Scott kept copious notes in his diary of everything that mattered.  He was delighted with his final selection, and as usual pithy and to the point when describing.  Here, for example, is something of what he wrote of his companions: 

(From Scott’s Last Expedition, Vol. 1)

“WILSON.—­Quick, careful and dexterous, ever thinking of some fresh
expedient to help the camp life; tough as steel on the traces, never
wavering from start to finish.

“PETTY OFFICER EVANS.—­A giant worker, with a really remarkable headpiece—­he is responsible for every sledge, every sledge-fitting, tents, sleeping-bags, harness, and when one cannot recall a single expression of dissatisfaction with any one of these items, it shows what an invaluable assistant he has been....

“BOWERS.—­Little Bowers remains a marvel—­he is thoroughly enjoying himself.  I leave all the provision arrangements in his hands, and at all times he knows exactly how we stand ...  Nothing comes amiss to him, and no work is too hard....

“OATES.—­Each is invaluable.  Oates had his invaluable period with the ponies:  now he is a foot slogger and goes hard the whole time, does his share of camp work and stands the hardships as well as any of us.  I would not like to be without him either.  So our five people are perhaps as happily selected as it is possible to imagine.”

Certainly no living man could have taken Scott’s place effectively as leader of our Expedition—­there was none other like him.  He was the Heart, Brain, and Master.

On January 11 just the slightest descent had been made, the height up being now 10,540 ft., but it will be noticed that they were then getting temperatures as low as 26 degrees below zero:  my party on that date got 10 degrees higher thermometer readings.  Surface troubles continued to waylay them, and their distances, even with five men, were disappointing, due undoubtedly to this.

On 13th both Bowers and Scott write of a surface like sand, and of tugging and straining when they ought to be moving easily.  On 14th some members began to feel the cold unmistakably, and on the following day the whole party were quite done on camping.

The saddest note on the outward march is struck on January 16 when Bowers sighted a cairn of snow and a black speck, which turned out to be a black flag tied to a sledge runner, near the remains of a camp—­this after such a hopeful day on the 15th, when a depot of nine days food was made only 27 miles from the Pole—­and Scott wrote in his diary: 

   “...  It ought to be a certain thing now, and the only appalling
   possibility the sight of the Norwegian Flag forestalling ours....”

Still, there it was, dog tracks, many of them, were picked up and followed to the Polar Area.  Scott, Wilson, Oates, Bowers, and Seaman Evans reached the South Pole on 17th January, 1912, a horrible day, temperature 22 degrees below zero.  The party fixed the exact spot by means of one of our little four-inch theodolites, and the result of their careful observations located the Pole at a point which only differed from Amundsen’s “fix” by half a mile, as shown by his flag.