OHYAT: Titus' Decline

[tealin]

With the temperatures dropping, sun disappearing, wind unhelpful and surfaces dreadful, the Polar Party was having a very rough time. Titus awoke on the morning of the 5th to find one of his frostbitten feet had swollen 'tremendously,' rendering him lame and unable to help pull the sledge. 'It is pathetic enough because we can do nothing for him;' Scott wrote, 'more hot food might do a little, but only a little, I fear. We none of us expected these terribly low temperatures, and of the rest of us Wilson is feeling them most; mainly, I fear, from his self-sacrificing devotion in doctoring Oates’ feet.'

Then, ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO TODAY:

Poor Oates is unable to pull, sits on the sledge when we are track-searching — he is wonderfully plucky, as his feet must be giving him great pain. He makes no complaint, but his spirits only come up in spurts now, and he grows more silent in the tent. We are making a spirit lamp to try and replace the primus when our oil is exhausted. It will be a very poor substitute and we’ve not got much spirit. If we could have kept up our 9-mile days we might have got within reasonable distance of the depot before running out, but nothing but a strong wind and good surface can help us now, and though we had quite a good breeze this morning, the sledge came as heavy as lead. If we were all fit I should have hopes of getting through, but the poor Soldier has become a terrible hindrance, though he does his utmost and suffers much I fear.

– R.F. Scott