6 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD 
work ran in very much the same lines all the way out— 
a period of nearly five months. On July 1 we were over- 
hauled by the only ship we ever saw, so far as I can remem- 
ber, during all that time, the Inverclyde, a barque out from 
Glasgow to Buenos Ayres. It was an oily, calm day witha 
sea like glass, and she looked, as Wilson quoted, “like a 
painted ship upon a painted ocean,’’ as she lay with all 
sail set. 
We picked up the N.E. Trade two days later, being 
then north of the Cape Verde Islands (lat. 22° 28’ N., 
long. 23° 5’ W. at noon). It was a Sunday, and there was 
a general ‘make and mend’ throughout the ship, the first 
since we sailed. During the day we ran from deep clear 
blue water into a darkish and thick green sea. This re- 
markable change of colour, which was observed by the 
Discovery Expedition in much the same place, was sup- 
posed to be due to a large mass of pelagic fauna called 
plankton. The plankton, which drifts upon the surface of 
the sea, is distinct from the nekton, whichswims submerged. 
The Terra Nova was fitted with tow nets with very fine 
meshes for collecting these inhabitants of the open sea, to- 
gether with the algae, or minute plant organisms, which 
afford them an abundant food supply. 
The plankton nets can be lowered when the ship is run- 
ning at full speed, and a great many such hauls were made 
during the expedition. 
July 5 had an unpleasant surprise in store. At 10.30 
A.M. the ship’s bell rang and there was a sudden cry of 
“Fire quarters.” ‘Two Minimax fire extinguishers finished 
the fire, which was in the lazarette, and was caused by a 
lighted lamp which was upset by the roll of the ship. The 
result was a good deal of smoke, a certain amount of water 
below, and some singed paper, but we realized that a fire 
on such an old wooden ship would be a very serious matter, 
and greater care was taken after this. 
Such a voyage shows Nature in her most attractive form, 
and always there was a man close by whose special know- 
ledge was in the whales, porpoises, dolphins, fish, birds, 
parasites, plankton, radium and other things which we 
