NEVER AGAIN 551 



neath seven feet of snow; the oil was placed on the top of 

 the snow, in order that the red tins might prove an addi- 

 tional mark for the depot. When we dug out the tank the 

 food inside was almost uneatable owing to the quantity of 

 paraffin which had found its way down through seven feet 

 of snow during the winter and spring. 



We then found the Polar Party and learned of the short- 

 age of oil. After our return to Cape Evans some one was 

 digging about the camp and came across a wooden case 

 containing *eight one-gallon tins of paraffin. These had 

 been placed there in September 1 9 1 1, to be landed at Cape 

 Crozier by the Terra Nova when she came down. The 

 ship could not take them : they were snowed up during 

 the winter, lost and forgotten, until dug up fifteen months 

 afterwards. Three tins were full, three empty, one a third 

 full and one two-thirds full. 



There can be no doubt that the oil, which was specially 

 volatile, tended to vaporize and escape through the stop- 

 pers, and that this process was accelerated by the perish- 

 ing, and I suggest also the hardening and shrinking, of the 

 leather washers. Another expedition .will have to be very 

 careful on this point : they might reduce the risk by bury- 

 ing the oil. 



The second point about which something must be said is 

 the unexpected cold met by Scott on the Barrier, which was 

 the immediate cause of the disaster. " No one in the world 

 would have expected the temperatures and surfaces which 

 we encountered at this time of the year. ... It is clear that 

 these circumstances come on very suddenly, and our wreck 

 is certainly due to this sudden advent of severe weather, 

 which does not seem to have any satisfactory cause." 1 



They came down the glacier in plus temperatures : nor 

 was there anything abnormal for more than a week after 

 they got on to the Barrier. Then there came a big drop to 

 a - 37 minimum on the night of February 26. It is signi- 

 ficant that the sun began to dip below the southern hori- 

 zon at midnight about this time. "There is no doubt the 

 middle of the Barrier is a pretty awful locality, "wrote Scott. 



1 Scott, " Message to the Public." 



