I90I] AT SEA IN THE WESTERLIES 73 



By October 14 our refitting and the magnetic observations 

 had been completed, and all preparations had been made for 

 sea. In the morning Mr. George Murray bade us farewell, 

 much to our regret ; he had originally been appointed to 

 accompany the ship to Melbourne, but owing to the unex- 

 pected delays of our voyage, I had perforce decided to go 

 direct to New Zealand without calling at that port. The 

 additional length of the voyage, and the delay already ex- 

 perienced, would have prolonged his absence from his regular 

 work at the British Museum to such an extent that Mr. 

 Murray thought it best to return direct from the Cape. After a 

 last farewell to all our naval friends, at noon we slowly steamed 

 out of the harbour, accompanied by the cheers of the war- 

 ships, and proud of this last tribute of their generous sympathy. 



For nearly a week after our departure from the Cape we 

 had light westerly winds — an unusual experience, especially as 

 we were now well in that belt known to sailors as the ' Roaring 

 Forties ' ; but after the first week we had little to complain of 

 on the score of wind, and our daily run became a much more 

 satisfactory thing to contemplate. Towards the end of the 

 month we had a succession of heavy following gales, and 

 although we had put out our fires and were dependent on sail 

 power alone, we frequently exceeded 200 miles in the day, an 

 exceedingly good run for a ship of the ' Discovery's ' type. 



As time went on we became more and more satisfied with 

 the seaworthy qualities of our small ship ; she proved wonder- 

 fully stiff, and as her sail area was small, it was rarely, if ever, 

 necessary to shorten sail even in the most violent gales ; she 

 rose like a cork to the mountainous seas that now followed in 

 her wake, and, considering her size, was wonderfully free of 

 water on the upper deck. 



With a heavy following sea, however, she was, owing to her 

 buoyancy, extremely lively, and we frequently recorded rolls 

 of more than 40°. The peculiar rounded shape of the stern 

 to which I have referred, and which had given rise to so much 

 criticism, was now well tested. It gave additional buoyancy 

 to the after-end, causing the ship to rise more quickly to the 



