R.R.S. 'DISCOVERY IT 83 



leading to the crew's quarters, light being admitted by a small port above the companion. 

 A small hatchway is provided forward of the windlass for access to the forepeak store 

 and compartments below. 



FOREDECK (Plates IV, V) 



The forward part of the upper deck between the break of the forecastle and the bridge 

 is clear of deckhouses. The foremast is placed 6 ft. abaft the forecastle bulkhead and 

 carries a large crow's nest 60 ft. above the water-line, with the searchlight platform just 

 beneath it. A square sail yard, hoisted on a traveller on the fore side of the mast, is 

 crossed for the purpose of carrying a large square foresail. The yard is generally carried 

 in reserve, housed alongside the mast. Abreast of the foremast on the starboard side 

 is a large reel carrying 600 fathoms of 2|-in. mine-sweeping wire intended for anchoring 

 in deep water. This reel can be driven by a messenger from the windlass drum-end, 

 through the starboard forecastle door. 



The centre of the foredeck is occupied by the fore hatch, fitted with a portable steel 

 cover which is bolted down at sea. The cover carries six watertight hinged skylights 

 which provide the main ventilation and lighting for the officers' accommodation below. 

 The hatch gives access to the fore hold where all the food, clothing and canteen stores 

 are carried. The gaff of the fore trysail is used to work stores through this hatch. 



Abaft the hatch, on the port side, wood chocks are provided for carrying a Norwegian 

 pram ; and on the starboard side a potato locker, capable of carrying five tons, was con- 

 structed during the first commission in the position formerly occupied by a dinghy. 

 A large watertight wooden locker, used for preserving specimens of Cetacea in salt, 

 occupies the space close to the bulwark abreast of the potato locker. On the port side, 

 just forward of the bridge, are two davits and reels and an auxiliary engine for making 

 scientific observations (Plate X, fig. i). 



LABORATORIES AND DECK HOUSES AMIDSHIPS (Plates IV, V) 



The open fore deck leads aft in two alleways to a position near the middle length of 

 the vessel, and from this point communication aft is continued by inside alleyways be- 

 tween the engine- and boiler-room casings and the inboard bulkheads of the deckhouses, 

 abaft the stokehold fiddley, which here extend right out to the waterways along the 

 ship's side. Two hinged steel breakwaters, 3 ft. high, are fitted abreast the forward ends 

 of the laboratory deckhouses, and can be used as gates to close the forward ends of the 

 outside alleyways in rough weather. 



Between the two outside alleyways, on the upper-deck level, are the main scientific 

 laboratories, with an entrance lobby, entered from either side of the ship. Of the space 

 provided, the biological laboratory (Plate VIII) occupies about two-thirds, and is situated 

 on the starboard side. It is separated from the smaller hydrological laboratory (Plate IX, 

 fig. i) by a fore and aft wooden bulkhead. 



The laboratories are entered from the lobby by large double doors, and in each of 

 them there is also a door opening directly on to the deck. These outside doors, like all 



