NEVER AGAIN $$$ 



when sledging men developed an automaticity of certain 

 muscles at the expense of other muscles : for instance, a 

 sledge could be hauled all day at the expense of the arms, 

 and we had little power to lift weights at the end of several 

 months of sledging. In relation to this I would add that, 

 when the relief ship arrived in February 1912, four of us 

 were at Cape Evans, but just arrived from three months of 

 the Polar Journey. The land party, we four among them, 

 were turned on to sledge stores ashore. This in practice 

 meant twenty miles every day dragging a sledge ; a good 

 deal of ' humping ' heavy cases, from five o'clock in the 

 morning to very late at night ; with uncertain meals and 

 no rests. I can remember now how hard that work was to 

 myself and, I expect, to those others who had been away 

 sledging. The ship's party sledged only every other day 

 "because they were not used to it." This was extremely 

 bad organization, and in view of the possibility that some 

 of the men might be required for further sledging in the 

 autumn, just silly. 



Again, there is the experience of the man-hauling parties 

 of the Polar Journey. There was, you may remember, a 

 man-hauling party on the way to the Beardmore Glacier. 

 They travelled with a light sledge but they lost weight on the 

 Barrier ration. It is significant that they picked up condi- 

 tion when they started the Summit ration, especially Lashly . 



The Polar Party and the two returning parties, who 

 were on the Summit ration from the foot of the Beardmore 

 until the end of their journeys, weakened, in Atkinson's 

 opinion, more than they should have done had their ration 

 been sufficient. The First Return Party covered approxi- 

 mately 1 1 00 statute miles. At the end of their journey their 

 pulling muscles were all right, but Atkinson, who led the 

 party, considers that they were at least 70 per cent weaker in 

 other muscles. They all lost a great deal of weight, though 

 they had the best conditions of the three returning parties, 

 and the temperatures met by them averaged well over zero. 



The Second Return Party faced much worse conditions. 

 They were only three men, and one of the three was so sick 

 that for 120 miles he could not pull and for 90 miles he 



