The Scott Entries

 Chapter Two: On the March

Tuesday, January 16. (1912)
A black flag tied to a sledge bearer; the remains of a camp; sledge and ski tracks; the paws of many dogs tells the whole story: the Norwegians have forestalled Scott; Amundsen first at the Pole.

*

The Pole, after all that struggle and effort, a subdued affair. Victory robbed.
Now the return.
Frostbite (Evans), cold feet (Oates), and snow blindness (Wilson). All hungrier, thinner and weaker. Food insufficient and short. Strained tendon (Wilson), bad fingers (Evans), bad shoulder (Scott). Concussion from a fall (Evans). All faces – especially noses – much cut up by the winds. A horrible light made everything look fantastic; made them lose their way more than once; then regain the right track. Bad attacks of snow blindness (Bowers and Wilson). None going strong. A blistered foot (Evans). Reduced food, reduced sleep, feeling done. Evans broken down in brain. A troublesome march with perhaps more troubles ahead. Evans dead! Scott's response seeming cold, too practical: his anxieties relieved.

*

Shambles Camp: plenty of horse meat, a fine supper. More hopefully – from now on – to come.

Terrible surface, hard plodding.

Desolation Camp: more pony meat looked for; found none.

Terribly slow progress. Pray God for better travelling; that the weather clears.

Southern Barrier Depôt: shortage of oil. A race between the season and hard conditions, their fitness and good food. Strong tea, biscuits and butter.

Very cold nights now. Cold, very cold.

Mid Barrier Depôt: three distinct blows: more shortage of oil; even with rigid economy won't go far. Oates, very frostbitten toes. The wind brought dark overcast weather.

Surface simply awful; feel cold horribly. In a very tight place indeed.

Mt. Hooper Depôt: shortage on allowance all round.

Wind foul. Oates near the end.

The season rapidly advances; the cold intense.

Oates disappears in blizzard; walked to his death.

All now cold on the march and at all times.

No. 14 pony camp: two pony marches from One Ton Camp. Leave theodolite, a camera, and Oates' sleeping-bag.

Ill-fortune presses. Scott's right foot gone. Bowers in first place with same condition.

Will the trouble spread?

Fatal blizzard: very low on fuel and only one or two [days] of food left. A continuous gale blows; a scene of whirling drift outside the tent. The end, Scott writes, cannot be far.

Picture credit: Scott's Party - Oates, Bowers, Scott, Wilson, Evans - at the South Pole, 1912.

See Journals, Captain Scott's Last Expedition, Robert Falcon Scott (Oxford World's Classics). 

Adapted from a series of entries on reading Scott's journals, November 2022.