i9i3l THE NIMROD ISLANDS "277 



when the ship was rolling, they had the ledges to support them- 

 selves against. These platforms were a great comfort to them. 

 It was intended to run down the Great Circle track to 56 

 South and then east along that parallel. The ship made a good 

 run down to 56 South, but then met easterly winds, fortunately, 

 ,, , however, being able to pass about fifteen miles north 



/p/j, 5<jy of where the Nimrod group is chartered (from infor- 

 S., 756 2 / mation received nearly a hundred years ago) , and got 



two soundings, both over 2000 fathoms. Captain 

 Davis in the Nimrod on her way home in 1909 passed right over 

 the charted position, but weather prevented them, sounding. 

 Either this group is charted a great deal out of position, or, what 

 is more likely, does not exist at all. 



North-east winds continuing, the ship was driven a good 

 deal farther south than was intended and met with a considerable 



amount of fog and thick weather. 



March 27, Q n ^ 2^ ^ p assec j three bergs, and another 



51' s., 142 ne n the 29th, but the weather all these days was 

 29' w. so thick that ice could only be seen at a very short 



distance. On the 29th, however, she was able to alter 

 March 29, to the north-east and soon to leave these rather un- 

 , 58 comfortable latitudes. 



39 'i S pv Z34 There was a marked dearth of birds all across 



the Southern Ocean, great grey shear-waters and the 

 little black-bellied petrels being the most common, while the 

 mollymawks and sooty albatross were only occasional visitors. 



Cape Horn was passed on April n, in a strong gale; but as 

 the ship entered the Straits Le Maire at daybreak the next morn- 

 ing the wind dropped and the sun rose over Staten Island, usher- 

 ing in a beautiful day; and from here, with very little exception, 

 fine weather was experienced all the way to England. 



While crossing the shelf on which the Falkland Islands stand, 

 Lillie was able to trawl, and once again after leaving Rio de Ja- 

 neiro, for the last time on the commission, the catch in this case 

 being almost entirely composed of swimming crabs. 



Trawling probably caused more excitement and interest in 

 the ship than anything else she did, and the instant a catch came 

 in-board Lillie was surrounded by an interested group of men, 

 very anxious to see if any startling novelty had at last been 

 dragged up from the bottom. 



