THE POLAR JOURNEY 541 



" What lots and lots I could tell you of this journey. 

 How much better has it been than lounging in too great 

 comfort at home." 



Message to the Public 



The causes of the disaster are not due to faulty organ- 

 ization, but to misfortune in all risks which had to be 

 undertaken. 



1. The loss of pony transport in March 191 1 obliged 

 me to start later than I had intended, and obliged the limits 

 of stuff transported to be narrowed. 



1. The weather throughout the outward journey, and 

 especially the long gale in 83 S., stopped us. 



3. The soft snow in lower reaches of glacier again re- 

 duced pace. 



We fought these untoward events with a will and con- 

 quered, but it cut into our provision reserve. 



Every detail of our food supplies, clothing and depots 

 made on the interior ice-sheet and over that long stretch of 

 700 miles to the Pole and back, worked out to perfection. 

 The advance party would have returned to the glacier in 

 fine form and with surplus of food, but for the astonish- 

 ing failure of the man whom we had least expected to fail. 

 Edgar Evans was thought the strongest man of the party. 



The Beardmore Glacier is not difficult in fine weather, 

 but on our return we did not get a single completely fine 

 day ; this with a sick companion enormously increased our 

 anxieties. 



As I have said elsewhere, we got into frightfully rough 

 ice and Edgar Evans received a concussion of the brain — 

 he died a natural death, but left us a shaken party with the 

 season unduly advanced. 



But all the facts above enumerated were as nothing- to 

 the surprise which awaited us on the Barrier. I maintain 

 that our arrangements for returning were quite adequate, 

 and that no one in the world would have expected the tem- 

 peratures and surfaces which we encountered at this time 

 of the year. On the summit in lat. 85°-86° we had - 20 , 

 - 30 . On the Barrier in lat. 8 2°, 10,000 feet lower, we 



