108 WITH SCOTT: THE SILVER LINING 



accompanying sketch-map). The original edge of the ice is 

 shown, and here the ship stayed (at A) until the motor sank. 

 Then she moved to B, nearer the Barne Glacier. On the 18 th 

 she came along the crack which opened near the stranded bergs 

 to the position C. But seventeen bergs came into sight, and 

 one huge tabular, as if desirous of this site, bore right down 

 on her. So the ship moved across the Sound to get away 

 from the northern wind. In cruising about here, she ran 

 aground at D off Cape Evans. There was sixty feet of water 

 under the stern and only seventeen feet at the bows ! That's 

 pretty steep ! They l rocked ' her by running across ship in 

 unison, and after an hour got her off. I photographed her 

 from the Cape where the land party watched the efforts of 

 the seamen." 



Later I heard that this collision with the reefs of McMurdo 

 Sound tore out a small splinter a foot deep and about ten 

 feet long ! Luckily the stout old ship could spare this at 

 her bows without grave inconvenience. 



A bulkhead of boxes, amid which two branded " sherry ' 

 mark the wherewithal of future festivities, separated the " mess 

 deck " from the " wardroom." The latter occupies two-thirds 

 of the hut, and here the sixteen officers live. A long table 

 extends down the middle and reaches to a palatial inner room, 

 sacred to Ponting, the photographer. The roof of the latter 

 is by no means wasted, but constitutes an important laboratory. 

 At the back are two incubators, not for eggs but for parasites, 

 bacteria, and other pleasant creatures fondly cared for by Dr. 

 Atkinson, whom we expect to see brooding for hours over 

 his pets. The centre of the room is thus accounted for. 

 The right and left are divided into cubicles. First, on the 

 left, are five mattresses assigned to Messrs. Oates, Meares, 

 Bowers, Atkinson, and Cherry-Garrard. The right wall was 

 divided into three compartments, occupied respectively by 

 Messrs. Debenham, Gran and Taylor, Nelson and Day, 

 Simpson and Wright. We have to live in this space for 

 six months of darkness, and as we are limited horizontally 

 to seventeen square feet each, it will not cause surprise to 

 find that we have imitated the New York sky-scrapers. The 

 first few hours of our house furnishing were devoted to 

 amassing enough thick timber to build strong frames for the 

 mattresses. These are built in tiers, and so each cubicle has 



