THE DEPOT JOURNEY 143 
of first necessity to communicate with Captain Scott. I 
guessed his anxiety on our behalf, and, as we could do 
nothing more, we wanted help of some sort. It occurred to 
me that a man working up to windward along the Barrier 
face might happen upon a floe touching [the Barrier]. It 
was obviously impossible to take ponies up there anywhere, 
but an active man might wait his opportunity. Going to 
windward, too, he could always retreat on to our floe, as the 
ice was being pushed together in our direction. The next 
consideration was, whom to send. To go myself was out 
of the question. The problem was whether to send one, 
or both, my companions. As my object was to save the 
animals and gear, it appeared to me that one man remaining 
would be helpless in the event of the floe splitting up, as he 
would be busy saving himself. I therefore decided to send 
one only. This would have to be Crean, as Cherry, who 
wears glasses, could not see so well. Both volunteered, but 
as I say, I thought out all the pros and cons and sent Crean, 
knowing that, at the worst, he could get back to us at any 
time. I sent a note to Captain Scott, and, stuffing Crean’s 
pockets with food, we saw him depart. 
“Practical Cherry suggested pitching the tent as a 
mark of our whereabouts, and having done this I mounted 
the theodolite to watch Crean through the telescope. The 
rise and fall of the floe made this difficult, especially as a 
number of Emperor penguins came up and looked just 
like men in the distance. Fortunately the sunlight cleared 
the frost smoke, and as it fell calm our westerly motion 
began to decrease. The swell started to go down. Outside 
us in the centre of the Strait all the ice had gone out, and 
open water remained. We were one of a line of loose floes 
floating near the Barrier edge. Crean was hours moving to 
and fro before I had the satisfaction of seeing him up on 
the Barrier. I said: ‘Thank God one of us is out of the 
wood, anyhow.’ 
“It was not a pleasant day that Cherry and I spent all 
alone there, knowing as we did that it only wanted a zephyr 
from the south to send us irretrievably out to sea; still 
there is satisfaction in knowing that one has done one’s 
