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Show SCOTT DIARY TELLS STORY Official Account of Expedition Ex-pedition Compiled By Commander Evans Lyttleton, N. Y, Fb. 13 The following fol-lowing Is th? official account of tho doinR6 of the British Antarctic expedition ex-pedition of 1 010. compiled hy Com- ' mander Kvana from Captain Scott's personal diary and the official records of the expedition: On January 4. 1912, Commander Evans left Captain Scott and his four companion to continue the journey to the pole. Captain Scott's part marched an average of twelve miles a day all the war to the pole and they reached the south pole Januarv 17. about 150 statute miles from the spot where Pommanrler Evans turned, within S7 dRrees ?5 minutes. Cloudy at Pole. The first day at the south pole ivaa cloudy, with a mock sun. The second day, January 18. wm clearer and the sun visible Siphts were taken, for which purpose Scott used a four-inch theodolite. Captain mundsen used a sextant with an artificial horizon. The fixlnc of the pole bv the two explorers differed by only half a mll j practically locatinc the" same spot I Scott's obsers ations pave latitude 89 dc'sreer. 591 minutes. The party marched an extra half! mile, taking with them their motor sledge and theip planted the union Jack in latitude 90 The- had previously previ-ously picked up Norwegian dog tracks and thev followed these to the N'or. wecint, ramp, which wa, situated wlthm three miles of the pole. The track o the Norwegian dogs were oh. 'Ilteruted bv drifts at intervals The party found al! the records and the gear left by Amundsen Twenty Below Zero. At the pole was evidence of a slight I blizzard since Amundsen erected his tent. The temperature at the pole was about L'u below zero The surface, unlike that of the barrier, was soft! With no crust. It was found that snow collected from any depth, and on j melting was also unlike the barrier snow und gave very little water. Ten photographs of Captain Scott and his party were taken at the pole The films were recovered and developed at Cape Evans, together with two photos of the Norwegian tent as Captain Scott'e party found it Th- return journey over the plateau was marked by a series of good marches In medium weather. The temperature averaged between 20 and (r.O below zero and the marches varied up to eighteen miles dailv to the top of Beardmore ehcier Moth the depots de-pots ca the plateau, one 89 degrees SOUth and the other under Mount Oar. win, ST, degrees 7 minutes south were secured Visit Buckley Is'and. Befoie descending Reaidmorc gls cler Dr. N ilson and lieutenant Bowers Bow-ers visited Buckley Island and climbed climb-ed 10 if large mound at the lop of the glacier Here they spent some time making a largo collection of fossil -bearing sandstones and coal In quantities quan-tities The fossils should flnallj set- j tie ih,- age of the latest sedimentary ! f'eposits jet found In Victorlaland and! certainly are the best ever obtained Id th's quandrant. Ieaing Bucklev island and going' down the glacier the, passed Mount Kin-ev. a magnificent dolomite peak having an altitude of 11.00(1 ivt and 1 I forming an admirable steering point When they reached a small depot under Cloudmakef mountain thv made another halt for ceolocical In estimations From he -ide of Cloud, maker mountain fossils ot much Isreafcr age were found in the lime-, I stone, and a total of thirty-five poun'ls of geological specimens were! Icarefullj packed Specimens Saved. These specimens were taken for-ward for-ward by the partv to their last camp, and ai now in the possession of the j expedition From Cloudmaker moun. j tain to the foot of Beardmore glacier' the surfaces encountered by the part consisted of the same deep snow as on the war up. and this fact, togeth-jer togeth-jer with bad weather, severely ham-pered ham-pered their march. The weather was abnormally thick with soow crystals falling, the surrounding land being only occasionallv visible. Captain Scott dates the beginning Of failure to Pettv Officer Edgar E -j ans from the time of retiching the ! pole Me was a great anxiety to them on tho plateau and in the descent de-scent of Beardmore glacier, when the j part got amongst extremely rough 1 ice Evans fell injuring his head and Fiistainintr a serious concussion. During Dur-ing tho whole of the descent his condition con-dition delayed the party and the supplies sup-plies or fcod gradually diminished. I On Eebruarv 17. while on the march Evans' foot worked out of his ski and he was compelled to fall out to read-;nst read-;nst it. The party moved along, and seeing he was not following they camped and cooked a meal, expecting that Evans would soon reach them WhPn the meal was ready and E -Ian? had not arrived, tho party went 1 bac( and found him In a state of en, lapse He bravely tried to go forward but had to he placed on a sledge snd died B natural death within two hours after reaching the tent. This delav, a6 Captain Scott stated in bis diary greatly weakened the partv and made an inroad into the surplus provisions which was serious In view of the fact that the season was unduly advanced Owing to the lateness of the season and the consequent fall in temperature tempera-ture the surface became sandlike. as is frequent in polar climates. Ice 1 rystals Which melt under the friction caused by a sledgo running over them at higher temperatures cease to do so j when the thermometer falls to 30 below be-low zero. The low temperatures complained com-plained of by Scott accounts for the slowness ot the party's progress over the barrier. The average distance between depots was sixty -five miles, which, not allowing ff'r bad weather, meant that the partv must average over n't,e miles a dnv. The food and fuel stored at each depot gave a, full ration at this speed for a week The best day's march of the south- ' ern paity on the barrier was approximated approx-imated nine miles, falling at later stages ot the march to as low as; three miles The failure to maintain 1 a higher speed was undoubtedly due to the irfillng condition of Captain , Oatcs. this Iwlug a constant tax on the energies of the party and rapidly weakening them at a time when tier had to face persistent winds and frequent fre-quent blizzards; but despite the hopeless hope-less nature of the outlook forced on them they never relinquished their gallant struggle, bnt fought on heroically hero-ically to the hitter end. Tent Half Covered With Snow. As recorded in a previous dispatch, the searching party found their tent November 10. 1912. It was half covered cov-ered with snow and the sledge with thejr gear wa completely covered The tent was well spread, with an inner in-ner tent placed on poles. The bodies having been Identified the inner tont waa placed over them, with a large calro of Bnow erected and a cross placed on the top bearing the following follow-ing record: "Left this cross and cairn erected over tho remains of Captain R. D, ScotL C. V. O R. N.: Dr. E. A Wilson and Lieutenant H. R, Bowers, S R N, as a slight token to petnetuate their gallant and successful suc-cessful attempt to reach the pole. This they did not the 17th of January. Janu-ary. 1912. after the Norwegians had already done so on the 1st of December. Decem-ber. 1911. Oates and Evans Commemorated "Also to commemorate their two gallant comrades Captain R. E. F. Gates of the Inniskilllng Dragons, who willingly walked to his death in a blizxard, about twenty miles south of this place, to try and save his comrades beset bv hardship, and Petty Pet-ty Officer Edgar E-ans, who died at j the foot of the Beardmore glacier. "The Lord gave and the Lord tsk-eth tsk-eth away. Blessed be the name of the Lord " Thle record was signed by all the members of the search party. Surgeon Sur-geon Atkinson states that no symptoms symp-toms of scurvy existed. All the records rec-ords of the southern party having been collected, the whole search partv proceeded twentv-three miles south to Bearch for the body of Captain Oates, ut no trace of It was found. Near the spot of his departure from his comrades a crocs and cairn were erecte-i and the following record left on the cairn 'Hereabouts died a very gallant gentleman, Captain R E. O. Oates, nnlSRilllng Dragoons, who on the return re-turn from tho pole in March. 1912, willingly walked to his death in a blizzard to tri and save his comrades j beset by hardships." Mules Made Good Time Seven mules supplied by the Indian government were used by the search ( parly Their rations consisted ot eleven pounds of oil cake aud oats 1 in tho proportion of one of oil cake to two of oats The speed of tueir 'march averaged better than that of ponied ol the previous year From the start the dailv marches averaged fourteen miles The surfaces on the OUtwai'd journey were exceptional!) good and the mules made good progress prog-ress without sinking deeply. Dee.i snow was encountered on the return and the going was much heavier The chief difficulty In contending with the mules was that they would eat anything except their own rations The food of some consisted con-sisted of rope yarn, tea leaves, man s and dog B biscuits and tobacco ashes The wrights hauied br the mules were much heavier than b ponies, the higher! weight at one time being 7H0 pounds |
