Two considerations were occupying my mind
at this juncture. I was anxious for certain reasons to winter the
'Endurance' in the Weddell Sea, but the difficulty of finding a safe
harbour might be very great. If no safe harbour could be found, the
ship must winter at South Georgia. It seemed to me hopeless now to
think of making the journey across the continent in the first summer,
as the season was far advanced and the ice conditions were likely to
prove unfavourable. In view of the possibility of wintering the ship
in the ice, we took extra clothing from the stores at the various
stations in South Georgia.
The other question that was giving me anxious thought was the size of
the shore party. If the ship had to go out during the winter, or if
she broke away from winter quarters, it would be preferable to have
only a small, carefully selected party of men ashore after the hut had
been built and the stores landed. These men could proceed to lay out
depots by man-haulage and make short journeys with the dogs, training
them for the long early march in the following spring. The majority of
the scientific men would live aboard the ship, where they could do
their work under good conditions. They would be able to make short
journeys if required, using the 'Endurance' as a base. All these plans
were based on an expectation that the finding of winter quarters was
likely to be difficult.
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