o Cape Evans on March
4. Here Keohane was picked up and taken with Atkinson to Hut
Point--Pennell relieved Atkinson of further responsibility on my account
and then landed him with Keohane here. It was impressed on Atkinson that
there was very little chance of relieving Campbell with ice conditions as
they were. They laid up a store of seal meat and blubber against the
return of Scott's company, while the ship made another fruitless attempt
to relieve Campbell. She did not return South after this on account of
the sea freezing and her own coal shortage, but proceeded back to New
Zealand, in accordance with her Commanding Officer's instructions.
Pennell was not justified in keeping the "Terra Nova" any later in the
McMurdo Sound.

Now let us consider poor Atkinson. He had Dimitri and Cherry-Garrard at
Hut Point in a state of collapse--he had on 16th March the knowledge that
the Polar Party were still on the Barrier with a season closing in and a
certainty of low temperature--there was no communication with Cape Evans,
for the ice had gone out and left open water between the two positions.
After discussing the situation fully, Atkinson and Keohane started out
alone to succour Scott's party. It was on March 26 that Atkinson and
Keohane set out, this being later in the year than we had sledged in
1911, when it will be remembered we gave up depot-laying on account of
the hardship entailed, although we were fresh men and had not undergone
the severe test of a long season's sledge work. Atkinson could only
manage about nine miles daily, he and Keohane got practically no sleep
owing to the cold, and they turned homeward after depositing a week's
food supply at Corner Camp, in case it could be made use of. Atkinson was
morally certain that the Polar Party had perished by this time, and, as
he states in his record of proceedings ("The last year at Cape Evans,
'Scott's Last Expedition,' Vol. II."), Scott's last diary entry was made
before he and Keohane reached Corner Camp. Atkinson arrived back at Hut
Point on April 1, 1912, utterly worn out, and in great concern on
Campbell's account, for the Northern party were known to be somewhere on
the coast. He could do nothing without assistance from Cape Evans, and he
awaited, therefore, the opportunity of reaching the base station as we
all had done when stranded at Hut Point twelve months previously. On
April 10, leaving Cherry-Garrard to tend the dogs, Atkinson, Keohane, and
Dimitri m