WE LEAVE HOBART 353 



Deutschland, the German, in September and October, 

 1911, in Buenos Aires; on the Kainan Maru, the 

 Japanese, on January 17, 1912, in the Bay of Whales; 

 and finally on the Aurora in Hobart. Not forgetting 

 the Fram, which, of course, I think best of all. 



On March 20 the Fram weighed anchor and left 

 Tasmania. 



We made very poor progress to begin with, as we 

 had calms for nearly three weeks, in spite of its being 

 the month of March in the west wind belt of the South 

 Pacific. On the morning of Easter Sunday, April 7, 

 the wind first freshened from the north-west and blew 

 day after day, a stiff breeze and a gale alternately, so 

 that we went splendidly all the way to the Falkland 

 Islands, in spite of the fact that the topsail was reefed 

 for nearly five weeks on account of the fragile state of 

 the yard. I believe most of us wanted to get on fast; 

 the trip was now over for the present, and those who 

 had families at home naturally wanted to be with them 

 as soon as they could; perhaps that was why we went 

 so well. 



On April 1 Mrs. Snuppesen gave birth to eight pups ; 

 four of these were killed, while the rest, two of each 

 sex, were allowed to live. 



On Maundy Thursday, April 4, we were in long. 180° 

 and changed the date, so that we had two Maundy 

 Thursdays in one week; this gave us a good many 

 holidays running, and I cannot say the effect is alto- 



