SPRING DEPOT JOURNEY 

 BY COMMANDER EDWARD 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 



