58 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD 
and he disappeared overboard; the next wave miracu- 
lously washed him on board again and he is fit and well. 
[I believe the dog was Osman.] The gale has exacted 
heavy toll, but I feel all will be well if we can only cope 
with the water. Another dog has just been washed over- 
board—alas! Thank God the gale is abating. The sea is 
still mountainously high but the ship is not labouring so 
heavily as she was.” } 
The highest waves of which I can find any record were 
36 feet high. These were observed by Sir James C. Rossin 
the North Atlantic.? 
On December 2 the waves were logged, probably by 
Pennell, who was extremely careful in his measurements, 
as being ‘thirty-five feet high (estimated).’ At one time I 
saw Scott, standing on the weather rail of the poop, buried 
to his waist in green sea. The reader can then imagine the 
condition of things in the waist of the ship, ‘‘over and over 
again the rail, from the fore-rigging to the main, was 
covered by a solid sheet of curling water which swept aft 
and high on the poop.”? At another time Bowers and 
Campbell were standing upon the bridge, and the ship 
rolled sluggishly over until the lee combings of the main 
hatch were under the sea. They watched anxiously, and 
slowly she righted herself, but “‘she won’t do that often,” 
said Bowers. Asa rule ifa ship gets that far over she goes 
down. 
Our journey was uneventful for a time, but of course it 
was not by any means smooth. ‘“‘I was much disturbed 
last night by the motion; the ship was pitching and twist- 
ing with short sharp movements on a confused sea, and 
with every plunge my thoughts flew to our poor ponies. 
This afternoon they are fairly well, but one knows that 
they must be getting weaker as time goes on, and one longs 
to give them a good sound rest with a ship on an even keel. 
Poor patient beasts! One wonders how far the memory of 
1 Scott’s Last Expedition, vol. i. pp. 14-15. 
2 Raper, Practice of Navigation, article 547. 
3 Scott's Last Expedition, vol.i. p. 13. 
