Cbe Hiftrarp of tye (tlnitjersitp of iQottb Carolina THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHAPEL HILL ENDOWED BY THE DIALECTIC AND PHILANTHROPIC SOCIETIES G8$0 1910 .SU2 v, 2 J SEP 8 - ^ UNIVERSITY OF N.C. AT CHAPEL HILL 10002069805 This book is due at the LOUIS R. WILSON LIBRARY on the last date stamped under "Date Due." If not on hold it may be renewed by bringing it to the library. DATE DirT DUE RET DATE DUE r J\Pfi2 9 W3 Hi " *- *-* f^-, ■OCT 30*92 FER i 1997 i \J J f ■_ i QL eft 1 — 11^1/ O ' w i mmmmm mt rt * tfv* '".' / 9 y/ SCOTT'S LAST EXPEDITION VOLUME II Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2013 http://archive.org/details/scottslastexpedi2scott rmesy ' ^ aifis6r~JBhs. . Sclu^ct, .A.C&lvLsviv, £b.A.,eJi.g$. "frviTvcLp no tom^asmxs djj ~1jZ (b. ^J. ^(Jb vLsc ftX cl Cm e '-Ltc n li an\ SCOTT'S ,\ c wc 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, 1 8 COLOURED PLATES (l6 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 II *T?.u\ NEW YORK DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY 1913 Copyright, 191 3 By The Ridgway Company Copyright, 191 3 By Dodd, Mead & Co. All rights reserved Published November, 191 3 THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, CAMBRIDGE, U.S.A. CONTENTS OF THE SECOND VOLUME THE WINTER JOURNEY TO CAPE CROZIER Mr. Cherry-Garrard's Diary — Brushing down the Tent — The Barrier Edge — Ice Waves of the Barrier — Bowers' Meteoro- logical Record — Remarkable Aurora — Clothes Frozen Hard — Lowest Temperature Recorded — Between Mt. Terror and Pressure Ridges — Absence of Tide Crack — Revised Rations — Approaching the Knoll — Site of the Hut — Building the Hut — High Winds — Among the Pressure Ridges — The Hut Rooted in — Through Hole and Gully — At the Emperor Rookery — The Penguins' Eggs — Night in the Igloo — The Tent Blown Away — The Stove Fails — The Roof Goes — Recovery of the Tent — Unsheltered in the Storm — Little Gear Lost — Personal Sufferings — Pressures and Crevasses Again — The Sense of Destiny — Past Terror Point — The Barrier 'Shudder' — Clearer Surface and Warmer Marching — Hut Point Again — Back at Cape Evans — State of the Sleeping-Bags — Daily Routine — The Hardest Journey on Record NARRATIVE OF THE NORTHERN PARTY Instructions — King Edward's Land — Balloon Bight Gone — Towards Cape Adare — Robertson Bay — A Penguin Show- man — Meat Stores — Kayaks Built — Hut Routine — A New Alarm Clock — Sledging Round Robertson Bay — A Fierce Storm — Expedition Preparing — Dangers of Siren Bay — Ex- amining the Coast — Sealing — Towards Mt. Melbourne — On A the Boomerang Glacier — On the Melbourne Glacier — To ^ Corner Glacier — Fossils — Evans Coves — First Impressions ^ of Blubber — Need of Better Shelter — Ancient Sea-weed — N Fresh Fish — An Improvised Stove — Hunger and Supplies — £ Readings and Lectures — Choked by the Snow — The 'Corn- er plex' Stove Fails — The Larder Threatened — Accident to Page vi SCOTT'S LAST EXPEDITION Page Abbott — The Igloo Coated with Snow — Diet and Disease — * Igloo Back' — Penguin Meat Better than Seal — A Tiring Start — Illness and a Gale — A Narrow Escape — Mount Erebus in Sight — Among Pressure Ridges — The Nordenskiold Ice Tongue — Seals Found — Browning's Condition — Renewed Strength and Health — News at Butter Point — Browning's Recovery — Arrive at Cape Evans — At Cape Evans .... 54 THE WESTERN JOURNEYS CHAPTER I KOETTLITZ, FERRAR, AND TAYLOR GLACIERS Comrades and Comradeship — Instructions — Equipment — Glass- Roof Ice — A Snowless Valley — Alcove Camp — 'Lake Chad' and 'Round Valley' — 'A Few Feathers in the Bed' — Sledge Literature — In Crevasses — ' Browning the Boots ' — The Sound of the Sea Ice — 'Armadillo Camp' — 'Park Lane Camp' — Seals on the Koettlitz Glacier — Compass Readings — An Eventful Lunch — In the Pinnacle Ice — At the Place of the Pony Disaster — Antarctic Changes 124 CHAPTER II THE GEOLOGICAL EXPEDITION TO GRANITE HARBOUR Instructions — Improvement in Gear — A March Through a Snow- storm — Head Gear — The Old Glacier Tongue — On Salty Snow — Sledge Routine — Rendezvous Bluff — Daily Menu — 'Too Tired to Think' — Insects Discovered — 'Granite House* — Gondola Mountain — Reading in a Blizzard — A Dangerous Passage — Skuas' Eggs — Amateur Doctoring — Feast Days — The 'Barrier Shudder' — Gondola Ridge — Ascent of Gondola Nunatak — A Photographic Epitome — Antarctic Gardening — Crossing a Shear Crack — Sad History of the Skuas — Rec- reations — Gran's Birthday — The Ship Disappears — A Com- pulsory March — A Saving Depot Left — Perilous Marching — Eye Treatment — At Butter Point — Met by the Ship . . 152 SPRING DEPOT JOURNEY The New Double Tent — The Cairn Buried in Snow — Marching Average 199 CONTENTS OF THE SECOND VOLUME vii THE LAST YEAR AT CAPE EVANS CHAPTER I Page Lieutenant Evans Saved — Setting out to meet Scott— The Dog Team Held Up — Hardships on the Return 204 CHAPTER II A Last Effort in Great Cold — Council at Cape Evans — Attempt to Relieve Campbell — A Difficult Return — The Second Winter at Cape Evans — Winter Occupations Renewed 210 CHAPTER III New Mule Gear — Fish, Fire, and Fossils — Mules Enjoy Blizzards — Alternative Before the Search Party — Plans for the Search 219 CHAPTER IV Loss of the Best Dog — A Fire: The Mules' Condition — Demetri Depot 227 CHAPTER V The Mules Set Out— The Dogs' Cure for Slackness— The Ways of Dogs and Mules — Leakage of Oil — The Last Cairn — Re- turn of Campbell 232 THE ASCENT OF EREBUS, DECEMBER, 1912 Demetri's Peak. — The Sledge Return — The Active Crater Shows Off — A Glissade Down 240 VOYAGES OF THE TERRA NOVA Oates Land — The Last of the Land — Lesser Rorquals — Difficulty with the Pumps — The Winter Cruise — Lyttelton Hospitality — Programme for the Second Voyage — Mules Exercised on Deck — Campbell's Party Transferred — Off Cape Evans — Taylor's Party Picked Up — First Attempt to Relieve Camp- bell — Second Attempt to Relieve Campbell — The Worst Storm of All — Death of Brissenden — Position of the Pack — Penguins — Tidings of the Southern Party — Reception at the Hut — The Memorial Cross — A Visit to Campbell's Igloo — New Zealand Reached — The Nimrod Islands — Tribute to the Crew 246 UNIVERSITAS ANTARCTICA! The Barrier's Floating Ice-Front — Movement of the Barrier — The Glaciers and the Ice Sheet — Debate on the Barrier Problems 279 viii SCOTT'S LAST EXPEDITION A RESUME OF THE PHYSIOGRAPHY AND GLACIAL GEOLOGY OF VICTORIA LAND, ANTARCTICA Page An Australian Parallel — Plateau and Mountains — The Ferrar and Taylor Glaciers — The Koettlitz Glacier — The Great Piedmont Glacier — The Retreating Ice 285 THE GEOLOGICAL HISTORY OF SOUTH VICTORIA LAND The Oldest Rocks — Cambrian Strata — The Beacon Sandstone — The Great Faults 295 SUMMARY OF GEOLOGICAL JOURNEYS The Fossils Collected 301 NOTES ON ICE PHYSICS Sea Ice — Pack Ice — Glaciers — The Barrier — Icebergs 303 GENERAL PHYSICS Magnetic Observations — Atmospheric Electricity — Pendulum Ob- servations 311 METEOROLOGICAL REPORT Temperatures — Blizzards — Frequency of High Winds — Record of Blizzards — Causes of Blizzards — Potential Gradient Tables 316 SUMMARY OF BIOLOGICAL WORK CARRIED OUT ON BOARD THE TERRA NOVA, 1910-1913 The Plankton — New Zealand Studies — The Ocean Food-Supply — Cephalodiscus 328 MARINE BIOLOGY— WINTER QUARTERS, 1911-1913 Tides in McMurdo Sound 335 OUTFIT AND PREPARATION Firms Supplying Stores — Warm Interest in the Expedition — The Terra Nova 338 Epilogue 345 Appendix 347 Index 353 ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE SECOND VOLUME Portrait of Edward A. Wilson, B.A., M.B Frontispiece COLOURED PLATES From Water-colour Drawings by Dr. Edward A. Wilson Facing p. 24 37 42 106 227 232 238 Cave in the Barrier, Cape Crozier, January 4, 191 1 . Mount Erebus Hut Point from Observation Hill Sledging Looking West from Cape Evans The Ramp and the Slopes of Erebus An April Sunset from Hut Point, looking West . . . From an Autochrome Photograph by Herbert G. Ponting An April After-glow " 268 DOUBLE PAGE PLATES Panorama from Discovery Bluff, looking north-^ west up the Mackay Glacier to the Great Ice Plateau (Photo by F. Debenham) The top of Mount Suess, looking South .... (Photo by Lieut. T. Gran) A Panorama of Cape Roberts " (Photo by G. Taylor) Avalanche Cliffs on the South Side of Granite Harbour (Photo by G. Taylor) Between pp. 176-177 180-181 SCOTT'S LAST EXPEDITION An * Outlet Glacier' Valley Completely filled' with Ice (Photo by F. Debenham) An Ice-free Outlet Valley whose Glacier has Re- ceded over Twenty Miles from the Sea . . . (Photo by F. Debenham) The Lower Koettlitz Glacier (Photo by F. Debenham) ' Between pp. 286-287 FULL PAGE PLATES The Full Page Plates are from Photographs by Herbert G. Ponting, except where otherwise stated Bowers, Wilson and Cherry-Garrard about to Leave for Cape Crozier Facing p. 2 The Tide-crack at Razorback Island " 6 A Weddell Seal getting on to the Ice 6 A Pressure Ridge in the Sea Ice running towards Cape Barne " 10 Emperor Penguins " 31 (Photo by F. Debenham) Emperor Penguins' Eggs from Cape Crozier 34 Frost-Smoke " 34 Wilson, Bowers and Cherry-Garrard on Their Return from Cape Crozier " 46 The Last Boat leaves for the Ship 53 A Berg calving from a Glacier at Cape Crozier .... 56 {The Illustrations facing pages 59 to 108, with the ex- ception of those facing pages 90 and 92, are from Photographs by Dr. Levick) Face of a Glacier in Victoria Land 59 Dugdale Glacier 59 Penguins Promenade 61 Skua Gulls Fighting over some Blubber 64 Penguins Jumping on to the Ice-foot 64 Launch of the Pram 66 Campbell and Priestley afloat on Pancake Ice .... 66 Campbell Afloat in a Kayak " 68 The Two Kayaks Ashore 68 Llansen's Grave on Cape Adare 70 Clearing Drift from Window of Hut at Cape Adare . . 70 'The Warning.' An Oncoming Blizzard 72 Slope of the Warning Glacier 72 ILLUSTRATIONS IN SECOND VOLUME xi Camp in the Cave under Penelope Point Facing p. 74 Levick outside Camp at Penelope Point 74 The Hut at Cape Adare " 76 The Northern Party at Cape Adare 76 Ice Structure 7 8 Re-cemented Crevasse 78 Crevassed Ice at Entrance to Priestley Glacier .... 81 Inside Door of Igloo by Light of Blubber Lamps . . . 84 Levick's Camp among Crevasses 84 Penguins on Ice-foot 87 This Penguin has an Industrious Mate 90 This one hasn't 90 A Pair of Adelie Penguins 92 A Proud Mother " 92 Browning at the Igloo Door 94 Exterior of Igloo 94 Igloo Passage, looking towards the Steps leading outside, down which the Light is Shining 97 Ice Cave 104 Group after Winter in Igloo 104 Penguins Diving " 108 A Weddell Seal about to Dive " 112 A Weddell Seal on the Beach " 112 Lieut. Campbell's Party on their Return to Cape Evans " 121 (Photo by F. Debenham) Telephotograph of the Mount Lister Scarp " 124 The First Western Party in a Natural Ice-tunnel ... " 126 (Photo by G. Taylor) The Second Western Party at Cape Geology " 126 (Photo by F. Debenham) Alcove Camp in a Surface Gully of the Taylor Glacier . . " 132 (Photo by F. Debenham) 'Packing' from Alcove Camp to the Sea " 132 (Photo by G. Taylor) The Lower Koettlitz Glacier " 137 (Photo by F. Debenham) The Koettlitz Glacier just North of Heald Island ... " 142 (Photo by F. Debenham) Alph Avenue " 142 (Photo by F. Debenham) Ice Crystals on the Roof of a Cave " 144 (Photo by C. S. Wright) A Steep Gully cut by the Alph River " 144 (Photo by F. Debenham) The South-west End of Alph Avenue " 146 (Photo by F. Debenham) xii SCOTT'S LAST EXPEDITION The Second Western Party the Day they were picked up by the Ship Facing p. 150 Sledge Track crossing an Adelie Penguin Track .... 154 A Moulting Penguin ...... 154 The Wilson Piedmont Glacier " 158 (Photo by F. Debenham) Couloir Cliffs, Granite Harbour 158 (Photo by G. Taylor) 'Overland over Cape Roberts' 162 (Photo by G. Taylor) Heavy Sledging in the New Snow off Cape Disappoint- ment 162 (Photo by F. Debenham) Granite Hut, Cape Geology 166 (Photo by G. Taylor) Forde Cooking Seal-fry on the Blubber Stove at Cape Roberts " 166 (Photo by F. Debenham) Pressure Ice Blocks near Discovery Bluff 170 (Photo by F. Debenham) The Devil's Punch Bowl " 170 (Photo by F. Debenham) Granite Blocks Planed by Ancient Glaciers at Cape Roberts " 184 (Photo by G. Taylor) Mount England and the New Glacier " 184 (Photo by F. Debenham) The Mouth of Dry Valley " 194 (Photo by F. Debenham) The Relief of the Western Party . . 196 The Shadow of Mount Erebus on the Clouds 200 (Photo by F. Debenham) Lieut. E. R. G. R. Evans Surveying with the Four-inch Theodolite which was used to locate the South Pole . 202 Mount Erebus . 210 Demetri Geroff . . . 216 (Photo by Lieut. T. Gran) Gran with Mule ' Lai Khan' " 216 (Photo by F. Debenham) Midwinter Day, 191 2 — The Officers " 224 (Photo by F. Debenham) Midwinter Day, 191 2 — The Men 224 (Photo by F. Debenham) The Hut after the Winter " 230 Southern Party, 1912 234 (Photo by F. Debenham) The Last Rest. (The Grave of Scott, Wilson, and Bowers) " 236 (Photo by Lieut. T. Gran) ILLUSTRATIONS IN SECOND VOLUME xiii The Ramparts of Mount Erebus Remains of an Explosive Crater on Erebus (Photo by R. E. Priestley) Erebus Party, December, 191 2 (Photo by R. E. Priestley) Highest Camp in Antarctica (Photo by R. E. Priestley) South Fang, Old Crater (Photo by R. E. Priestley) The Summit of Erebus « (Photo by Lieut. T. Gran) Lieut. Pennell with a Prismatic Compass Lieut. Bruce The Officers of the 'Terra Nova/ 191 2 Voyage .... Heavy Pack in which the Ship was held up whilst endeav- ouring to Rescue the Northern Party Memorial Cross Erected at Observation Hill to the South- ern Party (Photo by F. Debenham) Vertical Sections showing foundered and fractured east- slopes of Victoria Land and Australia Main Physiographic Features of the Apposed Valleys of the Ferrar and Taylor Glaciers Main Physiographic Features of the Koettlitz Glacier. . Main Physiographic Features of the Mackay Glacier and Granite Harbour t Ice-flowers on Newly-formed Sea Ice (Photo by C. S. Wright) Growing Ice-foot, Cape Evans (Photo by F. Debenham) Ice Crystals in Crevasse (Photo by C. S. Wright) C. S. Wright making Observations with the Transit . . Dr. Simpson in his Laboratory A Blizzard (Photo by Dr. Simpson) A Blizzard with Gusts (Photo by Dr. Simpson) Sudden Commencement of Blizzards (Photo by Dr. Simpson) D. G. Lillie with Some of the Siliceous Sponges of which he Secured a Record Haul with the Dredge .... F. Debenham E. W. Nelson with the Nansen-Petersen Insulated Water- bottle acini r p. 24O 242 a 242 a 246 a 246 it 248 it a a 256 256 260 266 Page From 285 drawings by 288 Edward 289 Pay 291 Facing p • 304 ct 307 te 310 a 312 a 317 a 322 a 324 a 326 u 329 a 332 335 xiv SCOTT'S LAST EXPEDITION MAPS Track of Journey from Cape Evans to Cape Crozier . . Facing p. 50 Sketch Map to Illustrate Journeys of the Western Geo- logical Parties " I go Map of the Region traversed on the Western Journeys, 1911-1912 " IQ g Sketch Map of Mount Erebus " 244 Tracks of the ' Terra Nova,' January-March, 191 2 . . " 274 Tracks of the 'Terra Nova/ 1910-1913 " 278 Preliminary Map showing Sphere of Action of British Antarctic Expedition, 1910-191 3 At end of text THE BARRIER SILENCE The Silence was deep with a breath like sleep As our sledge runners slid on the snow, But the fate-full fall of our fur-clad feet Struck mute like a silent blow On a questioning " Hush ? " as the settling crust Shrank shivering over the floe. And a voice that was thick from a soul that seemed sick Came back from the Barrier ; — ' Go 1 For the secrets hidden are all forbidden Till God means man to know.' And this was the thought that the silence wrought, As it scorched and froze us through, That we were the men God meant should know The heart of the Barrier snow, By the heat of the sun, and the glow And the glare from the glistening floe, As it scorched and froze us through and through With the bite of the drifting snow. These verses were written by Dr. Wilson for the South Polar Times. It was char- acteristic of the man that he sent them in typewritten, lest the editor should recognise his hand and judge them on personal rather than literary grounds. Many of their readers confess that they felt in these lines Wilson's own premonition of the event. SCOTT'S LAST EXPEDITION THE WINTER JOURNEY June 27, 191 1, to August i, 191 i The object of this expedition to the Emperor penguin rookery in the darkness and cold of an Antarctic winter was set forth years before in Dr. Wilson's Report of the Zoology of the Discovery Voyage. It was to secure eggs at such a stage as could furnish a series of early embryos by which alone the particular points of interest in the development of the bird could be worked out; for it seemed probable ' that we have in the Emperor penguin the nearest approach to a primitive form not only of a penguin, but of a bird.' These points could not be investigated in the deserted eggs and chicks which had been obtained in Discovery days. Such a journey ' entailed the risks of sledge travelling in midwinter with an almost total absence of light,' for the Emperor is singular in nesting at the coldest season of the year, and ' the party would have to be on the scene at any rate early in July. ... It would at any time require that a party of three at least, with full camp equipment, should traverse about a hundred miles of the Barrier surface and should, by moonlight, cross over with rope and axe the immense pressure ridges which form a chaos of crevasses at Cape Crozier . . . which have taken a party as much as two hours of careful work to cross by daylight.' Furthermore, it afforded an opportunity of obtaining an exact knowledge of the winter conditions on the Barrier at its western end, and throughout its dangers and difficulties Bowers kept a most remarkable meteorological record (given at the end of this volume) the substance of which is embodied in this report. The three travellers also experimented with their sledging rations, each for some time taking a different proportion of pemmican and biscuit, the results of which were used in order to make up the rations for future use. VOL. II — I 2 SCOTT'S LAST EXPEDITION [June The journey was planned to last six weeks, with a stay of sev- eral days near the rookery, but was shortened by the extreme cold and consequent consumption of their store of fuel, and the tem- pest which drove the party back from Cape Crozier. To the report written by Dr. Wilson various notes and details are added in square brackets from Mr. Cherry-Garrard's diary. This diary, be it said, was never written for publication. It was a private record, for private remembrance. It tells of incidents and impressions in their personal bearing, and so telling, inciden- tally preserves the fuller human colouring that has been sedu- lously stripped away from Dr. Wilson's objective record, written with a more strictly scientific outlook. Such notes have a manifold value. Every personality receives its own impression of the same incidents, recalls a different aspect, throws sidelights from a different angle. The young traveller records for himself a fresh and vivid personal impression, un- diminished by reshaping into the perhaps necessary reticence of an official report. Not least, also, he gives us details about his chief which Dr. Wilson could not or would not have set down. His own share in the expedition is the more remarkable be- cause, short-sighted as he was, he could not wear his spectacles under such conditions. With the help of these notes, the reader can fill in somewhat of those lights and shades which the official report, addressed to a Polar explorer, needed not to add. Now that the other two comrades in the adventure are no more, Mr. Cherry-.Garrard has been prevailed upon to let his diary be used as it is used here. Let him be assured that his chief fear is groundless — the fear that in allowing such very personal jottings to be quoted, he should be imagined to magnify his own share in the expedition, instead of insisting, as he would have insisted in a public report, on the won- derful work of his friends, the strength, the steadfastness, and the serenity with which they carried it through. There was never an angry word from beginning to end, even in the most trying times. These unpremeditated notes help to make Wilson and Bowers stand out in their true colours. Tuesday, June 27, 191 1. — Leaving the hut at Cape Evans shortly before 1 1 A.M., Bowers, Cherry-Garrard and I started for our first march accompanied by Simpson, Meares, Griffith Taylor, Nelson and Gran, who all helped us to drag our two P< ■:'■ Pi s ■&<■»■ h. N | O Pi H FU «J W h4 ^R O m H \ \\ H 1 1 f 1 O 1 *L\ PQ A «! Q Pi < Pi Pi [jftk \