And at the end, when Scott himself lay dying, he wrote to Mrs. Wilson: 

“I can do no more to comfort you, than to tell you that he died as he lived, a brave, true man—­the best of comrades and staunchest of friends."[139]

Physically Scott had been a delicate boy but developed into a strong man, 5 feet 9 inches in height, 11 stone 6 lbs. in weight, with a chest measurement of 391/4 inches.  Wilson was not a particularly strong man.  On leaving with the Discovery he was but lately cured of consumption, yet he went with Scott to his farthest South, and helped to get Shackleton back alive.  Shackleton owed his life to those two.  Wilson was of a slimmer, more athletic build, a great walker, 5 feet 101/2 inches in height, 11 stones in weight, with a chest measurement of 36 inches.  He was an ideal example of my contention, which I believe can be proved many times over to be a fact, that it is not strength of body but rather strength of will which carries a man farthest where mind and body are taxed at the same time to their utmost limit.  Scott was 43 years of age at his death, and Wilson 39.

Bowers was of a very different build.  Aged 28, he was only 5 feet 4 inches in height while his chest measurement (which I give more as a general guide to his physique than for any other reason) was 40 inches, and his weight 12 stones.  He was recommended to Scott by Sir Clements Markham, who was dining one day with Captain Wilson-Barker on the Worcester, on which ship Bowers was trained.  Bowers was then home from India, and the talk turned to the Antarctic.  Wilson-Barker turned to Sir Clements in the course of conversation and alluding to Bowers said:  “Here is a man who will be leading one of those expeditions some day.”

He lived a rough life after passing from the Worcester into the merchant service, sailing five times round the world in the Loch Torridon.  Thence he passed into the service of the Royal Indian Marine, commanded a river gunboat on the Irrawaddy, and afterwards served on H.M.S.  Fox, where he had considerable experience, often in open boats, preventing the gun-running which was carried on by the Afghans in the Persian Gulf.

Thence he came to us.

It is at any rate a curious fact, and it may be a significant one, that Bowers, who enjoyed a greater resistance to cold than any man on this expedition, joined it direct from one of the hottest places on the globe.  My knowledge is insufficient to say whether it is possible that any trace can be found here of cause and effect, especially since the opposite seems to be the more common experience, in that such people as return from India to England generally find the English winter trying.  I give the fact for what it may be worth, remarking only that the cold of an English winter is generally damp, while that of the Antarctic is dry, so far at any rate as the atmosphere is concerned.  Bowers himself always professed the greatest indifference not only to cold, but also to heat, and his indifference was not that of a ‘poseur,’ as many experiences will show.