SPRING DEPOT JOURNEY 
By COMMANDER Epwarp R. G. R. Evans, R.N. 
ON September 9, 1911, the depot party, consisting of Lieutenant 
Evans, Gran, and Forde, left Cape Evans to dig out the depots 
at Safety Camp and Corner Camp. As later on the dog teams 
were to take out quantities of stores to Corner Camp it was 
deemed advisable to visit this spot, and if necessary put new flags 
to mark it, and build up the cairn. 
The party started at 8 A.M. on ski, in beautifully fine, clear 
weather. We saw remarkable earth shadows on the clouds over 
Erebus. 
Nelson came with us to Glacier Tongue, and while we had 
four men we travelled at 3 miles per hour; directly he left our 
speed decreased materially. 
There is no doubt a four-man team has enormous advantages 
over one of three. The increase in permanent weights is very 
slight, consisting only of a sleeping-bag and a small personal 
bag; the only disadvantage is the difference in the time taken 
to cook meals. When marching against time the three-man unit 
saves nearly half an hour a day. 
We passed Meares driving home from Hut Point, but he 
was half a mile inshore and didn’t come out on account of the 
dogs, who are very hard to control if they get near another 
sledge team. 
There was no object in camping for lunch on the sea ice, and 
we pushed on to Hut Point for lunch. The distance by sledge- 
meter was 13 miles 300 yards (statute 15 miles 264 yards). 
We found Meares had left everything at Hut Point in splendid 
order, and we soon had the blubber stove going and a meal 
cooked. At 5.15, it being quite fine, we repacked sledge and 
marched 4 miles out towards Safety Camp. We stopped about 
9 P.M., had supper, and turned into our bags. 
Our camp was on the sea ice, and we noticed an extraordinary 
change in the temperature after rounding Cape Armitage; the 
