he ship and the shore and we
were doing more than twenty miles a day. In the case of men who had been
sledging much, and who might be wanted to sledge again, this was a
mistake. Latterly the ice began to break up, and the ship left on the
15th, to pick up the Geological Party on the western side of McMurdo
Sound. But she met great obstacles, and her record near the coasts this
year is one of continual fights against pack-ice, while the winds
experienced as the season advanced were very strong. On January 13 the
fast ice at the mouth of McMurdo Sound extended as far as the southern
end of the Bird Peninsula: ten days later they found fast ice extending
for thirty miles from the head of Granite Harbour. Later in the season
the most determined efforts were made again and again to penetrate into
Evans Coves in order to pick up Campbell and his men, until the ice was
freezing all round them, and many times the propeller was brought up dead
against blocks of ice.[259]

The expedition was originally formed for two years from the date of
leaving England. But before the ship left after landing us at Cape Evans
in January 1911 the possibility of a third year was considered, and
certain requests for additional transport and orders for stores were sent
home. Thus it came about that the ship now landed not only new sledges
and sledging stores but also fourteen dogs from Kamchatka and seven
mules, with their food and equipment. The dogs were big and fat, but the
only ones which proved of much service for sledging were Snowy, a nice
white dog, and Bullett. It was Oates' idea that mules might prove a
better form of transport on the Barrier than ponies. Scott therefore
wrote to Sir Douglas Haig, then C.-in-C. in India, that if he failed to
reach the Pole in the summer of 1911-12, "it is my intention to make a
second attempt in the following season provided fresh transport can be
brought down: the circumstances making it necessary to plan to sacrifice
the transport animals used in any attempt.

"Before directing more ponies to be sent down I have thoroughly discussed
the situation with Captain Oates, and he has suggested that mules would
be better than ponies for our work and that trained Indian Transport
Mules would be ideal. It is evident already that our ponies have not a
uniform walking pace and that in other small ways they will be
troublesome to us although they are handy little beasts."

The Indian Government not only sent seven