The Voyages of Captain Scott : Retold from the Voyage of the Discovery and Scott's Last Expedition

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excellent marches were made, the dogs pulling splendidly, and anxious as Scott was to get back to Safety Camp and find out what had happened to the other parties and the ponies, h

bout an hour and a half after the start they came upon mistily outlined pressure ridges and were running by the sledges when, as the teams were trotting side by side, the middle dogs o

gling for foothold. Osman, the leader, put forth all his strength and most wonderfully kept a

k a fraction of a pound of added weight must have taken us down.' Directly the sledge had been hauled clear of the bridge and anchored, they peered into the depths of the cracks. The dogs, suspended in all sorts of fantastic positions, were howling dismally and almost fra

most fortunately knew. The prospect, however, of rescuing the team was not by any means bright, and for some minutes every attempt failed. In spite of their deter

ing off Meares' sleeping-bag, passed the tent-poles across the crevasse, and with Meares managed to get a few inches on the leading line. This freed Osman, whose harness was immediately cut. The next step was t

AFTER THREE D

Lieut.

sse and pegged down on both sides, Wilson holding on to the anchored trace while the others worked at the leader end. The leading rope, however, was so very small that Scott was afraid

bridge on which they were coiled. The rope was 90 feet, and as the amount remaining showed that the depth of the bridge was about 65 feet, Scott made a bowline and insisted upon being lowered down. The bridge turned out to be firm, and

, Scott has just said that at one time he never hoped to get back with the thirteen, or even half of them. When he was down in the crevasse he wanted t

ulated themselves on a miraculous escape. Had the sledge gone down Scott and Meares must have been badly injured, if not ki

pressed a very strong opinion that they were underfed. 'One thing is certain, the dogs will never continue to drag heav

hough the greatest care had also been given to Blossom, both of them were left on the Southern Road. The remaining one of the three, James Pigg, had managed not only to survive but actually to thrive

as there. A pencil line on the wall stated that a bag containing a mail was inside, but no bag was to be found. But presently what turned out to be the true solution of this curious state of affairs was gue

soon started back to Safety Camp, but it was not until they were within a couple of hundred yards of their destination that they saw three tents instead of two,

mail bag which Atkinson gave me-a letter from Campbell setting out h

wiser, course for us is to proceed exactly as though this had not happened. To

60 miles-I never thought he could have got so many dogs [116] safely to the ice. His plan for running them seems ex

to McMurdo Sound to communicate with the main party, and then try to effect a landing in the vicinity of Smith's Inlet or as far to the westward as possible on the north coast of Victoria Land, and if possible to explore the unknown coast west of Cape North. We therefore made the best of our way to Cape Evans, and arrived on the evening of the 8th. Here I decided to land the two ponies, a

s which was bound to occupy his thoughts, however resolutely

, and Keohane leading James Pigg, started their march. At 3 P.M. on Saturday Scott turned out and saw a short black line on the horizon towards White Island. Presently he made certain that it was Bowers and his companions,

ier stages. The next day, however, had to be spent in the tent owing to a howling blizzard, and not until the Tuesday did Scott reach Safe

ock the two dog teams driven by Wilson and Meares got safely away. Then the ponies were got ready to start, the plan being for them to follow in the

Gran, decided to stay behind and attend to the sick pony. But despite all the attempts to save him, Weary Willy died during the Tuesday night. 'It makes a late start necessary for next year,' Scott wrote in his d

irection from Hut Point. On their approach the sky looked black and lowering, and mirage effects of huge broken floes loomed out ahead. At first Scott thought that this was one of the strange optical

k from Corner Camp with James Pigg. 'We set up tent, and Gran went to the dep?t with a note as Oates and I disconsolately thought out the situation. I thought to myself that if either party had reached safety either on the Barrier or at Hut Point they w

stonished to see him, because they had left Safety Camp before the breakdown of Weary Willy had upset t

onies. 'I caught Bowers up at the edge of the Barrier,' Cherry-Garrard wrote in his diary, 'the dogs were on ahead and we saw them turn and make rig

squelching through for many feet on both sides. We all thought it impossible to proceed and turned back.... The

lity and agreed to. Of course according to arrang

he top is lost, and it took a long time. He mistook curry powder for cocoa, and we all felt ve

wonder. At 2 A.M. we turned in, Bowers went out, and all was quiet. At 4.30 A.M. Bo

sledges were on the next floe, and "Cuts" had disappeared down the opening. Bowers shouted to us all and hauled the two sledges on to our floe in his socks.

as the cracks joined.... We then man-hauled the sledges after them, then according to the size of the floe sometimes harnessed the ponies in aga

at there were gaps everywhere off the high Barrier face. In this dilemma Crean volunteered to try and reach Scott, and after traveling a great distance and leaping fr

scussing the critical situation, a man, who proved to be C

the ice-edge, and to their joy caught sight of Bowers and Cherry-Garrard. With the help of the Alpine rope both the men were dragged to the surface, and after camp had been pitched at a safe distance from the edge all hands started upon salvage work. The ice at this time lay close and quiet against the Barrier e

ryone out at 8.30 yesterday morning [after three or four hours]. Before breakfast we discovered the ponies had dri

rought, tried to leap Punch across a gap. The poor beast fell in; eventually we had to kill him-it was awful. I recalled all hands and pointed out my road. Bowers and Oates went out on it with a sledge and worked their way to the remaining ponies, and started back with them on the same track.... We saved one pony; for a time I thought we should get both, but Bowers' poor animal slipped at a jump and plunged into the water: we dragged him out on some bras

E. Evans and his party were safe; but while they were camping that night on Pram Point ridges, Evans' party, all of whom were well, came in. Then it was decided that Atkinson should go on

ed up a small fireplace in the hut and found some wood and made a fire for an hour or so at each meal, but as there was no coal and not much wood we felt we must be economical with the fuel, and so also with matches and everything else, in case Bowers should lose his sledge loads, which had most of the supplies for the whole par

hands and the animals safely housed.' Only two ponies, James Pigg and Nobby, remained out of the eight that had started on the dep?