591 



The Undying Story of Captain Scott. 



FROM HIS DIARIES. 



The eagerly-awaited diary of Captain 

 Scott is now appearing, and we in Aus- 

 tralia will certainly have every oppor- 

 tunity of reading it. The first magazine 

 to reach our shores, which has it as a 

 chief feature, is Everybodys from 

 America. This will be quickly followed 

 by the Strand from England, and a 

 month later the first portion of the diary 

 given in these two magazmes w411 appear 

 in an Australian journal. 



The story of this terrible journey and 

 its tragic termination will appear ni 

 some six numbers of Everybody s and 

 the Strand. It is accompanied by splen- 

 did photographs, which these two 

 periodicals, the finest printed ui the 

 world, reproduce magnificently. They 

 are worth getting for this alone. Cap- 

 tain Scott himself and Mr. Ponting — 

 whose exquisite photographs of Japanese 

 life delighted London a few years ago 

 — took the pictures, \\'hich show every 

 phase of the activities of the expedition 

 and of the bleak solitudes it travelled 

 through. The Strand — which is now 

 sold throughout Australia for 6d. — has 

 done many enterprising things, but to 

 secure the serial rights of this thrilling 

 story for the British Empire is probably 

 its greatest effort. 



A TRAGIC STORY. 

 In a way, the first portion of the 

 diary given is disappointing. True, it 

 contains much of stirring interest, but 

 owing to its being Scott's diary only, 

 does not convey the general knowledge 

 about the doings of the expedition so 

 happily given in Shacklcton's book, for 

 instance Still every line has a tragic 

 significance, for we see before us as we 

 read that tent where for eight months 

 the frozen bodies of the gallant leader 

 and his five brave companions lay when 

 the indomitable spirits, after conquering 

 innumerable difficulties, had given up the 

 unequal fight. 



The loss of every pony, the death of 

 every dog, the immense number of mis- 

 haps which are chronicled all seem to 

 have a special bearing on the tragedy 

 reached when the diary must cease. 



THE JOURNEY SOUTH. 

 Captain Scott tells of a terrible trip 

 in the " Terra Nova." Four days after 

 she left Lyttelton Harbour, a heavy 

 storm came on, and soon she was pitch- 

 ing heavily. Cases of petrol, forage 

 and the like broke loose, but the coal 

 bags on deck gave most trouble. The 

 ponies had an awful time, and kept 

 Oates and Atkinson fully occupied. 

 Finally the pumps choked, and the 

 water began to rise rapidly in the hold. 

 With the seas sweeping in over the lee 

 rail and covering the deck again and 

 again with a solid sheet of curling- 

 water, all hands went to work with 

 buckets and kept the ship from sinking 

 by practically bailing her out. By this 

 means the water was kept at bay, and 

 finally a steam pump was rigged up 

 after superhuman efforts, and the vessel 

 was saved. 



THE FIRST LOSS. 



Arrived at Cape Evans, in McCurdo 

 Sound, situated between Cape Royds, 

 w^here Shackleton had his headquarters 

 in 1907-1909, to the north, and Hut 

 Point to the south, where Scott had his 

 chief camp in 1 901 -1 904, the party dis- 

 embarked. This took eight days, dur- 

 ing which time the hut was erected and 

 stocked by Bowers, who appears to have 

 been the organising genius of the ex- 

 pedition. The first catastrophe occurred 

 here, one of the three motor sledges 

 breaking through the ice and going to 

 the bottom. These sledges gave fair 

 satisfaction, but engine troubles ere long 

 made them useless. 



THE KILLER WHALES. 

 Captain Scott tells an extraordinary 

 story of some killer whales, "with their 



