THE HEART OF THE ANTARCTIC 



and Queen to come on board and inspect the ship and 

 equipment on Sunday, August 4. Mr. Reid had 

 considerable difficulty in delivering this message to me, 

 but the Admiral Superintendent at Sheerness kindly 

 despatched a tug which overtook the Nimrod off 

 Rams gate ' 3 and conveyed the news that an alteration 

 in our plans was necessary. We sailed in the night 

 for Cowes, and on the morning of August 1 stopped 

 for an hour off Eastbourne in order to enable some of 

 the supporters of the expedition to pay us a farewell 

 visit. On the Sunday we were anchored at Cowes, and 

 their Majesties the King and Queen, their Royal High- 

 nesses the Prince of Wales, the Princess Victoria, Prince 

 Edward and the Duke of Connaught came on board. 

 The King graciously conferred upon me the Victorian 

 Order, and the Queen entrusted me with a Union Jack, 

 to carry on the southern sledge journey. 



The Nimrod sailed for Torquay early on the following 

 morning, and arrived there on August 6. We drank 

 success to the expedition at a farewell dinner that 

 evening, and on the morning of Wednesday, August 7, 

 the ship sailed for New Zealand, and after calling at 

 St. Vincent and Capetown, arrived at Lyttelton on 

 November 23, the voyage having occupied three months 

 and a half. Mr. Reid reached Australian waters a 

 month ahead of the Nimrod, in order to make the neces- 

 sary arrangements and meet the Manchurian ponies, and 

 I arrived early in December, my intention being to leave 

 Lyttelton on January 1, 1908. 



The people of New Zealand and Australia took a 

 keen and sympathetic interest in the expedition from 

 the first. The Commonwealth Government gave me 

 £5000 and the New Zealand Government £1000, and 

 this sum of money placed me in a position to increase 



34 



