LAYING THE DEPOTS 
The whole party had intended, if the weather had held 
good, to have attempted the passage across with the full moon 
about May 16. On the date on which Mackintosh and Hay ward 
left it was impossible that a sledge should travel the distance 
over the sea-ice owing to the sticky nature of the surface. 
Hence their decision to go alone and leave the others to follow 
with the sledge and equipment when the surface should improve. 
That they had actually been lost was learned only on July 15, 
on which date the party from Hut Point arrived at Cape Evans. 
The entry in Joyce's diary shows that he had very strong 
forebodings of disaster when Mackintosh and Hayward left. 
He warned them not to go, as the ice was still thin and the 
Aveather was uncertain. Mackintosh seems to have believed 
that he and Ha3^ward, travelling light, could get across to Cape 
Evans quickly before the weather broke, and if the blizzard 
had come two or three hours later they probably would have 
been safe. The two men carried no sleeping-bags and only 
a small meal of chocolate and seal meat. 
The weather during June was persistently bad. No move had 
been possible on May 1 6, the sea-ice being out, and Joyce decided 
to wait until the next full moon. When this came the weather 
was boisterous, and so it was not until the full moon of July 
that the journey to Cape Evans was made. During June and 
July seals got very scarce, and the supply of blubber ran short. 
Meals consisted of little but seal meat and porridge. The small 
stock of salt was exhausted, but the men prociu:ed two and 
a half pounds by boiling down snow taken from the bottom 
layer next to the sea-ice. The dogs recovered condition 
rapidly and did some hunting on their own account among 
the seals. 
The party started for Cape Evans on July 15. They had 
expected to take advantage of the full moon, but by a strange 
chance they had chosen the period of an eclipse, and the moon 
was shadowed most of the time they were crossing the sea-ice. 
The ice was fom, and the three men reached Cape Evans without 
difficulty. They found Stevens, Cope, Gaze, and Jack at the 
Cape Evans Hut, and learned that nothing had been seen of 
Captain Mackintosh and Hayward. The conclusion that these 
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