NEVER AGAIN 571 



longitude 159 15' E., we coasted along one side of a berg 

 which was twenty-one geographical miles long: the only 

 other side of which we got a good view stretched away until 

 lost below the horizon. In latitude 6i° 10' S. and longi- 

 tude 1 5 8° 15' E. we had "a real bad day: head wind from 

 early morning, and simply crowds of bergs all round. At 

 8 a.m. we had to wedge in between a berg and a long line of 

 pack before we could find a way through. Then thick fog 

 came down. At 9.45 a.m. I went out of the ward-room 

 door, and almost knocked my head against a great berg 

 which was just not touching the ship on the starboard side. 

 There was a heavy cross-swell, and the sea sounded cold 

 as it dashed against the ice. After crossing the deck it was 

 just possible to see in the fog that there was a great Barrier 

 berg just away on the port side." We groped round the 

 starboard berg to find others beyond. Our friend on the 

 opposite side was continuous and apparently without end. 

 It was soon clear that we were in a narrow alley-way — be- 

 tween one very large berg and a number of others. It took 

 an hour and a quarter of groping to leave the big berg 

 behind. At 4 p.m., six hours later, we were still just feeling 

 our way along. And we had hopes of being out of the ice 

 in this latitude ! 



The Terra Nova is a wood barque, built in 1884 by 

 A. Stephen & Sons, Dundee ; tonnage 764 gross and 400 

 net ; measuring i87'x3i'xi9'; compound engines with 

 two cylinders of 1 40 nominal horse-power ; registered at St. 

 Johns, Newfoundland. She is therefore not by any means 

 small as polar ships go, but Pennell and his men worked 

 her short-handed, with bergs and growlers all round them, 

 generally with a big sea running and often in darkness or 

 fog. On this occasion we were spared many of the most 

 ordinary dangers. It was summer. Our voyage was an 

 easy one. There was twilight most of the night : there were 

 plenty of men on board, and heaps of coal. Imagine then 

 what kind of time Pennell and his ship's company had in 

 late autumn, after remaining in the south until only a bare 

 ration of coal was left for steaming, until the sea was freezing 

 round them and the propeller brought up dead as they tried 



