SPJIING IN THE NORTH 57 



stations on the outer islands, and a number of stone calms erected 

 and fixed during the winter must be whitewashed in readiness 



o 



for use as marks by the ship. 



Without the assistance of many of the friends made during the 

 winter the party might never have completed this last important 

 part of the work. Mary Nolander, which became a floating and just 

 mobile survey camp, would only sail in half a gale and relied upon 

 tows given to her by various settlers who were going out to their 

 fishing huts by motor boat. But these boats themselves were often 

 in trouble, and it was a common sight to see the schooner under 

 way being towed by two motor boats, only one of which ever 

 seemed to be going at any one time, while the driver of the other 

 was buried deep in her engine. Amos Voisey stood at the 

 schooner's wheel looking, in his peaked nautical cap and heavy 

 untrimmed moustache, like some whaling skipper of earlier days. 

 Every day was a struggle, either sailing this cranky vessel or as- 

 sisting some good Samaritan to extract quantities of sand from 

 his carburettor so that he might help to tow the schooner. But 

 the struggle was worth it and the last tasks of the winter party 

 were eventually completed before Challenger arrived. 



Challenger had meanwhile spent the lie-up in Portsmouth and 

 sailed again for the Grenadines in mid-April, 1934. During the 

 time at Portsmouth a number of officers and men who had been 

 two years in the ship were relieved, but Commander Wyatt, 

 knowing the Labrador coast, stayed on in command. Also during 

 the lie-up one of the ship's sounding boats was fitted with an 

 echo sounding machine — the first time Challenger carried such a 

 boat; the days of hand lead sounding in boats were beginning 

 to pass away. This innovation had far-reaching effects in the Sur- 

 veying Service during the next few years : the daily output by 

 boats was greatly increased, but so also was the amount of work 

 to be done by the officers when they returned to the ship at 

 nightfall and had to 'ink in' all the sounding work they had 

 completed during the day. 



Economy had once again stepped into the life of Challenger. 

 The Labrador survey was proving extremely expensive and during 

 this winter was under discussion in the Admiralty. The expense 

 did not seem to be justified in view of the few ships likely to 



