get 12 miles (geo.)." [4]


Amundsen

The Norwegians reached the summit of the Plateau, and began the gentle descent.

Amundsen again raised the pemmican allowance, to 450g, and they were now getting a little more than the amount of food they needed. [5] Bjaaland had the day before "asked the Captain for a little more pemmican, and had 1/2 a ration extra" -- he was working hard as forerunner. [6]


Notes:

[1] The New York Times, 12 February 1913.
[2] R.F. Scott, diary, 28 December 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.471. This quote does not appear in the published version of Scott's diary, and may have been excised as were a number of other uncomplimentary remarks, but neither does it appear in Huntford's Race for the South Pole : the expedition diaries of Scott and Amundsen (2011), which supposedly restores these excisions. See the next note.
[3] R.F. Scott, diary, 28 December, 1911, quoted by David Crane in Scott of the Antarctic (New York : Knopf, c2005), p.479. Crane gives essentially the same quote here as does Huntford in Scott and Amundsen.
[4] R.F. Scott, diary, 28 December, 1911, quoted in Scott's Last Expedition, v.1.
[5] Roland Huntford gives the Norwegians' calorie allowance at this point as 5,000 per day after the increase in pemmican, for work that used about 4,500 calories (Scott and Amundsen, "Note on diet").
[6] Olav Bjaaland, diary, 28 December 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in Race for the South Pole : the expedition diaries of Scott and Amundsen (London : Continuum, c2010), p.210.

Wednesday, 27 December 1911

Scott

Bowers accidentally broke the thermometer on the hypsometer, an instrument for determining altitude by the boiling point of water. "[I] got an unusual outburst of wrath in consequence," he wrote in chagrin, "in fact my name is mud just at present. It is rather sad to get into the dirt tub with one's leader at this juncture, but accidents will happen." [1] Scott now had no accurate way to measure altitude, having brought only one thermometer.

"We marched off well after lunch on a soft, snowy surface," Scott wrote that evening, "then came to slippery hard sastrugi and kept a good pace; but I felt this meant something wrong, and on topping a short rise we were once more in the midst of crevasses and disturbances. For an hour it was dreadfully trying -- had to pick a road, tumbled into crevasses, and got jerked about abominably. At the summit of the ridge we came into another 'pit' or 'whirl,' which seemed the centre of the trouble -- is it a submerged mountain peak? During the last hour and a quarter we pulled out on to soft snow again and moved well. Camped at 6.45, having covered 13 1/3 miles (geo.). Steering the party is no light task. One cannot allow one's thoughts to wander as others do, and when, as this afternoon, one gets amongst disturbances, I find it is very worrying and tiring." [2]


Notes:

[1] H.R. Bowers, diary, 27 December, 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.469. Amundsen had four thermometers, in case of accidents.
[2] R. F. Scott, diary, 27 December, 1911, quoted in Scott's Last Expedition : the Journals, v.1.