30 March -- OHYAT: Morally Certain

Atch and Keohane were out on the Barrier, enduring brutal conditions, in the hope of meeting the homebound Polar Party. They reached a point ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO TODAY where 'the weather, and temperatures, and the time of year, and the hopelessness of finding the party except at any definite point like a depot' caused him finally to decide to turn back. He recorded in his official report that he was 'morally certain that the Polar Party had perished'.

The next day, Frank Debenham would write in his journal:

I think the Polar Party must have been back long ago if they are coming back at all. It's curious that that point of view rarely presents itself down here – we go along doing risky things without ever imagining anything untoward happening.