September 28, 2011

Thursday, 28 September 1911

Scott

"Captain Scott, Bowers, Simpson and [P.O.] Evans leaving for the Western Mountains. Sept 15th 1911," photographed by Ponting. [1]

Scott's party returned to Cape Evans.

"The objects of our little journey were satisfactorily accomplished," he wrote, "but the greatest source of pleasure to me is to realise that I have such men as Bowers and P.O. Evans for the Southern journey. I do not think that harder men or better sledge travellers ever took the trail. Bowers is a little wonder." [2]


Notes:

[1] Scott Polar Research Institute.
[2] R.F. Scott, diary, 1 October, 1911, quoted in Scott's Last Expedition, v.1.

September 24, 2011

Sunday, 24 September 1911

Scott

Scott and his party arrived at Dunlop Island, off the Wilson Piedmont Glacier and the coast of Victoria Land.

The island, Scott decided, had undoubtedly been submerged since he had seen it last on the Discovery expedition. "We found regular terrace beaches with rounded waterworn stones all over it; its height is 65 feet. After visiting the island it was easy for us to trace the same terrace formation on the coast; in one place we found waterworn stones over 100 feet above sea-level. Nearly all these stones are erratic and, unlike ordinary beach pebbles, the under sides which lie buried have remained angular." [1]


Notes

[1] R.F. Scott, diary, 1 October, 1911, quoted in Scott's Last Expedition, v.1.

September 21, 2011

Thursday, 21 September 1911

Scott

"I saw Scott's plan for the journey today," wrote Gran at Cape Evans. "My goodness, it is an involved proposition. The thought behind it is no doubt marvellous, if only he can carry it out." [1]


Notes:

[1] Tryggve Gran, diary, 21 September, 1911, quoted in The Norwegian With Scott : Tryggve Gran's Antarctic Diary 1910-1913 ([Greenwich] : National Maritime Museum, 1984), p.128.

September 20, 2011

Wednesday, 20 September 1911

Amundsen

"It is sad and cheerless at Framheim now," wrote Johansen unhappily. "Desolation floats around in the air, and we still have to live in each other’s pockets day and night. We can not go in and out or to and from our places without getting in each other’s way. Those who lie on the lower bunks during the day with frozen heels find it difficult to lie quietly at night. For my part I have not noticed any restlessness from them. But I heard the boss say to Helmer that he needn’t turn over so often in his bag at night." [1]

Stubberud, Helmer Hanssen, Hassel, and Prestrud were bedridden for ten days while their frostbites healed; Amundsen, the former medical student, was doctor. Hanssen got hold of a medical dictionary and read up on the cure for frostbite, but when he told Amundsen that his methods were different from the book's, Amundsen told him that he shouldn't concern himself with that book but play cards or read novels instead.


Notes:

[2] Hjalmar Johansen, diary, 21 September, 1911, in Johansen's Dagbok fra Sydpolen (Skien : Vågemot Miniforlag, 2007), p.24.

September 19, 2011

Tuesday, 19 September 1911

Amundsen

"[I have] made what I hope is the final decision on our future work," wrote Amundsen. "We will be divided into two parties. To the south go Helmer Hanssen, Wisting, Hassel, Bjaaland and I. Prestrud and Stubberud go east to determine the position of King Edward VII Land.... Our departure is set for the 15th October at the earliest. My intention is to wait longer if weather and circumstances require it. We must go forwards -- but care is needed." [1]

For the fourth time, the boots were altered. They were still too stiff, and impeded circulation, which had led to the frost-bitten heels.


Notes:

[1] Roald Amundsen, diary, 20 September, 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in The Amundsen Photographs (London : Hodder & Stoughton, c1987), p.115.

September 18, 2011

Monday, 18 September 1911

Amundsen

In a formal reply to Amundsen's order, Johansen wrote bitterly, "When the expedition's leader decides to put me under the command of a younger man, who is out for the first time on this kind of work, it should be obvious that this is offensive and hurtful for me, who has given a part of my life to the ice, and even more offensive because, according to those I have worked with, I have done what was assigned to me in a satisfactory manner." [1]

"Amundsen came to me," Stubberud later said, "and asked if I would be willing to go with Prestrud. 'If I am to choose,' I said, 'naturally I want to take part in the journey to the South Pole, but I have no alternative but to comply with the Captain's orders.'... Then he shook me by the hand, and thanked me." [2]

Prestrud had realised that he was not up to the Polar journey, and accepted the change without much regret; he apologised to Amundsen for his stand during the argument. Amundsen, Hassel wrote, "took the opportunity to say that he personally had nothing against Prestrud, would have liked to have had him with them on the trip south." [3]

In the end, Johansen, who had regretted his harsh words almost immediately but by this point was neither willing nor able to take them back, agreed also.


Notes:

[1] Hjalmar Johansen, letter to Roald Amundsen, 19 September, 1911, in Johansen's Dagbok fra Sydpolen (Skien : Vågemot Miniforlag, 2007), p.22.
[2] Jørgen Stubberud, interview with Roland Huntford, April 1977, quoted by Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.412.
[3] Sverre Hassel, diary, 24 September, 1911, quoted in Dagboksnotater fra Sydpolen (Skien : Vågemots miniforlag, 1997), p.7.

September 17, 2011

Sunday, 17 September 1911

Amundsen

The atmosphere at Framheim was tense and bitter. "[Amundsen] regards me as completely outside the expedition," wrote Johansen, humiliated by Amundsen's dismissal of him from the polar party. "He is mortally affronted because his qualities as a chief have been shipwrecked; he who so often in the course of the winter has spoken so much of how he could not understand how the English expeditions which have been down here have managed, since there has constantly been poor morale amongst them. But he himself is not the man I took him for to lead an expedition such as this." [1]

Amundsen defended his actions in his diary. "Many have criticised our early departure," he wrote. "Well, it is easy to do so afterwards [but] to sit still without doing anything, would never occur to me, criticise me who will. With the exception of [a few] frozen heels, and some dogs, our little journey has not caused us any loss. It was a good trial run. Besides we got everything up to 80 deg." [2]


Notes:

[1] Hjalmar Johansen, [diary? date not given], quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.413.
[2] Roald Amundsen, diary, [date not given], quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.413. Prestrud, for one, felt that Amundsen had let him down, and for a while sided with Johansen; Stubberud, many years later, called Amundsen's orders of the 15th "a mistake".

September 16, 2011

Saturday, 16 September 1911

Amundsen

At breakfast in the morning, Amundsen asked Johansen why he and Prestrud had been so late coming in the night before. Johansen flew into a rage and criticised Amundsen for his behaviour out on the Barrier, saying that a leader ought not to become separated from his men. "I don't call it an expedition. It's panic." [1] There was a horrified silence, for Johansen's words, Bjaaland wrote, were "best left unsaid." [2]

"It was not only our return yesterday that he found indefensible in the highest degree," Amundsen wrote in his diary, "but also much else I had taken the liberty of doing as leader in the course of time. The gross and unforgivable part of his statements is that they were made in everybody's hearing. The bull must be taken by the horns; I must make an example immediately." [3]

Preferring not to answer Johansen's outburst directly, Amundsen instead explained his actions to the others, that Helmer Hanssen and Stubberud had frostbitten feet and needed to be got indoors as soon as possible. Prestrud though, who was also frostbitten, felt let down and supported Johansen.

Privately, Amundsen felt that there was now no question of taking Johansen to the Pole, and after lunch, he announced that Prestrud and Johansen would instead go eastwards as a subsidiary party to explore King Edward VII Land, with Prestrud leading.

Johansen demanded a written order, and, at supper, Amundsen delivered it. "After your statements to me this morning," it read, "I find it in accordance with the expedition's interests to dismiss you from participating in the journey to the South Pole." [4] Later in the evening, Amundsen called the men one-by-one into the galley, where he requested from each a declaration of loyalty.

It was, though, Amundsen felt, "a sad end to our splendid unity." [5] "I have," he added, "provisionally fixed our departure for 15 October."


Notes:

[1] Roland Huntford, Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.410.
[2] Olav Bjaaland, diary, 17 September, 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.410.
[3] Roald Amundsen, diary, [17 September, 1911], quoted by Roland Huntford in The Amundsen Photographs (London : Hodder & Stoughton, c1987), p.116.
[4] Roald Amundsen, letter to Hjalmar Johansen, 17 September, 1911, quoted in Johansen's Dagbok fra Sydpolen (Vågemot Miniforlag, 2007), p.21.
[5] Roald Amundsen, diary, 17 September, 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in Race for the South Pole : the expedition diaries of Scott and Amundsen (London : Continuum, c2010), p.48.

September 15, 2011

Friday, 15 September 1911

Scott

Scott, P.O. Evans, Simpson, and Bowers leaving on "a remarkably pleasant and instructive little spring journey" to the Western Mountains on 15th September 1911. [1]

"Bowers, Simpson, Petty Officer Evans, and I are off to the west," wrote Scott. "I want to have another look at the Ferrar Glacier, to measure the stakes put out by Wright last year, to bring my sledging impressions up to date (one loses details of technique very easily), and finally to see what we can do with our cameras. I haven't decided how long we shall stay away or precisely where we shall go; such vague arrangements have an attractive side," he added. [2]

"It is not quite clear," Debenham wrote in his diary, "why they are going or what they are going to do." [3]


Amundsen

Framheim, unknown date. [4]

The temperature rose to -44° C. With only forty miles to Framheim, and the going suddenly good, Amundsen ordered the distance to be done at a single stretch, and they set off at seven in the morning.

Amundsen was forerunner for the journey, and thus had no sledge; he flung himself on Wisting's sledge, and with Helmer Hanssen, they set off so quickly that soon they were to Bjaaland "just a white dot far away." [5] They reached Framheim at four in the afternoon.

"Our reception was so-so," Helmer Hanssen recorded. "The first Lindstrøm said to us was: 'I told you so!' and we each had a wigging [for starting on a Friday]." [6]

The others were still out on the Barrier. Those dogs that weakened were loosed from their harness and left to make their own way home.

With no forerunner, Stubberud's dogs slowed down. His feet were frostbitten and he had to sit on his sledge. "[I was] quite alone," he recalled later. "And if there had been a blizzard ... the situation would have been precarious. I had no fuel, Primus or tent and little food, only a few biscuits. There was nothing to be done but wait for those behind me, and that took a fairly long time." [7]

As Bjaaland took the lead, Stubberud's team picked up; they reached Framheim at about six o'clock in the evening. Amundsen, hearing that they had seen nothing of the other three, "[hoped that] since the weather was turning thick Johansen, as an old experienced Polar traveller, would make camp and wait until the next day." [8] Hassel, though, arriving a little later, said that the other two had no fuel or food.

Prestrud's dogs, still out on the Barrier, could barely pull the empty sledge; Johansen's were also failing, but he managed to race on ahead and early in the afternoon had overtaken Hassel. Johansen, Hassel noted, was "very bitter over the inconsideration shown by Amundsen, thus racing away from them.... He wanted me to wait, but I preferred to continue, as we were still 16 miles from Framheim and had neither Primus, petroleum nor pans, and the need would be just as great whether we were two to share it [or three]." [9] Hassel gave Johansen his tent and went on.

Johansen waited for Prestrud, who arrived after another two hours, his feet badly frostbitten. Johansen, experienced as he was with cold and ice, realised that Prestrud had to be got warm as soon as possible and pressed on, reaching Framheim at half past midnight, guided in the dark and fog only by the barking of the dogs. The temperature was -51° C.

It was, Johansen wrote the next day, "a woeful aftermath. A profound gloom and misfortune has arisen among us, and no more are we happy and content." [10]


Notes:

[1] Guardian.co.uk.
[2] R.F. Scott, diary, 14 September, 1911, quoted in Scott's Last Expedition, v.1.
[3] Frank Debenham, 13 September, 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.402.
[4] Roald Amundsen Bildearkiv, Nasjonalbiblioteket.
[5] Olav Bjaaland, diary, 16 September, 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.409.
[6] Helmer Hanssen, Gjennem Isbaksen, p.88, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.409.
[7] Jørgen Stubberud, Reminiscences, "Den Siste ave Sydpolens Erobrere", Vi Menn, 1 February, 1972, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.409.
[8] Roald Amundsen, [diary? date not given], quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.409.
[9] Sverre Hassel, diary, 16 September, 1911, quoted in Dagboksnotater fra Sydpolen (Skien : Vågemots miniforlag, 1997), p.6.
[10] Hjalmar Johansen, diary, 17 September, 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.410.

September 14, 2011

Thursday, 14 September 1911

Amundsen

The day "was sour as vinegar," wrote Bjaaland, "-47.5 deg. with N.W. wind right in the phiz; delightful. The dogs are suffering horribly in the cold; they are miserable, in agony with frostbitten paws. Adam and Lazarus froze to death when they lay down." [1]

The breeze dropped in the afternoon, and the going improved -- Amundsen pulled along on ski behind Wisting's sledge -- so that they did 31 nautical miles by mid-afternoon. The temperature in the evening was -35° (-31° F).


Notes:

[1] Olav Bjaaland, diary, 15 September, 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.408.

September 13, 2011

Wednesday, 13 September 1911

Scott

At Cape Evans, Scott outlined his final plans for the Pole. They would use ponies, dogs, motors, and man-hauling, with support parties going back and forth and depots being laid until the final push.

"[Everyone] was enthusiastic," Scott recorded, "and the feeling is general that our arrangements are calculated to make the best of our resources. Although people have given a good deal of thought to various branches of the subject, there was not a suggestion offered for improvement." [1] This was the first time he had made his plans known.

Gran, for one, kept quiet, only commenting silently in his diary that the "Southern Plans" were "[a] decidedly intricate apparatus". [2]

The polar journey would take an estimated 144 days, with motor-, dog-, and manhauling-parties laying a string of depots out to the Beardmore, and manhauling to the Pole itself: a total of 1,530 miles there and back.

"Of hopeful signs for the future," Scott had written a few days earlier, "none are more remarkable than the health and spirit of our people. It would be impossible to imagine a more vigorous community, and there does not seem to be a single weak spot in the twelve good men and true who are chosen for the Southern advance. All are now experienced sledge travellers, knit together with a bond of friendship that has never been equalled under such circumstances. Thanks to these people, and more especially to Bowers and Petty Officer Evans, there is not a single detail of our equipment which is not arranged with the utmost care and in accordance with the tests of experience. It is good to have arrived at a point where one can run over facts and figures again and again without detecting a flaw or foreseeing a difficulty." [3]

A late start in November would mean a second year in Antarctica, as the Polar Party could not hope to return until late March, by which time the Terra Nova would have already had to leave McMurdo Sound if she was not to be frozen in. A second year was unfortunately not something that the expedition could afford, and later in October Scott was compelled to ask any officer who could afford it to forego future payment -- to which they generously agreed.


Amundsen

Two unidentified men in front of the depot at 80°. To one side is the marker pennant. [4]

"-56° Calm and clear," wrote Amundsen. "After a few hours on the march, we caught sight of our depot along our course. Now that wasn't bad without a compass. All honour to H[elmer] H[anssen], who has steered the whole time." [5]

After depoting their supplies, the Norwegians immediately turned for home, riding on the now-empty sledges. "It was a bloody cold job," Bjaaland noted, "to drive in 55-56 degrees of frost." [6]

A bottle of geneva that Amundsen had brought proved to be frozen solid and the bottle cracked as they tried to thaw it, but they were more careful with another bottle, this time of acquavit, and the drink cheered them somewhat.


Notes:

[1] R.F. Scott, diary, 14 September, 1911, quoted in Scott's Last Expedition, v.1.
[2] Tryggve Gran, diary [date not given], quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.402.
[3] R.F. Scott, diary, 10 September, 1911, quoted in Scott's Last Expedition, v.1.
[4] Roald Amundsen Bildearkiv, Nasjonalbiblioteket. The NB dates this photo "13-11-11?", and identifies it as "probably" being taken by Prestrud's Eastern party, which passed the depot on their way to King Edward VII Land in November. Bjaaland noted in his diary that he took two photos at the depot before they left for home (see Huntford, Race for the South Pole, p.44).
[5] Roald Amundsen, diary, 14 September, 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in Race for the South Pole : the expedition diaries of Scott and Amundsen, (London : Continuum, c2010), p.44.
[6] Olav Bjaaland, diary, 14 September, 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.408.

September 11, 2011

Monday, 11 September 1911

Amundsen

It was so cold that the liquid in the compasses froze, making them useless, and there was no sun to steer by. They stopped after only four miles and built two igloos, not wanting to repeat the previous night's experience in a tent. The temperature was -52° C, with wind and fog.

"The Chief's mood is at freezing point," observed Bjaaland, "and he took the decision to turn for home, and just as well, otherwise we would have frozen to death." [1]

"To risk men and animals out of sheer obstinacy and continue," Amundsen wrote in his diary, "just because we have started on our way -- that would never occur to me. If we are to win this game, the pieces must be moved carefully -- one false move, and everything can be lost." [2]

"Let that be a lesson to start so early on such a long and important journey," grumbled Johansen. "One cannot think exclusively about the one thing; to get to the Pole before the English." [3]

Amundsen insisted, though, that they would go on to the depot at 80° some miles ahead, to dump their loads and be able to travel light when they did start for the Pole.

"The igloo was nice and warm," added Bjaaland philosophically, "unlike the tent which was full of rime frost. Sleeping bags and clothes are wet through; in fact stiff as iron, but when one has finally got into them, one just has to stay there. God help me it was just shit and best forgotten." [4]


Notes:

[1] Olav Bjaaland, diary, 12 September, 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.408.
[2] Roald Amundsen, diary, 12 September, 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in Race for the South Pole : the expedition diaries of Scott and Amundsen (London : Continuum, c2010), p.42.
[3] Hjalmar Johansen, diary, [date not given], quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.408.
[4] Olav Bjaaland, diary, 12 September, 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in Race for the South Pole : the expedition diaries of Scott and Amundsen (London : Continuum, c2010), p.42.

September 10, 2011

Sunday, 10 September 1911

Scott

"A whole week since the last entry in my diary," Scott wrote. "I feel very negligent of duty, but my whole time has been occupied in making detailed plans for the Southern journey. These are finished at last, I am glad to say; every figure has been checked by Bowers, who has been an enormous help to me." [1]

"[Lt.] Evans, Forde, and Gran left early on Saturday for Corner Camp. I hope they will have no difficulty in finding it."

Amundsen

The temperature dropped overnight to nearly -56° C.

"As the caravan pressed forwards," wrote Johansen, "a thick white mist rose from the 86 dogs and 8 men; breath freezes immediately in the cold air. It was not possible to see the team ahead. It was like driving in the thickest fog." [2]

"It was bloody cold in the sleeping bag," noted Bjaaland. "Everything damp with the rime that forms everywhere. God knows where it will end." [3]


Notes:

[1] R.F. Scott, diary, 10 September, 1911, quoted in Scott's Last Expedition, v.1.
[2] Hjalmar Johansen, diary, 11 September, 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.407.
[3] Olav Bjaaland, diary, 11 September, 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in Race for the South Pole : the expedition diaries of Scott and Amundsen (London : Continuum, c2010), p.41.

September 9, 2011

Saturday, 9 September 1911

Scott

The sledging season began when Lt. Evans, Gran, and Forde, one of the seamen, left in order to dig out the depots at Corner Camp, 40 miles (64 km) from Hut Point.

Meares and Demetri returned in the afternoon from Hut Point. Meares had gone in hopes of making seal pemmican, but he found no seals in the area.

September 8, 2011

Friday, 8 September 1911

Scott

Warning Glacier, photographed by Levick, with Priestley in front for scale. [1]

Campbell, Priestley, Abbott, and Dickason set off on the first of their spring sledging journeys; Levick and Browning went with them as far as Warning Glacier, on the west of the Cape Adare peninsula, to photograph the glacier and surrounding mountains, before returning to the hut at Cape Adare.


Amundsen

One of Prestrud's bitches was on heat, which set all of the dogs on edge and made them nearly impossible to control -- she was "shot for loose living," Bjaaland noted. [2] They travelled about 13.5 nautical miles, following the flags laid out previously.


Notes:

[1] Scott Polar Research Institute.
[2] Olav Bjaaland, diary, 9 September, 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.407.

September 7, 2011

Thursday, 7 September 1911

Amundsen

The day being calm and clear, with a temperature of -37 C., Amundsen decided to set out at last. They left Framheim at ten minutes past noon.

"We started against Lindstrøm's energetic protests," Helmer Hanssen later wrote. Lindstrøm held by the old superstition that it was bad luck to begin a journey on a Friday. "[He] begged and pleaded with us to wait until Saturday, otherwise it would never go well." [1]

"The going was glorious," wrote Amundsen. "Rarely have I known the going so good." [2]

They had no need of a forerunner, as the depot-journey track was still there for the dogs to follow. Helmer Hanssen was navigator, with a ship's compass on his sledge, mounted on gimbals in a protective box at the back. The sledge itself was specially constructed to be non-magnetic, with no ferrous material in it or its load, to avoid deflecting the compass.

"Well," wrote Bjaaland, "at last the day arrived when the great sledge journey to the south has its beginning. The weather was fine -37 with NE'ly breeze. The dogs were crazy as coots, and Hanssen's and Wisting's teams bolted over the ice towards the south and a whole hour [was wasted]. It was difficult to get going and W. capsized his sledge. Distance 10.4 nautical miles. Dogs restless. I slept badly." [3]


Notes:

[1] Helmer Hanssen, Gjennem Isbaksen, p.8, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.407. The day was a Friday on "Framheim time", of course. See the entry for 10 January 1911 for the discussion on dates.
[2] Roald Amundsen, diary, 8 September, 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.407.
[3] Olav Bjaaland, diary, 8 September, 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in Race for the South Pole : the expedition diaries of Scott and Amundsen (London : Continuum, c2010), p.36.

September 6, 2011

Wednesday, 6 September 1911

Amundsen

Amundsen was now turning out every morning at four o'clock to check the weather. For three days straight, it was at fifty below -- and then, on Tuesday and Wednesday, in the minus-twenties. "Without doubt, it is spring arriving." [1]


Sources:

[1] Roald Amundsen, diary, 7 September, 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.406.

September 3, 2011

Sunday, 3 September 1911

Scott

Bowers wearing the standard polar gear, Burberry wind-proof outer garments over woollen underclothes, and reindeer-fur mitts. [1]

"Last night Bowers lectured on Polar clothing. He had worked the subject up from our Polar library with critical and humorous ability, and since his recent journey he must be considered as entitled to an authoritative opinion of his own. The points in our clothing problems are too technical and too frequently discussed to need special notice at present, but as a result of a new study of Arctic precedents it is satisfactory to find it becomes more and more evident that our equipment is the best that has been devised for the purpose, always excepting the possible alternative of skins for spring journeys, an alternative we have no power to adopt. In spite of this we are making minor improvements all the time." [2]

This was Bowers' first experience with polar clothing.


Amundsen

A blizzard, with visibility nil, and temperature of -46 C delayed the start yet again. "[How lucky]," Johansen wrote, "that we are now indoors and not lying some miles in over the barrier, unable to move, and perhaps lost here at the beginning in the [crevassed] terrain to 80 degrees, which must be considered the worst to begin with." [3]

"Even the Chief, who claimed to have been ready to start the whole of last month, and is very anxious that the British will get to the pole before us, and therefore insisted on starting as soon as possible, has been making alterations to his anorak and fur clothing both Sunday and today. But are we ready to go. Whether it will be tomorrow is of course uncertain." [4]


Notes:

[1] Source unknown.
[2] R.F. Scott, diary, 3 September, 1911, quoted in Scott's Last Expedition, v.1.
[3] Hjalmar Johansen, diary, 4 September, 1911, quoted by Roland Huntford in Scott and Amundsen (New York : Putnam, 1980, c1979), p.406.
[4] Hjalmar Johansen, diary, 4 September, 1911, published as Dagbok fra Sydpolen (Skien : Vågemot Miniforlag, 2007), p.15.

September 2, 2011

Saturday, 2 September 1911

Amundsen

Temperatures hovered around fifty degrees of frost.

"After dinner," wrote Hassel, "the Chief raised the question of whether we should start on Saturday or wait until Monday. Himself, he was certainly anxious to get away on Saturday. He (oddly enough) took a poll, four were for Saturday, 4 were for Sunday [sic]. So it was still a draw. It was decided therefore to flip a coin. This settled the start for Monday the 4th September. -- This, that departure was Monday, not Saturday, suited everyone all right. It turned out that everyone, even the boss, had some essential things to do with their personal equipment." [1]

Amundsen himself took the opportunity to alter the sleeves of his under-anorak.


Notes

[1] Sverre Hassel, diary, 3 September, 1911, published as Dagboksnotater fra Sydpolen (Skien : Vågemot Miniforlag, 1997), p.5. Presumably Hassel is writing a little after the fact, as he talks on Sunday the 3rd of possibly departing on Saturday, that is, the 2nd.

September 1, 2011

Friday, 1 September 1911

Scott

Meares, photographed by Ponting, 1911. [1]

Meares and Demetri started for Hut Point with the dog teams.

"There is no real reason for Meares' departure yet awhile," Scott wrote in his diary, "but he chose to go and probably hopes to train the animals better when he has them by themselves. As things are, this seems like throwing out the advance guard for the summer campaign." [2]

"I have been working very hard at sledging figures with Bowers' able assistance," he went on. "The scheme develops itself in the light of these figures, and I feel that our organisation will not be found wanting, yet there is an immense amount of detail, and every arrangement has to be more than usually elastic to admit of extreme possibilities of the full success or complete failure of the motors."

The plan was now that Lt. Evans, Gran, and Forde would go out and re-mark Corner Camp. Meares with the dog teams would then transport as much pony fodder as possible, while Scott with Simpson and Bowers would go on foot to the Western Mountains. The remaining ponies would follow, Wilson with Nobby, Cherry with Michael, Wright with Chinaman, and Atkinson with Jehu.


Notes:

[1] Scott Polar Research Institute.
[2] R.F. Scott, diary, 1 September, 1911, quoted in Scott's Last Expedition, v.1. Summer is, in the southern hemisphere, December, January, and February.