FROM ENGLAND TO SOUTH AFRICA 3 
Meanwhile most of the executive officers as well as the 
scientific staff had their own work to do, which they were 
left to fit in as most convenient. 
The first days out from England were spent in such 
hard and crowded work that we shook down very quickly. 
I then noticed for the first time Wilson’s great gift of tact, 
and how quick he was to see the small things which make 
so much difference. At the same time his passion for work 
set a high standard. Pennell was another glutton. 
We dropped anchor in Funchal Harbour, Madeira, 
about 4 P.M. on June 23, eight days out. The ship had 
already been running under sail and steam, the decks were 
as Clear as possible, there was some paintwork to show, and 
with a good harbour stow she looked thoroughly work- 
manlike and neat. Some scientific work, in particular tow 
netting and magnetic observations, had already been done. 
But even as early as this we had spent hours on the pumps, 
and it was evident that these pumps were going to be a 
constant nightmare. 
In Madeira, as everywhere, we were given freely of 
such things as we required. We left in the early morning 
of June 26, after Pennell had done some hours’ magnetic 
work with the Lloyd Creak and Barrow Dip Circle. 
On June 29 (noon position lat. 27° 10’ N., long. 20° 
21’ W.) it was possible to write: “ A fortnight out to-day, 
and from the general appearance of the wardroom we might 
have been out a year.” 
We were to a great extent strangers to one another when 
we left England, but officers and crew settled down to 
their jobs quickly, and when men live as close as we did 
they settle down or quarrel before very long. Let us walk 
into the cabins which surround the small wardroom aft. 
The first on the left is that of Scott and Lieutenant Evans, 
but Scott is not on board, and Wilson has taken his place. 
In the next cabin to them is Drake, the secretary. On the 
starboard side of the screw are Oates, Atkinson and Levick, 
the two latter being doctors, and on the port side Camp- 
bell and Pennell, who is navigator. Then Rennick and 
Bowers, the latter just home from the Persian Gulf—both 
