The men, fresh from shipboard, were not in the best of training, and the same was true of the dogs.

It was unfortunate that the dogs had to be worked so early after their arrival in the Antarctic.

They were in poor condition and they had not learned to work together as teams.

The result was the loss of many of the dogs, and this proved a serious matter in the following season.

Captain Mackintosh's record of the sledging in the early months of 1915 is fairly full.