136 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD 
party to come in with the pony more slowly, and himself 
to push on with Crean and myself at top speed for Safety 
Camp. We madea forced march well into the night, doing 
twenty-six miles for the day, and camped some ten miles 
from Safety Camp, where the pony party must by this 
time have arrived. 
The events which followed were disastrous, and the 
steps which led to a catastrophe which entailed the loss of 
much of our best transport, and only by a miracle did not 
lead to the loss of several lives, were complicated. At this 
moment, the night of February 26, there were three parties 
on the Barrier. Behind Scott was Lieutenant Evans’ party 
and the pony, James Pigg. Scott himself was camped 
within easy marching distance of Safety Camp with Crean 
and myself. At Safety Camp were the two dog-teams with 
Wilson and Meares, while the pony party from One Ton 
Depot had just arrived with five ponies which were for the 
most part thin, hungry and worn. Between Safety Camp 
and Hut Point lay the frozen sea, which might or might 
not break up this year, but we knew from our observations 
a few days before that the ice was in a shaky condition. 
At that time the ice sheet extended some seven miles to 
the north of Hut Point. The season was fast closing in: 
temperatures of fifty or sixty degrees of frost had been 
common for the last fortnight, and this was bad for the 
ponies. We had been unfortunate in having several severe 
blizzards, and it was already clear that it was these autumn 
blizzards more than cold temperatures and soft surfaces 
which the ponies could not endure. Scott was most anxious 
to get the animals into such shelter as we could make for 
them at Hut Point. 
The next morning, February 27, we woke to a regular 
cold autumn blizzard—very thick, wind force 9 and tem- 
perature about minus twenty. This was disheartening, and 
indeed with our six worn ponies still on the Barrier the 
outlook for them was discouraging. The blizzard came to 
an end the next morning. Scott must take up the first part 
of that day’s story: 
“Packed up at 6 a.m. and marched into Safety Camp. 
