CAPTAIN SCOTT’S LAST MESSAGE. 
~pHE facsimile overleaf of the first page of Captain 
Scott's Last Message to the Public is reproduced for 
the first time, by the kind permission of Lady Scott. It is 
a human document of the greatest interest to all admirers 
of the intrepid explorer, who will not fail to observe that, 
although writing in the face of certain death from exposure 
and starvation, he calmly and dispassionately sets forth the 
reasons for the failure of the Expedition in a message which 
to all appearances might have been written in the peaceful 
seclusion of his study. Surely such an instance of the 
power of mind over body is well-nigh unique. 
The page reads as follows: — 
MESSAGE TO THE PUBLIC. 
The causes of this disaster are not due to faulty 
organization, but to misfortune in all risks which had 
to be undertaken. 
1. The loss of pony transport in March. 1911, 
obliged me to start later than I had intended 
and obliged the limits of stuff transported to 
be narrowed. 
2. The weather throughout the outward journey 
and especially the long gale in 83° South, 
stopped us. 
X The soft snow in lower reaches of glacier again 
reduced pace. 
We fought these untoward events with a will, and 
conquered, but it ate into our provision reserve. 
Every detail of our food supplies, clothing, and 
depots, made on the interior ice sheet and on that long 
stretch of 700 miles to the Pole and back, worked out 
to perfection ; the advance party would have returned 
to the Glacier in fine form and with surplus of food 
but for the astonishing failure of the man whom we 
had least expected to fail. Edgar Evans was thought 
the strongest man of the party. 
The Beardmore Glacier is not difficult in fine 
weather, but on our return we did not get a single 
completely fine day. This, with a sick companion, 
enormously increased our anxieties. 
