CAMPBELL ISLAND - 



HOME OF ELEPHANT SEALS AND 



ALBATROSSES 



By Magnus Degerbol 



"Are the anchors holding?" 



"No, we're drifting." 



"Then we'd better go ahead on the engine." 



I put my head out over the top deck as this conversation took place on 

 the bridge. It was New Year's Eve 1951 and the Galathea was in Perse- 

 verance Harbour, Campbell Island, a good 700 kilometres south of New 

 Zealand. A snowstorm was sweeping through the sound, veiling the nearby 

 rocky coasts as in howling gusts it developed into a gale, the snow . . . But 

 no, this is all wrong. We were in the southern hemisphere and New Year 

 is Midsummer there. It was one of those gales which are only too common 



