Lyttelton, New Zealand, was selected for the head-quarters of the expedition in the southern hemisphere. It was a long voyage thither and there was natural anxiety respecting the behaviour of the new ship. As time went on, however, Captain Scott became more and more satisfied with her seaworthy qualities. She proved wonderfully stiff and, as her sail area was small, it was rarely necessary to shorten sail, even in the most violent gales. She was wonderfully free of water on the upper deck, and the peculiar rounded shape of her stern gave additional buoyancy to the after part and caused her to rise more quickly to the seas. One day, driving before a very heavy gale, the ship made 223 knots in the 24 hours.

In 51° S. and 131° E. a very interesting magnetic area was reached, where there appeared to be a curious inconsistency in the distribution of magnetic force to the north of the magnetic pole. Captain Scott, therefore, resolved to proceed south for some distance to explore this area more effectively. On November 15th the 60th parallel was crossed, and next day the first ice was seen. Soon loose pack ice was all round the ship. They were within 200 miles of Adélie Land in 62° 50′ S. when the ship’s head was reluctantly turned again to the north. The soundings at the furthest south were 1750, then 2300 and 2500 fathoms. Scott noticed and was much interested in the abundance and variety of bird life, most of the birds being familiar to those who have rounded the Horn. On the 22nd Macquarie Island was reached, and the first penguin rookery was visited. On the 30th November they arrived at Lyttelton and the ship was docked.

After a thorough refit, the receipt of more and supplementary provisions, and the enjoyment of much genuine hospitality, the Discovery was again ready for sea on the 21st December. Besides the dogs, there were 45 sheep on deck. A short service of farewell was held by the Bishop of Christchurch on the mess deck, and the voyage was continued.

The first iceberg was sighted in 65° 30′ S. on the 2nd January, 1902, and by evening as many as seventeen could be counted. On the 3rd the Antarctic Circle was crossed. Soundings were taken in 2040 fathoms. Soon afterwards the pack was entered, and they forced their way through grinding floes, taking advantage of every favourable lead when the ice loosened. Seals and penguins were plentiful on the pack, and very tame, for the only dangers they knew were in the sea. On the 8th a strong water sky was reported, and soon they were in a clear open sea, after only five days in the pack. There was a well-defined edge to the pack, which indicated the presence of southerly winds at this season. There must have been heavier obstruction than was met with by Sir James Ross, for he got through, in bluff-bowed sailing ships, in four days. Far to the south the high mountain peaks of Victoria Land were visible. Scott anchored in Robertson Bay, which is formed by the long peninsula of Cape Adare, but next day the anchor was weighed and the southward course continued.

It is very difficult to write an abstract of this voyage, for the perils of ice navigation, the lovely scenery in fine weather, and the gallant struggles against the ice helped by gales of wind and tides, are so delightfully described by Captain Scott that condensation seems impossible. A visit to the land, south of Cape Washington, satisfied Scott that there were possible winter quarters in a bay which he named Granite Harbour from the huge granite boulders on the beach. By 8 a.m. on January 21st the Discovery was in the middle of M’Murdo Sound, with fine views of the lofty mountains and of Mounts Erebus and Terror. A landing was effected on the north side of Cape Crozier, and Scott, with Dr Wilson and Royds, climbed to a height of 1350 ft., whence they obtained a glorious view of Ross’s great ice barrier. For the first time this extraordinary formation was seen from above.

Captain Scott then proceeded to make a closer examination and survey, with soundings, of the barrier ice-cliffs. Sir James Ross, with sailing ships and with bad weather, was unable to do this thoroughly. The work was done with great care, the height of the cliffs, which attained 280 ft. in the highest part, was measured at intervals, photographs were taken, and frequent soundings, the depth varying from 350 to 400 fathoms. It was found that their course throughout had been south of the position of the barrier in Ross’s time, and that they had sailed continuously over sea which in his day had been covered with a solid ice sheet. On January 29th they were eastward of the extreme position reached by Sir James in 1842. Passing a deep bay in the barrier Scott pushed still further to the eastward; and on the 30th new land was sighted. Soundings varied from 88 to 265 fathoms. Most of the surrounding icebergs were aground, young ice was formed, and Scott resolved to shape a westward course on February 1st. The coast-line was now clearly seen for many miles, with sharp peaks rising to 2000 and 3000 feet, the bare rock appearing in a few places. The new discovery was a country of considerable altitude and extent, and of great importance as fixing the limit of the great ice barrier.

Captain Scott then steered for the inlet he had seen when standing to the east, and found that the ice cliffs were only 20 feet high, and in one place not higher than the ship’s bulwarks. Here he anchored and made fast. There were great numbers of seals on the sea-ice. Armitage and Bernacchi, with a light sledge equipment, marched up the ice valley to the south.

On February 4th preparations were commenced for a balloon ascent, in one of the army captive balloons for lifting a single observer. Scott himself ascended to 800 feet, from which height the nature of the barrier surface could be well seen as a series of long undulations running east and west, each wave occupying a space of two or three miles. Shackleton made the next ascent with a camera, and took some photographs, and in the evening Armitage returned, after having crossed and examined several of the undulations. At this place a quantity of seal meat was obtained.

The Discovery was then taken under sail along the barrier cliffs and was in M’Murdo Sound again on February 8th, where an excellent position for winter quarters was selected, with a view to a good starting-point for travelling parties. On one side was Mount Erebus and the lower hills ending in an abrupt point—Cape Armitage—on the other the lofty mountains of the Victoria range. The ship was to be the home, and the large hut was erected on shore, with two small huts for magnetic instruments, consisting of a wooden framework covered with sheets of asbestos. The kennels for the dogs were arranged on the hill side, below the huts. The selected place was at the southern extreme of a long tongue of land jutting out from the slopes of Mount Erebus. The hills on it formed a semicircle, the hut being on its western extreme which was called Hut Point. Behind, the hills rose to 500 ft., and to the north was a fine mass called Castle Rock.

There were ski races and football, and also limited sledge journeys, which discovered that the land of the volcanoes was, as Ross suspected, an island; that there were three small volcanic islets further south (named Black, Brown, and White), that the ice barrier came up to the foot of the mountains, and that the great Victoria range extended far to the south.

A journey was planned to Cape Crozier to be led by the Captain himself, but an accident to his knee while on ski prevented him from going, and Royds took command, with Skelton, Koettlitz, Barne, and eight men, divided into two teams, and each assisted by four dogs. Experience in sledge travelling was of course wholly wanting and had to be acquired. They started on March 4th.

Eight (Wild, Weller, Heald, Plumley, Quartley, Evans, Hare, and Vince) were sent back on the 9th under Lieut. Barne. On the 11th they left their tent and walked onward, thinking they were close to the ship. A blizzard came on and they found themselves on a steep slope, could see nothing, but tried to keep close together. Suddenly Hare disappeared, then Evans went. Barne and Quartley left the rest to search for Evans. Then they suddenly found themselves on the edge of a precipice. Vince shot past Wild, and went over the edge. With the greatest difficulty Wild, Weller, Heald, and Plumley climbed back, reached some rocks, and ultimately groped their way to the ship.

Armitage was at once despatched with a relief party and a sledge laden with warm clothing and medical comforts, and fortunately not in vain. They came upon Lieut. Barne with two men, and learnt that when Barne left the rest in search of Evans, he found himself flying down an icy slope at a furious pace until he was stopped by soft snow. Within a few feet of him was Evans, then Quartley came hurtling down. The soft snow saved all three, for they were on the brink of the precipice over which poor Vince had been hurled.

All hope of finding young Hare, a lad of 18 who had been shipped at Lyttelton, had been given up. But on March 13th, a solitary figure was seen staggering towards the ship. It was Hare, exhausted and famished, but free from frost bites. He had been buried in the snow for thirty-six hours without food. His preservation was little short of miraculous. Of Vince’s fate, however, there could be no doubt, though his body was never found. He was a fine young seaman, very popular, always obliging and cheerful. A cross, firmly fixed, was erected to his memory. Royds and his companions returned some days afterwards.

The explorers now entered upon a very severe Antarctic winter in 77° 52′ S. All the scientific observers were soon steadily at work, and occupations were found for officers and men alike. Every Tuesday, after dinner, there was a debate in the ward-room on a given subject. The South Polar Times came out periodically, edited by Shackleton, and most beautifully illustrated by Dr Wilson. Some of the men, as well as officers, contributed. The men acted the drama of the “Ticket-of-Leave Man” in the large hut, with Barne as stage manager.

Captain Scott, throughout the winter, was diligently studying the problems connected with sledge travelling. In many respects Arctic sledging conditions differ from those of the Antarctic regions. The cold in the spring and summer is very much more severe in the south, where the thermometer often falls below -60° Fahr. On the other hand the southern traveller escapes the misery of water on the floes, which renders travelling in an Arctic summer so very arduous. Another striking difference is that while the Arctic traveller usually travels over sea ice, often hindered by ranges of hummocks, the Antarctic explorer does most of his work over land ice. The land ice is the most formidable, not only from the deep furrows ploughed by the wind, but also from the dangerous chasms and crevasses. Scott was impressed with the necessity of attention to the minutest details in studying the art of Antarctic sledge travelling.

The sledges were built at Christiania. Their great fault was in being too narrow, causing them to capsize more readily, it being necessary to pile the load much higher. They had five pairs of uprights and cross bars. The width of the sledges was only 17 inches, the runners 3¾ inches wide; two sledges were 12 ft. long, six 11 ft., and three 7 ft.207 The best width of runner-surface depends on the nature of the snow, and can only be decided after sufficient experience. The Danes have an excellent plan of attaching a ski-runner of walrus-hide in dealing with soft snow.

Scott conceived the idea, having to deal with fewer men, of dividing the sledging crews into units of three, each unit having its own tent and equipment complete. The great advantage of this plan is that, when advisable, a party can be split up into threes, or three can be detached from it. Each article was, therefore, designed for the requirements of three men. The tents were bell-shaped and made of the lightest green Willesden canvas, spread on five bamboo poles 7 ft. long and united at the top. They were thus 5 ft. 6 in. high, and 6 ft. in diameter on the floor, with a skirting edge on which to pile snow; their weight with the floor cloth was 30 lb. Scott considered the sleeping bags of the greatest importance. They were made on board of reindeer skin, some for one man, but most of them to contain three men, which is a great advantage as regards weight. The fur was inside, and there was a flap to be drawn over the occupants and made fast. Their weight was 40 lb. Seven of M’Clintock’s sleeping bags only weighed 42 lb. but there was also a wolf or buffalo robe weighing 40 lb.

Scott’s arrangements for diet while travelling were adopted after careful study and much thought. Experts place our ordinary food under three headings—the nitrogenous food supplied by meats, the fats, and the carbohydrates or farinaceous foods. Supposing all to be water-free, the allowance he adopted was 29 ounces per man, 25 being the allowance in the army on war footing. For polar travelling a much larger allowance is necessary. Water cannot be entirely excluded, though it is a dead and useless addition to the weights. Ordinary cooked meat contains 54 per cent. of moisture. This moisture in food was reduced to a minimum, yet it increased the 29 ounces of actual food to about 35 ounces208. Our ration in the Arctic Regions was 42 ounces per man per day. We could not do without 1 lb. of pemmican, and we also included lime-juice ½ ounce, tobacco ½ ounce, and 3¾ ounces (¾ of a gill) of rum. Fanaticism has deprived Antarctic travellers of the latter most comforting and useful part of the ration. On the whole the pemmican allowance might well have been increased, by omitting plasmon and cheese.

The manufacture of the best pemmican is a lost art. Scott obtained most of his from Beauvais of Copenhagen. It contained 20 per cent. of water, but that I sent out in the Morning made by the Bovril Company was better. But the substantial dish with the Discovery travelling parties was a mixture of pemmican, bacon, and other ingredients, forming a thick soup which they called “hoosh.”

Scott adopted the cooking apparatus invented and used by Nansen, made of aluminium for lightness. It takes as long to reduce ice to a liquid state at very low temperatures as it does to boil the water, so that double the quantity of fuel is needed. Boiling water was made from snow in twelve minutes. The “Primus” lamp of Nansen’s pattern was also adopted. Paraffin oil was used for fuel. Each tin contained a gallon, weighed 10 lb., and was the allowance for three men for ten days.

The constant weights for two sledges were 568½ lb. and 630 lb. could be devoted to provisions, a total of 1200 lb., i.e. about 200 lb. per man at starting. Our constant weights in the Arctic regions were 440 lb., provisions 840 lb., making a total of 1280 lb.

Ski were given a fair trial, but all were novices, and it was found that a party on foot invariably beat a party on ski.

For clothing, furs were eschewed, thick cloth was used, and over all a suit of thin and loose gaberdine, consisting of a blouse and breeches, fitting closely, however, about the neck, wrists, and ankles. “Balaclava” helmets were the head-gear, with special protection for the ears and back of the neck. In summer, when the glare was great, broad-brimmed felt hats were preferred. For the hands, fur or felt mitts were worn over long woollen half-mitts. For the feet finneskos were used. These are Lapp reindeer-fur boots, the soles being of the hard skin of reindeer legs. Two pairs of socks were worn and the boots were stuffed with fine hay before they were put on. There were three kinds of goggles in use, one wire gauze with smoked glass, another a piece of leather with a slit in place of the glass, the third made out of a piece of wood with cross slits cut for the eyes. The latter, used also by the Eskimos, were the best, but attacks of snow blindness could not be altogether prevented.

Scott adopted a quite different kind of hauling gear from any hitherto used. Instead of working from the shoulder, a broad band of webbing was worn round the waist with braces for supports. The two ends of the band were fastened by an iron ring to which a rope was attached, secured to the trace. The men were thus upright when pulling, and Scott believed that the weight was thus distributed evenly over the upper part of the body, which made the pulling easier, and gave greater freedom for breathing.

With regard to the use of dogs there were two ways of treating them. There was the idea of bringing them all back safe and well, which was M’Clintock’s way, and there was the way of getting the greatest amount of work possible out of them, regardless of everything else, and using them as food, which was Nansen’s and Peary’s way. If dogs are treated with humanity, they are in the writer’s opinion not so good as men in a long journey, and Scott had an unconquerable aversion to the employment of them in the second way. The dogs, twenty in number, had been obtained from Siberia, but five were lost in various ways before the travelling season arrived.

Having thus settled every part of the equipment down to the minutest detail Scott then proceeded to plan the work for the coming season. He himself was to lead the journey to the south: Armitage was to attempt the main ridge of mountains, provided with ice axes, crampons, and ropes. Several shorter journeys were to precede them. Royds and Skelton made their way to Cape Crozier to see to the record post, as a signal to a relief ship, and returned on October 24th, having discovered the breeding-place of the Emperor penguins. On the 30th the supporting party, under Lieut. Barne, left for Depôt A, where Scott had already established provisions.

On November 2nd the southern party started under the command of Captain Scott, with Dr Wilson, Sub-Lieut. Shackleton, R.N.R., and the dogs. Barne was caught up just as he was rounding White Island. Odometers had been manufactured on board, the wheel being attached to the sterns of the sledges, so that a rough dead-reckoning could be kept, provided that the route was straight and the course observed and known. Stockfish had been brought for the diet of the dogs, and though it had been taken by the advice of an experienced authority on dog-driving it soon became apparent that it was having a permanently bad effect on them. The food must have deteriorated on the passage through the tropics. Advances could only be made by relays, going over 15 miles to make 5 miles good.

On November 25th the latitude was 80° S. On December 2nd they were passing a magnificent range of mountains running S.E. and N.W., with peaks 10,000 feet above the sea, and long rounded snow capes merging into the barrier. A deep chasm cut them off from any nearer approach to the land. For 31 days they had been at the wearisome relay work, as it was impossible to drag the whole load, but at length a suitable place for a depôt was found, called Depôt B. Throughout the journey Dr Wilson was indefatigable, spending two or three hours at the end of each fatiguing day, sitting at the door of the tent, sketching the splendid mountainous coast to the west. Scott wrote:—

Their furthest point was reached in 82° 17′ S. December 30, 1902. The views of the land were here extremely interesting. The cliffs rose to a height of 1800 feet, ending in the snow expanse which rose into ridges and peaks. In colour the cliffs were a rich deep red, further on nearly black. The most distant peak to the south, far beyond the 83rd parallel, was christened Mount Longstaff. To the S.W. “there was a splendid twin-peaked mountain which, even in such a lofty country, seemed as a giant among pigmies.” Captain Scott named it Mount Markham. One more unsuccessful attempt was made to reach the land, but it was impossible owing to an intervening chasm.

On the return journey the few surviving dogs were useless, and the men had to drag the sledge, deriving occasional help from the sail. On the 14th January, Shackleton broke down altogether. The only hope was to keep him on his legs, doing nothing, for the other two could not possibly have dragged him all the way on the sledge. On the 15th the two last of the dog team died, but on the 28th the depôt was reached and they again had plenty of food. Shackleton struggled along on ski, in a deplorable state, Scott and Wilson dragging the sledge, and on the 30th they put Shackleton on it and dragged him also. Next day he managed to walk again; his two gallant companions being nearly worn out. The ship was finally reached on February 3rd, 1903. In 94 days they had gone over 800 miles, or counting relays 960 miles. The return with their disabled comrade was nothing less than heroic.

The western party started on December 2nd, Armitage and Skelton with ten men forming the extended party; Koettlitz, Ferrar, and Dellbridge (Assistant Engineer) with six others the limited party. Armitage’s plan was to attempt the ascent of the mountains near a vast pile of moraine material which he had seen on a reconnoitring journey. The party ascended a steep snow-slope which divides two masses of bare rocky foot-hills, and rises to a plateau separating them from the higher mountains beyond. Armitage reached an elevation of 5000 ft., and obtained a view of a glacier, afterwards called the Ferrar Glacier, winding inland between high rocky cliffs. Here the supporting party returned, while Armitage and Skelton with the rest of the extended party continued to ascend the steep snow slopes, most arduous and toilsome work. At 6000 ft. they were stopped by an outcrop of rock, and Armitage then resolved to attempt the descent into the Ferrar Glacier, a fall of 1800 feet. In this his party succeeded. On December 18th they commenced the ascent of the glacier, and by January 1st, 1903, were 7500 feet above the sea. One of the men broke down and was left in a tent with half the party, while Armitage pushed on with the rest until his elevation was over 8900 feet. In returning Armitage fell down a crevasse, and was saved with great difficulty. They returned to the ship on the 19th, after having discovered a practicable route to the interior. It was a piece of excellent pioneer work.

Many shorter but useful sledge journeys were made by Koettlitz, Ferrar, Hodgson, and Bernacchi which threw much light on the volcanic region, where the numerous craters show the result of a very remarkable volcanic outburst. Thus Koettlitz proved the insularity of Black Island, examined the northern side of Minna Bluff, and ascended to the summit of Brown Island, 2750 ft. in height.

As the summer advanced the anxious work of freeing the boats, which had sunk deep in the snow, was undertaken; equally laborious work was entailed in getting the ship ready for sea, and well-founded hopes were entertained that a relief ship would arrive.