200 WITH SCOTT : THE SILVER LINING 



Next morning I was cook with Wright and Titus Oates. 

 I lit the blubber lamp and a candle while Oates set the fire 

 going. Some chips and a page or two of the Quiver 

 rubbed in blubber started it that morning. It was then only- 

 necessary to put on a fid of fresh blubber from the tin 

 alongside, about the size of a bath bun. The blubber sizzled 

 merrily on the grid, a big hot flame sprang up and licked the 

 blubber and melted fresh supplies, and soon the stove was 

 going strong. The hoosh was a porridge-biscuit dish with a 

 few bits of seal in for luck. After breakfast I washed up the 

 pots and cleaned the cookers. 



Captain Oates apparently had a Spartan objection to our 

 comfortable clothing. I shall have something to say about his 



canvas trousers, but his objection 

 to our helmets resulted in a Dutch 

 sackcloth affair which was designed 

 and made in the old Discovery 

 Hut. 

 JkSftok^JcorK About this time Debenham was 



He/metr 2^-.?f< discovered to be an expert cook, 



and thenceforward presided over 

 the culinary mysteries. His speciality was a confection 

 known as " chupatties." These were a kind of unleavened 

 currant scone, made of flour and biscuit-dust and some corn- 

 flour. We used to have about four to a man, so that sixty- 

 four of these took some making. 



Some of our fireside arguments were quite lengthy. 1 

 raised the question of city design, advocating the cobweb 

 pattern. I found that Wilson agreed with me, while Scott and 

 Wright took the opposite view. Belfast and American cities, 

 Paris, Melbourne, London, and even unborn Canberra (the 

 Australian capital) were dragged into the debate. After it 

 was well started we drew back and enjoyed the "cag" be- 

 tween Dr. Bill and the Owner, each backing his own views 

 with great pertinacity ! On another evening we had the oft- 

 arising problem as to whether Lord Kelvin was a Thompson 

 or a Thomson, and I won a stick of chocolate through 

 chancing on the right spelling. 



Towards the end of March the ice in the bay by the hut 

 commenced to freeze. On the 28th Wright was lowered on 

 to the Bay and found the ice three to four inches thick, so 



