554 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD 



they were eating full rations and more ? Weaken so much 

 that in the end they starved to death ? 



I have always had a doubt whether the weather condi- 

 tions were sufficient to cause the tragedy. These men on full 

 rations were supposed to be eating food of sufficient value to 

 enable them to do the work they were doing, under the con- 

 ditions which they actually met until the end of February, 

 without loss of strength. They had more than their full 

 rations, but the conditions in March were much worse than 

 they imagined to be possible : when three survivors out of the 

 five pitched their Last Camp they were in a terrible state. 

 After the war I found that Atkinson had come to wonder 

 much as I, but he had gone farther, for he had the values 

 of our rations worked out by a chemical expert according 

 to the latest knowledge and standards. I may add that, 

 being in command after Scott's death, he increased the ration 

 for the next year's sledging, so I suppose he had already 

 come to the conclusion that the previous ration was not 

 sufficient. The following are some of the data for which I 

 am indebted to him: the whole subject will be investigated 

 by him and the results published in a more detailed form. 



According to the most modern standards the food 

 requirements for laborious work at a temperature of zero 

 Fahr. (which is a fair Barrier average temperature to take) 

 are 7714 calories to produce 10,069 foot-tons of work. 

 The actual Barrier ration which we used would generate 

 4003 calories, equivalent to 5331 foot-tons of work. 

 Similar requirements for laborious work at - io° Fahr. 

 (which is a high average plateau temperature) are 8500 

 calories to produce 1 1,094 foot-tons of work. The actual 

 Summit ration would generate 4889 calories, equivalent to 

 6608 foot-tons of work. These requirements are calculated 

 for total absorption of all food-stuffs : but in practice, by 

 visual proof, this does not take place: this is especially 

 noticeable in the case of fats, a quantity of which were 

 digested neither by men, ponies, nor dogs. 



Several things go to prove that our ration was not 

 enough. In the first case we were probably not as fit as we 

 seemed after long sledge journeys. There is no doubt that 



