1904] SUDDEN ESCAPE 269 



least shown me again how firmly I can rely on the support and 

 intelligence of my companions. For, seeing the utter im- 

 possibility of doing anything at the time, I bethought me that 

 the next best thing was to be prepared to act promptly when 

 the weather moderated. Accordingly I first sent for Skelton 

 to see by how much we could lighten the ship. I had scarcely 

 asked him the question when he said, " I have been thinking 

 that out, sir," and in a minute or two he produced a list of our 

 movable weights. I next sent for the boatswain to discuss the 

 manner in which we could lay out our anchors, and he also 

 had his scheme cut and dried ; and so it went on with every- 

 body concerned in this knotty problem, until I knew that if 

 the gale left us with any ship at all we should at least be able 

 to make a bold bid to get her afloat. 



' And so hour after hour went by whilst we thought and 

 planned as well as our dejected state would allow, and the ship 

 quivered and trembled and crashed again and again into her 

 rocky bed. 



* The first sign of a lull came at seven o'clock, and then, 

 though the seas still swept over our counter, there was a 

 decided slackening in the wind. Soon after we all assembled 

 for dinner — not that any of us wanted to eat, but because it 

 never does to disturb a custom. It was a dreary meal, the 

 dreariest and most silent I ever remember in the " Discovery." 

 Yet we were not more than half-way through it, when the 

 ofificer of the watch, Mulock, suddenly burst in and said, "The 

 ship's working astern, sir." I never reached the bridge in less 

 time. I found that the wind and sea had dropped in the most 

 extraordinary manner, but what surprised me still more was 

 that the current, which had been running strongly to the north, 

 had turned and was running with equal speed to the south. I 

 took this in at a glance as I turned to get a bearing on with 

 the shore ; in a minute or two I was left without doubt that 

 Mulock's report had been correct. Each time that the ship 

 lifted on a wave she worked two or three inches astern, and 

 though she was still grinding heavily she no longer struck the 

 bottom with such terrific force. I had scarcely observed these 



