OHYAT: And they're off!

It was a little later than planned because of core crew members having to rush off and help the motors for a day or two, but ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO TODAY, the men of the Southern Journey set off from Cape Evans for the South Pole! As far as I have been able to gather there wasn't much hoopla, if only because the people who would be making the hoopla were the ones leaving. The departing men finished some letters to be sent home with the ship when it came back, and did some last-minute packing, and tied up loose ends. Scott left orders for those running the base in his absence and decided on a book to take with him on the trail (some poetry by Browning*). It was a pretty unremarkable day all on its own – they were just going to Hut Point which was a trip most of them had made often enough before, and aside from finding out the different paces of the ponies it didn't seem to have been much out of the usual. At Hut Point they met the dog teams and their leaders, which had been based out there for a couple of weeks, and phoned back to Cape Evans for some last conversation with the men they'd left behind, who they'd be out of contact with for a few months at least. The much bigger step into the great white wilderness would come with leaving Hut Point tomorrow ....

Captain Scott wrote: "The future is in the lap of the gods; I can think of nothing left undone to deserve success."



*There was a running feud between supporters of Browning and Tennyson over who was better.