Glossary
*
BLIZZARD. An Antarctic blizzard is a high southerly wind generally accompanied by clouds of drifting snow, partly falling from above, partly picked up from the surface. In the daylight of summer a tent cannot be seen a few yards off: in the darkness of winter it is easy to be lost within a few feet of a hut. There is no doubt that a blizzard has a bewildering and numbing effect upon the brain of any one exposed to it.
BRASH. Small ice fragments from a floe which is breaking up.
CLOUD. The commonest form of cloud, and also that typical of blizzard conditions, was a uniform pall stretching all over the sky without distinction. This was logged by us as stratus. Cumulus clouds are the woolly billows, flat below and rounded on top, which are formed by local ascending currents of air. They were rare in the south and only formed over open water or mountains. Cirrus are the "mare's tails" and similar wispy clouds which float high in the atmosphere. These and their allied forms were common. Generally speaking, the clouds were due to stratification of the air into layers rather than to ascending currents.
CRUSTS. Layers of snow in a snow-field with air space between them.
FINNESKO. Boots made entirely of fur, soles and all.
FROST SMOKE. Condensed water vapour which forms a mist over open sea in cold weather.
ICE-FOOT. Fringes of ice which skirt many parts of the Antarctic shores: many of them have been formed by sea-spray.
NUNATAK. An island of land in a snow-field. Buckley Island is the top of a mountain sticking out of the top of the Beardmore Glacier.
PIEDMONT. Stretches of ancient ice which remain along the Antarctic coasts.
PRAM. A Norwegian skiff, with a spoon bow.
SAENNEGRASS. A kind of Norwegian hay used as packing in finnesko.
SASTRUGI are the furrows or irregularities formed on a snow plain by the wind. They may be a foot or more deep and as hard and as slippery as ice: they may be quite soft: they may appear as great inverted pudding bowls: they may be hard knots covered with soft powdery snow.
SLEDGING DISTANCES. All miles are geographical miles unless otherwise stated, 1 statute or English mile = 0.87 geographical mile: 1 geographical mile = 1.15 statute miles.
TANK. A canvas "hold-all" strapped to the sledge to contain food bags.
TIDE CRACK. A working crack between the land ice and the sea ice which rises and falls with the tide.
WIND. Wind forces are logged according to the Beaufort scale, which is as follows:
No. ... Description ... Mean velocity in miles per hour.
0 ... Calm ... 0
1 ... Light air ... 1
2 ... Light breeze ... 4
3 ... Gentle breeze ... 9
4 ... Moderate breeze ... 14
5 ... Fresh breeze ... 20
6 ... Strong breeze ... 26
7 ... Moderate gale ... 33
8 ... Fresh gale ... 42
9 ... Strong gale ... 51
10 ... Whole gale ... 62
11 ... Storm ... 75
12 ... Hurricane ... 92
* * *
*
[1] Cook, A Voyage towards the South Pole, Introduction.
[2] Cook, A Voyage towards the South Pole, vol. i. p. 23.
[3] Ibid. p. 28.
[4] Cook, A Voyage towards the South Pole, vol. i. p. 268.
[5] Ibid. p. 275.
[6] Scott, Voyage of the Discovery, vol. i. p. 9.
[7] Ibid. p. 14.
[8] Ross, Voyage to the Southern Seas, vol. i. p. 117.
[9] Ross, Voyage to the Southern Seas, vol. i. pp. 216-218.
[10] Ross, Voyage to the Southern Seas, vol. i. pp. 244-245.
[11] Leonard Huxley, Life of Sir J. D. Hooker, vol. ii. p. 443.
[12] Ibid. p. 441.
[13] Nansen, Farthest North, vol. i. p. 52.
[14] Nansen, Farthest North, vol. ii. pp. 19-20.
[15] Scott, Voyage of the Discovery, vol. i. p. 229.
[16] Scott, Voyage of the Discovery, vol. i. p. vii.
[17] Ibid. p. 273.
[18] See Scott, Voyage of the Discovery, vol. ii. pp. 5, 6, 490.
[19] Wilson, Nat. Ant. Exp., 1901-1904, "Zoology," Part ii. pp.
8-9.
[20] Wilson, Nat. Ant. Exp., 1901-1904, "Zoology," Part ii. p.
31.
[21] Scott, Voyage of the Discovery, vol. ii. p. 327.
[22] Scott, The Voyage of the Discovery, vol. ii. pp. 347-348.
[23] Priestley, Antarctic Adventure, pp. 232-233.
[24] Priestley, Antarctic Adventure, pp. 236-237.
[25] Priestley, Antarctic Adventure, p. 243.
[26] Atkinson has no doubt that the symptoms of the Northern Party
were those of early scurvy. Conditions of temperature in the
igloo allowed of decomposition occurring in seal meat. Fresh
seal meat brought in from outside reduced the scurvy
symptoms.
[27] This tenderness of gums and tongue is additional evidence of
scurvy.
[28] Published by Fisher Unwin, 1914.
[29] Vol. ii., Narrative of the Northern Party.
[30] A. A. Milne.
[31] Ross, Voyage to the Southern Seas, vol. i. pp. 22-24.
[32] Bowers' letter.
[33] Vide Scott's Last Expedition, vol. ii. pp. 454-456.
[34] "Atmospheric Electricity over Ocean," by G. C. Simpson and
C. S. Wright, Pro. Roy. Soc. A, vol. 85, 1911.
[35] See B.A.E., 1910, Nat. Hist. Report, vol. i. No. 3, p. 117.
[36] Ibid. p. 111.
[37] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 6.
[38] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 7.
[39] Ibid. p. 9.
[40] Ibid. p. 8.
[41] Wilson in the Discovery Natural History Reports.
[42] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. pp. 11-12.
[43] Wilson's Journal.
[44] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. pp. 14-15.
[45] Raper, Practice of Navigation, article 547.
[46] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 13.
[47] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. pp. 21-22.
[48] Ibid. pp. 24-25.
[49] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 2.
[50] My own diary.
[51] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 25.
[52] Ibid. p. 60.
[53] Wilson.
[54] Wilson, Discovery Natural History Report, vol. ii. part ii.
p. 38.
[55] Wilson's Journal.
[56] Levick, Antarctic Penguins, p. 83.
[57] Levick, Antarctic Penguins, p. 85.
[58] Wilson in the Discovery Natural History Report, Zoology,
vol. ii. part i. p. 44.
[59] Discovery Natural History Report, Zoology, vol. ii. part i.
Wilson, pp. 32, 33.
[60] Ibid. p. 33.
[61] Antarctic Manual: Seals, by Barrett-Hamilton, p. 216.
[62] Ibid. p. 217.
[63] Discovery Natural History Report, Zoology, vol. ii. part i.
by E. A. Wilson, p. 36.
[64] Discovery Natural History Report, Zoology, vol. ii. part i.
by E. A. Wilson.
[65] Terra Nova Natural History Report, Cetacea, vol. i. No. 3,
p. 111, by Lillie.
[66] Terra Nova Natural History Report, Zoology, vol. i. No. 3,
Cetacea, by D. G. Lillie, p. 114.
[67] Discovery Natural History Report, Zoology, vol. ii. part i.
pp. 3-4, by E. A. Wilson.
[68] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 22.
[69] Wilson's Journal, Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 613.
[70] Minute plants.
[71] Killer whale.
[72] Officers' mess on the Terra Nova.
[73] Griffith Taylor in South Polar Times.
[74] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 35.
[75] Ibid. p. 39.
[76] Ibid. pp. 54, 55.
[77] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 56.
[78] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. pp. 73-75.
[79] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 62.
[80] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. pp. 68, 69.
[81] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 77.
[82] Thomson.
[83] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 80.
[84] Wilson's Journal, Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. pp. 613,
614.
[85] See Introduction, p. xxxv.
[86] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 87.
[87] The extreme south point of the island, a dozen miles farther,
on one of whose minor headlands, Hut Point, stood the
Discovery hut.
[88] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. pp. 88-90.
[89] Ibid. p. 91.
[90] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. pp. 52-93.
[91] Ibid. pp. 92-94.
[92] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 111.
[93] Ibid. p. 94.
[94] Ibid. p. 100.
[95] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 230.
[96] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. pp. 113-114.
[97] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. pp. 94-96.
[98] Ibid. p. 106.
[99] My own diary.
[100] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 111.
[101] My own diary.
[102] The South Pole, vol. i. p. 278.
[103] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 128.
[104] Ibid. p. 129.
[105] My own diary.
[106] See Introduction, p. xxxiv.
[107] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 122.
[108] Ibid. pp. 122-123.
[109] Priestley's diary.
[110] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 127.
[111] Ibid. p. 134.
[112] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 136.
[113] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 138.
[114] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. pp. 180-81.
[115] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. pp. 187-188. Scott
started for the Pole on November 1, 1911. Amundsen started
on September 8, 1911, but had to turn back owing to low
temperatures; he started again on October 19.
[116] Priestley's diary.
[117] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 185.
[118] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. pp. 190-191.
[119] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. pp. 191-192.
[120] Wilson camped with the two dog-teams on the land, and in the
morning saw us floating on the ice-floes through his
field-glasses. He made his way along the peninsula until he
could descend on to the Barrier, where he joined Scott.
[121] I think he was stiff after standing so many hours.—A. C.-G.
[122] Scott, The Voyage of the Discovery, vol. i. p. 350.
[123] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 201.
[124] Bowers.
[125] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 207.
[126] My own diary.
[127] Bowers.
[128] My own diary.
[129] Bowers' letter.
[130] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 604.
[131] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. pp. 599, 602, 607.
[132] Scott, Voyage of the Discovery, vol. ii. p. 53.
[133] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 295.
[134] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. pp. 432-433.
[135] Ibid. p. 597.
[136] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 362.
[137] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 396.
[138] With Scott: The Silver Lining, Taylor, p. 240.
[139] F. G. Jackson, A Thousand Days in the Arctic, vol. ii. pp.
380-381.
[140] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 4.
[141] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 352.
[142] Ibid. p. 353.
[143] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 353.
[144] A thermometer which registered -77° at the Winter Quarters
of H.M.S. Alert on March 4, 1876, is preserved by the Royal
Geographical Society. I do not know whether it was screened.
[145] My own diary.
[146] My own diary.
[147] My own diary.
[148] Ibid.
[149] See Introduction, pp. xxxix-xlv.
[150] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. ii. p. 42.
[151] Keats.
[152] Bowers.
[153] My own diary.
[154] Bowers.
[155] Wilson in Scott's Last Expedition, vol. ii. p. 58.
[156] My own diary.
[157] Wilson.
[158] Bowers.
[159] My own diary.
[160] My own diary.
[161] Ibid.
[162] Ibid.
[163] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 361.
[164] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. ii. p. 293.
[165] Ibid. pp. 291-297; written by Lieutenant Evans.
[166] Ibid. vol. i. p. 409.
[167] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 403.
[168] Ibid. p. 404.
[169] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 425.
[170] Ibid. p. 437.
[171] Ibid. p. 429.
[172] Ibid. p. 438.
[173] Taylor, with Scott, The Silver Lining, pp. 325-326.
[174] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 448.
[175] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 449.
[176] Ibid. p. 446.
[177] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 453.
[178] Ibid. p. 452.
[179] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 438-439.
[180] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 450.
[181] Bowers.
[182] Bowers.
[183] My own diary.
[184] Bowers.
[185] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 463.
[186] Ibid. p. 462.
[187] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 461.
[188] Bowers.
[189] Bowers.
[190] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 465.
[191] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 465.
[192] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 468.
[193] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. pp. 470, 471.
[194] Bowers.
[195] A note to Cape Evans is as follows:—MY DEAR SIMPSON. This
goes with Day and Hooper now returning. We are making fair
progress and the ponies doing fairly well. I hope we shall
get through to the glacier without difficulty, but to make
sure I am carrying the dog-teams farther than I intended at
first—the teams may be late returning, unfit for further
work or non-existent....—R. SCOTT.
[196] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 474.
[197] Ibid. p. 475.
[198] Ibid. p. 476.
[199] Ibid. p. 476.
[200] Bowers.
[201] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 483.
[202] Bowers.
[203] Bowers.
[204] My own diary.
[205] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 486.
[206] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. pp. 486-489.
[207] Bowers.
[208] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 489.
[209] My own diary.
[210] My own diary.
[211] Ibid.
[212] My own diary.
[213] My own diary.
[214] Bowers.
[215] Scott.
[216] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 497.
[217] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 499.
[218] Bowers.
[219] My own diary.
[220] Ibid.
[221] Bowers.
[222] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 506.
[223] My own diary.
[224] Ibid.
[225] Bowers.
[226] Bowers.
[227] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 509.
[228] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 510.
[229] My own diary.
[230] My own diary.
[231] Bowers.
[232] My own diary.
[233] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 511-512.
[234] Bowers.
[235] My own diary.
[236] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 513.
[237] Lashly's diary.
[238] Lashly's diary.
[239] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 525.
[240] Ibid. p. 521.
[241] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 513.
[242] Ibid. p. 529.
[243] My own diary, December 22, 1911.
[244] My own diary.
[245] My own diary.
[246] See Introduction, pp. l, lii-lix.
[247] My own diary.
[248] British Antarctic Expedition, 1910-1913, "Meteorology," by
G. C. Simpson, vol. i. pp. 28-30.
[249] My own diary.
[250] My own diary.
[251] My own diary.
[252] As a matter of fact this was not the case.
[253] My own diary.
[254] My own diary.
[255] Atkinson in Scott's Last Expedition, vol. ii. p. 309.
[256] My own diary.
[257] My own diary.
[258] Ibid.
[259] Atkinson in Scott's Last Expedition, vol. ii. p. 31.
[260] Atkinson in Scott's Last Expedition, vol. ii. p. 314.
[261] Atkinson's diary.
[262] My own diary.
[263] My own diary.
[264] My own diary.
[265] My own diary.
[266] See Amundsen, The South Pole, vol. i. p. 264.
[267] Ibid. vol. i. p. 119.
[268] Scott, Voyage of the Discovery, vol. i. pp. 480-487.
[269] My own diary.
[270] My own diary.
[271] My own diary.
[272] Wilson's Journal, Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 616.
[273] Ibid.
[274] My own diary.
[275] Wright's diary.
[276] Wright's diary.
[277] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 536.
[278] It is to be noticed that every return party, including the
Polar Party, was supposed by their companions to be going to
have a very much easier time than, as a matter of fact, they
had.—A. C.-G.
[279] Bowers.
[280] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. pp. 530-534.
[281] Simpson, B.A.E., 1910-1913, "Meteorology," vol. i. p. 291.
[282] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 540.
[283] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. pp. 541-542.
[284] Simpson, B.A.E., 1910-1913, "Meteorology," vol. i. pp.
144-146.
[285] Simpson, B.A.E., 1910-1913, "Meteorology," vol. i. p. 41.
[286] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 543.
[287] Wilson.
[288] Evidently meaning some miles from crest to crest.
[289] Bowers, Polar Meteorological Log.
[290] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. pp. 543-544.
[291] Simpson, B.A.E., 1910-1913, "Meteorology," vol. i. p. 40.
[292] Bowers.
[293] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. pp. 550-551.
[294] Bowers.
[295] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 552.
[296] Bowers.
[297] Wilson.
[298] Wilson.
[299] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 541.
[300] Ibid. p. 549.
[301] Wilson.
[302] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 557.
[303] Ibid. pp. 560, 561.
[304] Wilson.
[305] Ibid.
[306] Bowers.
[307] Wilson.
[308] Ibid.
[309] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 559.
[310] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 561.
[311] Wilson.
[312] Ibid.
[313] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 561.
[314] Ibid. pp. 562, 563.
[315] Ibid. p. 566.
[316] Wilson.
[317] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 567.
[318] Wilson.
[319] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. pp. 570-571.
[320] Wilson.
[321] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 573.
[322] Wilson.
[323] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. pp. 575-576.
[324] Ibid. p. 577.
[325] Wilson.
[326] See note at end of Chapter XIV.
[327] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. pp. 582, 583.
[328] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. pp. 584-599.
[329] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. i. pp. 605-607.
[330] Scott, Voyage of the Discovery, vol. i. p. 449.
[331] Amundsen, The South Pole, vol. ii. p. 19.
[332] Lashly's diary records that the Second Return Party found a
shortage of oil at the Middle Barrier Depôt.
[333] Scott, "Message to the Public."
[334] A full discussion of these and other Antarctic temperatures
is to be found in the scientific reports of the British
Antarctic Expedition, 1910-13, "Meteorology," vol. i. chap.
ii., by G. C. Simpson.
[335] Modern research suggests that the presence or absence of
certain vitamines makes a difference, and it may be a very
great difference, in the ability of any individual to profit
by the food supplied to him. If this be so this factor must
have had great influence upon the fate of the Polar Party,
whose diet was seriously deficient in, if not absolutely
free from, vitamines. The importance of this deficiency to
the future explorer can hardly be exaggerated, and I suggest
that no future Antarctic sledge party can ever set out to
travel inland again without food which contains these
vitamines. It is to be noticed that, although the Medical
Research Council's authoritative publication on the true
value of these accessory substances was not available when
we went South in 1910, yet Atkinson insisted that fresh
onions, which had been brought down by the ship, be added to
our ration for the Search Journey. Compare recent work of
Professor Leonard Hill on the value of ultra-violet rays in
compensating for lack of vitamines.—A. C.-G.
[336] Scott's Last Expedition, vol. ii. p. 356.
[337] My own diary.
[338] Wilson, Nat. Ant. Exp., 1901-1904, "Zoology," Part ii. pp.
44-45.
[339] My own diary.
[340] Ibid.
[341] My own diary.
[342] My own diary.
[343] My own diary.
[344] Ibid.