192 . CHALLENGER 



and Hurricanes' . It was played on a squared board with the goal, 

 Bermuda, in the left-hand bottom corner. One player, repre- 

 senting the ship, dodged this way and that, being countered in turn 

 by the hurricane, the other player. A thrown dice gave the 

 number of squares which could be moved. The Captain, when 

 he visited the Wardroom to play the game, was depressed by the 

 number of times that the hurricane was able to keep the ship 

 from reaching Bermuda until the ship's fuel, represented by a 

 certain number of dice throws, ran out. The game seemed more 

 and more like the efforts being made on the bridge to reach 

 Bermuda — a tiny speck in a vast ocean defended by a hurricane ; 

 and when a second hurricane was reported and it too was repre- 

 sented by a counter on the game board, the Captain's visits to 

 the Wardroom abruptly ceased. 



The second hurricane, Effiie, was travelling northwards to- 

 wards Bermuda at a steady ten knots and a course alteration was 

 required in Challenger to come into Bermuda from the south 

 behind Effie. But about 150 miles south of Bermuda Effie came 

 to a grinding halt, and Bermuda signalled that conditions were 

 unsuitable for a ship to enter through the reefs owing to the 

 strong winds and high seas caused thereby. 



Challenger^ s fuel was now very low owing to the great amount 

 of dodging this way and that, and now Effie's action in pulling up 

 seemed almost human in its malevolence. The seas were very high 

 as the ship steamed slowly into them, playing for time. The small 

 party on the bridge gazed upwards with awe at the oncoming 

 wavetops towering above them: some said the waves were 60 

 feet high, some 70, but waves are deceptive and now that a wave 

 recorder is fitted in a British Weather Ship it seems that waves 

 are often over-estimated. A wave of ^o feet in height would be 

 an exceptionally high one in the North Atlantic. 



After three weary weeks the oil fuel tanks were nearly empty ; 

 they were filled with sea water to maintain the ship's stability. 

 Challenger fought her way on, using the fine oil supplied for the 

 lighting diesel. 



At this point the Captain sent a signal describing his plight to 

 the Commander-in-Chief of the Station, who was at the time 

 visiting a South American port in his flagship : there was nothing 

 that he could do, but before a hurricane caught Challenger with- 



