A month previously Evans had cut his hand, while rebuilding a sledge and the wound had refused to heal.
This began to take on an ominous significance.
The scarcity of food and fuel, the spread of frost-bite and a wound that would not heal, all aggravated by constant falls into crevasses, took a terrible toll on the bulky Welshman.
Despite Evans’ great strength, intelligence and loyalty, he may have been first to be affected by privations because of his size. “Evans’ nose has always been the first thing to indicate stress of frost-biting weather. For some weeks it has been more or less constantly frost-bitten …”
‘A very terrible day…[Evans] was on his knees with clothing disarranged, hands uncovered and frost-bitten, and a wild look in his eyes. ..we got him into the tent quite comatose. He died quietly at 12.30 a.m.’ Scott
A month after reaching the South Pole, Edgar Evans, the “strong man of the party” died near Pillar Rock, at the foot of the Beardmore Glacier.
Scott later wrote in his diary “He died a natural death, but left us a shaken party with season unduly advanced.”
His body was never recovered.
