Lot Essay
'At lunch, the day before yesterday, poor Titus Oates said he couldn't go on; he proposed we should leave him in his sleeping-bag. that we could not do, and we induced him to come on, on the afternoon march. In spite of its awful nature for him, he struggled on and we made a few miles. At night he was worse, and we knew that the end had come. He did not - would not - give up hope to the very end. He slept through the night, hoping not to wake, but he woke in the morning. It was blowing a blizzard. He said: "I am just going outside, and may be some time." He went out into the blizzard, and we have not seen him since ... We knew that poor Oates was walking to his death, but though we tried to dissuade him, we knew that it was the act of a brave man and an English gentleman. We all hope to meet the end with a similar spirit, and assuredly the end is not far.' (R.F. Scott, Diary, 16 or 17 March 1912).