4 o WITH .SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING 



was not occupied by the huge motor sledges and cases and 

 cases of petrol. Many bags were deposited on the for'ard 

 portion of the poop-deck. And over all sprawled the dogs. 

 Much of this deck cargo — including all the coal — would be 

 restowed later, the latter in the ship's furnaces during the first 

 week. But " much water went over the bulwarks " (to mis- 

 quote a proverb) before we reached clear decks. 



Under the rising wind on the evening of the first, the 

 water repeatedly came in board, and the " afterguard," com- 

 prising the non-nautical officers, were set to the task for which 

 their knowledge was adequate, that of heaving coal sacks to 

 the bunker manholes below the bridge. Slippery decks, soak- 

 ing sacks, and swamping seas — for the wind continued to 

 increase — made this by no means a pleasant task. It was often 

 necessary to haul the sacks right over the engine-room from 

 one side to the other of the ship. A sudden lurch and down 

 would slip a leg between two cases of petrol while the sack 

 fell on one's person, and " Peary " (or " Cook ") assisted in the 

 melee. One special mantrap consisted in the stiffening beams 

 connecting the roofs of the laboratories and the deck-house. 

 When the deck of the alley-way between was covered with 

 sacks of coal a man's head was very liable to crash into these 

 beams in the effort to escape a sea. I had that misfortune 

 several times, and our headstrong Canadian friend's score must 

 have mounted well into the 'teens. 



Next day (the 2nd) the wind had veered to the west and 

 south, and had increased very greatly ; in fact, we experienced 

 a full gale. The ship was hove-to for two days, and though 

 we novices could see well enough that things were very lively, 

 we did not know how grave a risk we were passing through. 

 It was rather a rough breaking-in, for by this time our cabins 

 were swimming in water. At first I rather selfishly hoped 

 that my lower bunk would be protected from the thirteen 

 Niagaras flooding the upper bunk by the floor of the latter ; 

 but as the storm increased in violence both were soaked — 

 blankets, tools, books, cameras, everything except a foot or so 

 at the head end. 



Early on Friday (the 2nd) it was obvious that not much 

 more could be done with the hand-pumps. The seas were 

 incessantly washing over the waist — where the pumps are 

 placed at the foot of the main mast — and burying the deck 



