Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
98
party a day later. On the morning of November 12, the groups set out together, shifting
more weight to the dog teams to equalize their speeds. By evening the merry explorers
were camped farther south than Borchgrevink's previous record. In the morning a group
photo with all flags flying commemorated the moment, before six of the support party
turned back. After two more days of pulling, the southern party filled up their loads to
more than two thousand pounds distributed among six sleds, and the remaining six men
of the support party turned back.
Scott, Wilson, and Shackleton were now poised to advance to high southern lati-
tudes, where answers to the questions of the continental nature of Antarctica might be
found. But almost as soon as the support party left, the pace of the southern party be-
gan to slow. The dogs did not seem to have the same vigor, and the air temperature was
balmy (for Antarctica), causing the snow to become sticky. Within a few days it became
necessary to ferry the loads, and the daily distance averaged five or six miles even though
the march was fifteen to eighteen. During this period a thin mist hung in the air much
of the time, producing fine ice crystals that settled out of the sky, adding to the soft snow
surface. Although the drift of ice crystals impeded progress, it created the most extraor-
dinary atmospheric eVects concentrating light in compound arcs, halos, and parhelia
around the sun, sometimes with faint colors of the rainbow. On the morning of the 19th,
when the air cleared a bit, the men saw mountains oV to the southwest, farther south
than they had seen before. It gave the impression of several detached portions of land
with broad gaps separating them, and possibly further islands at the southern end of Vic-
toria Land.
On November 20 the party advanced only three and a third miles, on the following
day, four. With clear skies more mountains appeared farther in the distance to the south-
west. By this time it was painfully clear that they would not be able to make any great
penetration into the interior. With no certain end in sight to the mountains, the party
decided to strike toward land in order to survey these new features and possibly to collect
geological specimens. This cheered Wilson, because he was eager to record the moun-
tains in his sketchbook. The intention was to establish a depot close to some landmark,
and from there to explore south along the mountain front with much lighter loads.
On November 25 the party crossed 80° S latitude. Scott noted, “All our charts of the
Antarctic Regions show a plain white circle beyond the eightieth parallel; the most imagi-
native cartographer has not dared to cross this limit, and even the meridional lines end at
the circle. It has always been our ambition to get inside that white space, and now we are
there the space can no longer be a blank; this compensates for a lot of trouble.”
For the next three weeks the party inched toward the mountains at an agonizingly
slow pace, gradually moving onto a night schedule, relaying all the while. During that
time it was the dogs, not the men, that called a halt to the marches. The teams seemed
simply not to have the strength. Upon reflection the men concluded that the problem
lay in the dog food, a meal of dried fish, which unbeknownst to anyone had apparently
spoiled during the passage through the tropics. Isolated, the men could do nothing but
push on with the sick animals, feeding them dog meat when one of their fellows dropped.
The men never ate dog meat, and it probably would have been better for them if they had;
traveling on extremely minimal rations, they talked and dreamed of food incessantly.
 
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