With deep sorrow we record the death of the southern
party in Captain Scott's Antarctic expedition. A search party discovered the bodies of Captain Scott, Dr. Wilson, and Lieutenant Bowers in their tent only eleven miles from the depot where they would have secured their last supplies on their return from the Pole. Papers found in the tent told the story of the disaster. The Pole was reached on January 17th, 1912, by Captain Scott and his four com- panions. On the return journey Petty Officer Evans died at the foot of the Beardmore Glacier. The next to fall ill was Captain Oates, who weakened so much that he was quite
unable to march. On March 17th, during a blizzard, he walked out of the tent and was never seen again. He remarked, "I am just going outside." He knew that if the party were delayed by carrying him, all their lives would be lost, and he sacrificed himself with unforgettable heroism., On March 21st the last camp was formed. If the weather had been fine the three survivors, exhausted though they were by the unexampled heavy going in gales and deep snow, would certainly have reached their supplies. But a blizzard blew for nine days, and Captain Scott, Mr. Bowers, and Dr. Wilson died of exhaustion and starvation. Before his death Captain Scott wrote a " message to the public," setting forth the causes of the disaster and commending the widows and children of the party to the care of his countrymen. The message is the very embodiment of courage, simplicity, and great-heartedness, and has moved the feelings of the country more than anything of the kind that our generation can remember.
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