THE TERRA NOVA GOES SOUTH 



39 



officer was so pleased with the first cut that he was retrimmed 

 with the latter weapon. The result was very comic, and called 

 forth enquiries from ribald youths as to when he was likely to 

 hatch out ! 



We began the month of December with a spanking breeze 

 in the most favourable quarter. The fore and main masts 

 were clothed in sails. There is a huge boom on the mizen 

 mast which swings over the poop-deck (as in a yacht) when in 

 use, and carries a spanker, but the alterations to the poop and 

 the presence of the funnel of the auxiliary engine so block the 

 sails, and indeed to some extent offer the same obstruction to 

 the wind, that our ship is to all intents and purposes a two- 

 master. Howbeit, we bowled to southward at a rate of nine 

 knots. The average speed of the engine is five or six knots, 

 so that the sails were of great assistance. Indeed, when little 



Port 



Bridgs. 



O S iO iS 20' 



How space was utilized on the steamer. 



cargo is in the hold she has reached the respectable speed or 

 ten and a half miles per hour. 



Let us take a walk around the decks in their present 

 crowded condition. The last day of loading the supercargo 

 announced that the engineer could have " two inches of 

 coal." 



This amount is not quite so small as it might seem. It 

 was found that the ship was still two inches off her Plimsoll- 

 mark (though one of the advantages of being a Royal yacht, I 

 believe, is that she is, to a certain extent, freed from ordinary 

 loading regulations), and as each inch of loading represented 

 nine tons, this meant an addition of eighteen tons to our 

 precious fuel. The most prominent cargo was, therefore, this 

 coal, in bags, which were laid wherever there was any crevice 

 to spare. The " waist " — as the deck between the elevated 

 poop and foc'sle is termed — was several bags deep where it 



