572 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD 



to force their way through it. Pennell was a very sober 

 person in his statements, yet he described the gale through 

 which the Terra Nova passed on her way to New Zealand 

 in March 1 9 1 2 as seeming to blow the ship from the top of 

 one wave to the top of the next; and the nights were dark, 

 and the bergs were all round them. They never tried to 

 lay a meal in those days, they just ate what they could hold 

 in their hands. He confessed to me that one hour he did 

 begin to wonder what was going to happen next : others 

 told me that he seemed to enjoy every minute of it all. 



Owing to press contracts and the necessity of preventing 

 leakage of news the Terra Nova had to remain at sea for 

 twenty-four hours after a cable had been sent to England. 

 Also it was of the first importance that the relatives should be 

 informed of the facts before the newspapers published them. 



And so at 2.30 a.m. on February 10 we crept like a 

 phantom ship into the little harbour of Oamaru on the 

 east coast of New Zealand. With what mixed feelings we 

 smelt the old familiar woods and grassy slopes, and saw 

 the shadowy outlines of human homes. With untiring 

 persistence the little lighthouse blinked out the message, 

 " What ship's that ? " " What ship's that ? " They were 

 obviously puzzled and disturbed at getting no answer. A 

 boat was lowered and Pennell and Atkinson were rowed 

 ashore and landed. The seamen had strict orders to answer 

 no questions. After a little the boat returned, and Crean 

 announced: "We was chased, sorr, but they got nothing 

 out of us." 



We put out to sea. 



When morning broke we could see the land in the dis- 

 tance — greenness, trees, every now and then a cottage. 

 We began to feel impatient. We unpacked the shore- 

 going clothes with their creases three years old which had 

 been sent out from home, tried them on — and they felt 

 unpleasantly tight. We put on our boots, and they were 

 positively agony. We shaved off our beards ! There was a 

 hiatus. There was nothing to do but sail up and down the 

 coast and, if possible, avoid coastwise craft. 



In the evening the little ship which runs daily from 



