In selecting the members of the expedition, great care had been exercised, and the excellent results of the voyage may, in a great measure, be attributed to this. No other qualification than fitness was allowed to rank with the selecting committee, so that every one on board the _Discovery_ knew what he had to do and was capable of doing it. This is particularly true in regard to the commander, Captain Robert F. Scott, R.N., of whom the President of the Royal Geographical Society justly said: "the skilful and bold navigator, the ideal director of a scientific staff, the organiser of measures securing the health and good spirits of his people, and the beloved commander of the chosen band of explorers who are ready to face hardships and dangers to secure his approval." Throughout the entire period the expedition was away, the attitude of the commander was entirely in keeping with the grandest traditions of the service to which he belonged, and would serve to place his name in the brilliant list of Polar heroes quite apart from the splendid feats he personally performed while in the Antarctic. Prominent amongst these stands the record of "farthest South," achieved by Scott and two comrades, in September 1902, when the flag was carried to 82° 17' S., or some 250 miles nearer the Pole than it had yet been. [Illustration: THE _DISCOVERY_ LYING IN WINTER QUARTERS, FROZEN IN. The large hut could accommodate the whole crew, and was built in case of a disaster to the ship. The smaller huts in the foreground were used for magnetic and astronomical observations.] The first point touched by the _Discovery_ on her voyage along the coast of Victoria Land was Cape Adare, where the Newnes expedition, under Borchegrevinck, passed the winter of 1899. Here a brief landing was effected, a collection made of the rocks in the neighbourhood, and a cairn built to hold a record for the information of the relief ship, which was to be sent out in the following year. Continuing the voyage to the South, the explorers visited Wood Bay, and, subsequently, discovered an excellent harbour as far south as 76° 31' S. Landing at Cape Crozier on January 22, and leaving another record there for the information of the relief ship, the _Discovery_ went east along the ice barrier until the 165th meridian of longitude was passed, when the barrier was found to trend to the north, the sea becoming rapidly more shoal. The coast line was followed to 76° S., or 150 miles further than the expeditions before had gone. The ship was then turned, and, in 174° E. longitude, a place was seen where an inlet ran into the barrier. A sledge party went on the ice and penetrated as far as 78° 50' S., the point reached by Borchegrevinck in his sledge trip.