OHYAT: The Search Journey Begins

ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO TONIGHT, almost exactly a year after twelve core members of the Expedition set out to reach the South Pole, the main part of the remaining party set out from Hut Point to find out what had happened to the five who hadn't returned. They had Indian mules instead of Siberian ponies, but they were following the same line of depots, travelling at night* just as they had the year before, in order to give the animals rest during the warmest part of the day. The mule parties, under the leadership of Silas Wright, set out at 8pm on October 30th – the dogs, being driven by Atch, Cherry, and Dimitri, would follow a few days behind, with the intent of catching up. Only Frank Debenham, who was still suffering from the bad knee that had precluded him from last year's journey, and William Archer, the new cook who had landed with the Terra Nova, were left behind at Cape Evans.

No one knew what to expect, or where (or if) they'd find any sign of the Polar Party. Most thought they'd gotten on the wrong side of a crevasse on the Beardmore, and a few of them were quietly looking forward to having more time in and around the Transantarctic Mountains than they'd had the year previous, when the focus was on the trek itself – Silas had glaciology on his mind, but there was also mapping to be done, and geological surveys to be taken. They planned to be out three months.


*The sun wasn't really setting by this point in the year, but there was part of the day in which it was lower and its effect less powerful.