46 THE VOYAGE OF THE 'DISCOVERY' 



Reference to the drawing will show the reader that the 

 space devoted to our provisions and stores was divided into 

 many compartments. It was very much smaller than the 

 drawing might lead one to suppose, as a great deal of the room 

 was taken up by the beams and girders provided for the 

 strengthening of the ship. I do not know the exact weight of 

 provisions and stores we carried when fully loaded, but I 

 believe it to have been about 150 tons. And here I may add 

 that the manner in which provisions and other stores are 

 packed is of great importance in such an expedition as ours. 

 The tinning of foods has advanced greatly of late years, but it 

 is still necessary to exercise great care in selecting tins ; the 

 shape, the thickness, the care of manufacture, and the paint or 

 lacquer employed, are all points to be observed, and as a 

 general rule they give a good indication of the quality of the 

 food within. Damp and rust are enemies which can be 

 resisted successfully only by a well-made tin. The same care 

 is necessary in selecting the cases in which these tins are 

 stowed. For the ' Discovery,' we had them made to reduce 

 bulk as much as possible, while for convenience of handling 

 we limited the weight of each case to 50 or 60 lbs. 



The position of our fresh-water tanks will be seen on the 

 drawing; the full stowage of these tanks was 25 tons. As they 

 lay within the magic circle they also had to be subservient to 

 the magnetic rule, and were made of zinc. The zinc was too 

 thin, and the arrangement was not satisfactory ; however, as 

 the tanks were not used during the winter we did not suffer 

 much inconvenience. 



Our coal supply was amongst our most precious possessions, 

 and I shall show how things went for us in this respect. The 

 outline of the problem can be gathered from the following 

 figures. The main bunker held 240 tons ; to this two small 

 pocket bunkers added 53 tons, and the deck cargo we took 

 south was 42 tons. For our Southern campaign we had there- 

 fore 335 tons in all. At sea, steaming economically, we used 

 between 5 and 6 tons a day, or with one boiler only, about 

 4 tons ; on the occasions when we had to lie with banked fires 



