442 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD 



be alive, and, having lived through the winter, the arrival 

 of help might make the difference between life and death. 



On the other hand we knew that the Polar Party must 

 be dead. They might be anywhere between Hut Point and 

 the Pole, drifted over by snow, or lying at the bottom of a 

 crevasse, which seemed the most likely thing to have hap- 

 pened. From the Upper Glacier Depot in 85 5' S. to the 

 Pole, that is the whole distance of the Plateau Journey, we 

 did not know the courses they had steered nor the position 

 of their depots, for Lieutenant Evans, who brought back 

 the Last Return Party, was invalided home and neither of 

 the seamen who remained of this party knew the courses. 



After the experience of both the supporting parties on 

 their way down the Beardmore Glacier, when we all got 

 into frightfully crevassed areas, it was the general opinion 

 that the Polar Party must have fallen down a crevasse ; the 

 weight of five men, as compared with the four men and 

 three men of the other return parties, supported this theory. 

 Lashly was inclined to think they had had scurvy. The 

 true solution never once occurred to us, for they had full 

 rations for a very much longer period of time than, accord- 

 ing to their averages to 87 32', they were likely to be 

 out. 



The first object of the expedition had been the Pole. 

 If some record was not found, their success or failure would 

 for ever remain uncertain. Was it due not only to the men 

 and their relatives, but also to the expedition, to ascertain 

 their fate if possible ? 



The chance of finding the remains of the Southern 

 Party did not seem very great. At the same time Scott 

 was strict about leaving notes at depots, and it seemed 

 likely that he would have left some record at the Upper 

 Glacier Depot before starting to descend the Beardmore 

 Glacier: it would be interesting to know whether he did 

 so. If we went south we must be prepared to reach this 

 depot : farther than that, I have explained, we could not 

 track him. On the other hand, if we went south prepared 

 to go to the Upper Glacier Depot, the number of sledging 

 men necessary, in view of the fact that we had no depots, 



