ving in the shadow of a great disaster, and that
Campbell's fate was in doubt, one must feel that in a way they had the
hardest time of all in the Expedition. They had to sit down, as it were,
and wait in uncertainty for the winter to pass, then go out in search to
ascertain the fate of their leader, and probably that of Campbell.

I can only give a brief summary of the second winter, taken from
Atkinson's and Gran's accounts: the weather was probably exceptional from
the persistency of the early winter blizzards. There was a great dearth
of seal-meat, due to the ice blowing out from the North Bay and to the
lack of ice everywhere in May month.

Debenham gave great joy to the company after examining the geological
specimens brought by Atkinson's supporting party from the Beardmore.
Fossils of plants and small marine animals were found amongst them.

Ice formed at the end of May, but again blew out in June--close on to
midwinter, when the sea was seen to be phosphorescent, and Atkinson
writes: "We had a wonderful show of phosphorescence--we saw a seal
chasing a school of fish, the fish outlined with phosphorescence, and the
seal with a glowing snout and all his body bright in hot pursuit."

On midwinter day, after the attendant festivities, Atkinson called the
members together and outlined his plans for the coming season.

He says, "Two alternatives lay before us. One was to go South and try to
discover the fate of Captain Scott's party. I thought it most likely that
they had been lost in a crevasse on the Beardmore Glacier. Whether their
bodies could be found or not, it was highly desirable to go even as far
as the Upper Glacier Depot, nearly 600 miles from the Base, in the hope
of finding a note left in some depot which could tell whether they had
fulfilled their task or turned back before reaching the Pole. On general
grounds it was of great importance not to leave the record of the
Expedition incomplete, with one of its most striking chapters a blank.

"The other alternative was to go West and North to relieve Campbell and
his party, always supposing they had survived the winter. If they had
come through the winter every day of advancing summer would improve their
chances of living on in Terra Nova Bay. At the same time there was good
prospect of their ultimately being relieved by the ship, if indeed she
had not taken them off in the autumn. As for ourselves, it seemed most
improbable that we could journey up the