TOWING THE NIMROD SOUTH 



as a result, and when we left Lyttelton the little ship 

 had only three feet six inches of freeboard. Some live 

 sheep presented to us by New Zealand farmers were 

 placed on board the Koonya 3 the steamer which was to 

 tow the Nimrod to the south. 



I had been anxious to have the Nimrod towed south 

 in order to save coal. The ship could not take in a 

 large quantity of coal after our provisions and equipment 

 had been placed on board, for she was considerably 

 overloaded, and it was important that there should 

 be enough coal to take the ship through the ice and 

 back to New Zealand, and also to provide for the 

 warming of the hut during the winter. The Government 

 of the Dominion consented to pay half the cost of the 

 tow, and Sir James Mills, chairman of the Union 

 Steamship Company, offered to pay the other half. 

 The Koonya, a steel-built steamer of about 1100 tons, 

 was chartered and placed under the command of 

 Captain F. P. Evans. The wisdom of this selection 

 was proved by after events. The pressure of work was 

 at this time tremendous, and I owed a very great deal 

 to the assistance and advice I received from Mr. J. J. 

 Kinsey, of Christchurch. Before my departure I placed 

 the conduct of the affairs of the expedition in New 

 Zealand in his hands. 



December 31 was the last day of our stay in New 

 Zealand, for as I had stated when announcing the 

 expedition, we were to leave Lyttelton on the first day 

 of the new year. The stores and equipment were on 

 board and were as complete as we could make them, 

 and I had written my final letters, both business and 

 personal. The ponies and the dogs were to be placed 

 on board the Nimrod early the following morning. 



