soura 
pick up Coats' Land and finally reach Vahsel Bay, where Filchner 
made his attempt at landing in 1912. Two considerations were 
occupying my mind at this juncture, I was anxious for certain 
reasons to winter the Endurance in the Weddell Sea, but the 
difficulty of finding a safe harbour might be very great. If 
no safe harbour could be found, the ship must winter at South 
Georgia. It seemed to me hopeless now to think of making 
the journey across the continent in the first summer, as the 
season was far advanced and the ice conditions were likely to 
prove unfavourable. In view of the possibility of wintering 
the ship in the ice, we took extra clothing from the stores at 
the various stations in South Georgia. 
The other question that was giving me anxious thought 
was the size of the shore party. If the ship had to go out 
during the winter, or if she broke away from winter quarters, 
it would be preferable to have only a small, carefully selected 
party of men ashore after the hut had been built and the 
stores landed. These men could proceed to lay out depots 
by man-haulage and make short journeys with the dogs, 
training them for the long early march in the following spring. 
The majority of the scientific men would live aboard the ship, 
where they could do their work under good conditions. They 
would be able to make short jom^neys if required, using the 
Endurance as a base. All these plans were based on an ex- 
pectation that the finding of winter quarters was likely to be 
difiicult. If a really safe base could be established on the 
continent, I would adhere to the original programme of send- 
ing one party to the south, one to the west round the head of 
the Weddell Sea towards Graham Land, and one to the east 
towards Enderby Land. 
We had worked out details of distances, courses, stores 
required, and so forth. Our sledging ration, the result of ex- 
perience as well as close study, was perfect. The dogs 
gave promise, after training, of being able to cover fifteen to 
twenty miles a day with loaded sledges. The transcontinental 
journey, at this rate, should be completed in 120 days unless 
some unforeseen obstacle intervened. We longed keenly for the 
day when we could begin this march, the last great adventui^e 
2 
