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SCOTT'S LAST EXPEDITION

IN TWO VOLUMES

VOL. I. BEING THE JOURNALS OF

CAPTAIN R. F. SCOTT, R.N., C.V.O.

VOL. II. BEING THE REPORTS OF THE JOURNEYS AND THE SCIENTIFIC WORK
UNDERTAKEN BY DR. E. A. WILSON AND THE SURVIVING MEMBERS OF THE
EXPEDITION

ARRANGED BY

LEONARD HUXLEY

WITH A PREFACE BY

SIR CLEMENTS R. MARKHAM, K.C.B., F.R.S.

WITH PHOTOGRAVURE FRONTISPIECES, 6 ORIGINAL SKETCHES IN PHOTOGRAVURE BY
DR. E. A. WILSON, 18 COLOURED PLATES (10 FROM DRAWINGS BY DR. WILSON),
260 FULL PAGE AND SMALLER ILLUSTRATIONS FROM PHOTOGRAPHS TAKEN BY
HERBERT G. PONTING AND OTHER MEMBERS OF THE EXPEDITION, PANORAMAS
AND MAPS

VOLUME I

NEW YORK

1913



PREFACE

Fourteen years ago Robert Falcon Scott was a rising naval officer,
able, accomplished, popular, highly thought of by his superiors,
and devoted to his noble profession. It was a serious responsibility
to induce him to take up the work of an explorer; yet no man living
could be found who was so well fitted to command a great Antarctic
Expedition. The undertaking was new and unprecedented. The object was
to explore the unknown Antarctic Continent by land. Captain Scott
entered upon the enterprise with enthusiasm tempered by prudence
and sound sense. All had to be learnt by a thorough study of the
history of Arctic travelling, combined with experience of different
conditions in the Antarctic Regions. Scott was the initiator and
founder of Antarctic sledge travelling.

His discoveries were of great importance. The survey and soundings
along the barrier cliffs, the discovery of King Edward Land, the
discovery of Ross Island and the other volcanic islets, the examination
of the Barrier surface, the discovery of the Victoria Mountains--a
range of great height and many hundreds of miles in length, which had
only before been seen from a distance out at sea--and above all the
discovery of the great ice cap on which the South Pole is situated,
by one of the most remarkable polar journeys on record. His small but
excellent scientific staff worked hard and with trained intelligence,
their results being recorded in twelve large quarto volumes.

The great discoverer had no intention of losing touch with his
beloved profession though resolved to complete his Antarctic
work. The exigencies of the naval service called him to the command
of battleships and to confidential work of the Admiralty; so that
five years elapsed before he could resume his Antarctic labours.

The object of Captain Scott's second expedition was mainly scientific,
to complete and extend his former work in all branches of science. It
was his ambition that in his ship there should be the most completely
equipped expedition for scientific purposes connected with the polar
regions, both as regards men and material, that ever left these
shores. In this he succeeded. He had on board a fuller complement
of geologists, one of them especially trained for the study of
physiography, biologists, physicists, and surveyors than ever before
composed the staff of a polar expedition. Thus Captain Scott's objects
were strictly scientific, including the completion and extension
of his former discoveries. The results will be explained in the
second volume of this work. They will be found to be extensive and
important. Never before, in the polar regions, have meteorological,
magnetic and tidal observations been taken, in one locality, during
five years. It was also part of Captain Scott's plan to reach the
South Pole by a long and most arduous journey, but here again his
intention was, if possible, to achieve scientific results on the
way, especially hoping to discover fossils which would throw light
on the former history of the great range of mountains which he had
made known to science.

The principal aim of this great man, for he rightly has his niche
among the polar Dii Majores, was the advancement of knowledge. From
all aspects Scott was among the most remarkable men of our time, and
the vast number of readers of his journal will be deeply impressed
with the beauty of his character. The chief traits which shone forth
through his life were conspicuous in the hour of death. There are few
events in history to be compared, for grandeur and pathos, with the
last closing scene in that silent wilderness of snow. The great leader,
with the bodies of his dearest friends beside him, wrote and wrote
until the pencil dropped from his dying grasp. There was no thought
of himself, only the earnest desire to give comfort and consolation
to others in their sorrow. His very last lines were written lest he
who induced him to enter upon Antarctic work should now feel regret
for what he had done.

'If I cannot write to Sir Clements, tell him I thought much of him,
and never regretted his putting me in command of the _Discovery_.'

CLEMENTS R. MARKHAM.

Sept. 1913.



Contents of the First Volume



CONTENTS


CHAPTER I

THROUGH STORMY SEAS

General Stowage--A Last Scene in New Zealand--Departure--On Deck with
the Dogs--The Storm--The Engine-room Flooded--Clearing the Pumps--Cape
Crozier as a Station--Birds of the South--A Pony's Memory--Tabular
Bergs--An Incomparable Scene--Formation of the Pack--Movements of
the Floes ... 1


CHAPTER II

IN THE PACK

A Reported Island--Incessant Changes--The Imprisoning Ice--Ski-ing
and Sledging on the Floes--Movement of Bergs--Opening of the
Pack--A Damaged Rudder--To Stop or not to Stop--Nicknames--Ski
Exercise--Penguins and Music--Composite Floes--Banked Fires--Christmas
in the Ice--The Penguins and the Skua--Ice Movements--State of the
Ice-house--Still in the Ice--Life in the Pack--Escape from the Pack--A
Calm--The Pack far to the North--Science in the Ice ... 20


CHAPTER III

LAND

Land at Last--Reach Cape Crozier--Cliffs of Cape Crozier--Landing
Impossible--Penguins and Killers--Cape Evans as Winter Station--The
Ponies Landed--Penguins' Fatuous Conduct--Adventure with Killer
Whales--Habits of the Killer Whale--Landing Stores--The Skuas
Nesting--Ponies and their Ways--Dangers of the Rotting Ice ... 53


CHAPTER IV

SETTLING IN

Loss of a Motor--A Dog Dies--Result of Six Days' Work--Restive
Ponies--An Ice Cave--Loading Ballast--Pony Prospects--First Trip
to Hut Point--Return: Prospects of Sea Ice--A Secure Berth--The
Hut--Home Fittings and Autumn Plans--The Pianola--Seal Rissoles--The
Ship Stranded--Ice begins to go. ... 73


CHAPTER V

DEPOT LAYING TO ONE TON CAMP

Dogs and Ponies at Work--Stores for Depots--Old Stores at Discovery
Hut--To Encourage the Pony--Depôt Plans--Pony Snowshoes--Impressions
on the March--Further Impressions--Sledging Necessities and
Luxuries--A Better Surface--Chaos Without; Comfort Within--After the
Blizzard--Marching Routine--The Weakest Ponies Return--Bowers and
Cherry-Garrard--Snow Crusts and Blizzards--A Resented Frostbite--One
Ton Camp. ... 96


CHAPTER VI

ADVENTURE AND PERIL

Dogs' and Ponies' Ways--The Dogs in a Crevasse--Rescue Work--Chances
of a Snow Bridge--The Dog Rations--A Startling Mail--Cross the Other
Party--The End of Weary Willy--The Ice Breaks--The Ponies on the
Floe--Safely Back. ... 122


CHAPTER VII

AT DISCOVERY HUT

Fitting up the Old Hut--A Possible Land Route--The Geological Party
Arrives--Clothing--Exceptional Gales--Geology at Hut Point--An Ice
Foot Exposed--Stabling at Hut Point--Waiting for the Ice--A Clear
Day--Pancake Ice--Life at Hut Point--From Hut Point to Cape Evans--A
Blizzard on the Sea Ice--Dates of the Sea Freezing. ... 138


CHAPTER VIII

HOME IMPRESSIONS AND AN EXCURSION

Baseless Fears about the Hut--The Death of 'Hackenschmidt'--The Dark
Room--The Biologists' Cubicle--An Artificer Cook--A Satisfactory
Organisation--Up an Ice Face--An Icy Run--On getting Hot ... 158


CHAPTER IX

THE WORK AND THE WORKERS

Balloons--Occupations--Many Talents--The Young Ice goes out--Football:
Inverted Temperatures--Of Rainbows--Football: New Ice--Individual
Scientific Work--Individuals at Work--Thermometers on the Floe--Floe
Temperatures--A Bacterium in the Snow--Return of the Hut Point
Party--Personal Harmony ... 171


CHAPTER X

IN WINTER QUARTERS: MODERN STYLE

On Penguins--The Electrical Instruments--On Horse Management--On
Ice Problems--The Aurora--The Nimrod Hut--Continued Winds--Modern
Interests--The Sense of Cold--On the Floes--A Tribute to Wilson ... 190


CHAPTER XI

TO MIDWINTER DAY

Ventilation--On the Meteorological Instruments--Magnesium
Flashlight--On the Beardmore Glacier--Lively Discussions--Action of
Sea Water on Ice--A Theory of Blizzards--On Arctic Surveying--Ice
Structure--Ocean Life--On Volcanoes--Daily Routine--On Motor
Sledging--Crozier Party's Experiments--Midwinter Day Dinner--A
Christmas Tree--An Ethereal Glory ... 205


CHAPTER XII

AWAITING THE CROZIER PARTY

Threats of a Blizzard--Start of the Crozier Party--Strange Winds--A
Current Vane--Pendulum Observations--Lost on the Floe--The Wanderer
Returns--Pony Parasites--A Great Gale--The Ways of Storekeepers--A
Sick Pony--A Sudden Recovery--Effects of Lack of Light--Winds of
Hurricane Force--Unexpected Ice Conditions--Telephones at Work--The
Cold on the Winter Journey--Shelterless in a Blizzard--A Most Gallant
Story--Winter Clothing Nearly Perfect. 228


CHAPTER XIII

THE RETURN OF THE SUN

The Indomitable Bowers--A Theory of Blizzards--Ponies' Tricks--On
Horse Management--The Two Esquimaux Dogs--Balloon Records--On
Scurvy--From Tent Island--On India--Storms and Acclimatisation--On
Physiography--Another Lost Dog Returns--The Debris Cones--On Chinese
Adventures--Inverted Temperature. ... 255


CHAPTER XIV

PREPARATIONS: THE SPRING JOURNEY

On Polar Clothing--Prospects of the Motor Sledges--South Polar Times,
II--The Spring Western Journey--The Broken Glacier Tongue--Marching
Against a Blizzard--The Value of Experience--General Activity--Final
Instructions ...