IN THE BAY 115 



hopes of escaping unharmed, considering the time of 

 year, and our hopes were fulfilled. We had better luck 

 than we dared to anticipate. Our stubborn opponent, 

 the south-west wind, got tired at last of trying to stop 

 our progress; it was no use. We went slowly, it was 

 true, but still we got along. Of the meteorological 

 lessons of our youth, we especially recalled at that 

 moment the frequent northerly winds off the coast of 

 Portugal, and as a pleasant surprise we already had 

 them far up in the Bay. This was an agreeable change 

 after all our close-hauled tacking in the Channel. The 

 north wind held almost as bravely as the south-west 

 had done before, and at what was to our ideas quite 

 a respectable rate, we went southward day after day 

 towards the fine-weather zone, where we could be sure 

 of a fair wind, and where a sailor's life is, as a rule, a 

 pleasant one. 



For that matter, as far as seamanship was concerned, 

 our work had gone on smoothly enough, even during 

 these first difficult weeks. There were always willing 

 and practised hands enough for what was wanted, even 

 though the work to be done was frequently of a not 

 very pleasant kind. Take washing decks, for instance. 

 Every seaman will have something to say about what 

 this is like on board ships that carry live animals, 

 especially when these are carried on deck, in the way of 

 all work that has to be done. I have always held the 

 opinion that a Polar ship ought not, any more than any 



