Chapter {font 



LYTTELTON TO THE ANTARCTIC CIRCLE 



JANUARY 1, 1908, arrived at last! Warm, fine, and 

 " clear broke the morning of our last day in civilisation. 

 Before sunset we were to sever all ties with the outer 

 world and more than a year must elapse ere we could 

 look again on the scenes familiar to ordinary daily life. 

 For me this day brought a feeling of relief, after all the 

 strenuous work of the previous year, though the new work 

 I was entering upon was fraught with more anxiety and 

 was more exacting than any that had gone before. We 

 all looked forward eagerly to our coming venture, for 

 the glamour of the unknown was with us and the South 

 was calling. 



My personal belongings were gathered out of the 

 chaos of papers and odds and ends in my office at the 

 hotel; I knew that the legacy of unanswered letters, 

 requests for special stamps, and the hundred and one 

 things that collect under such circumstances would be 

 faithfully administered by Mr. Reid. Orders had been 

 given to Captain England to have all in readiness for 

 casting off at 4 p.m., and early in the afternoon most 

 of us were on board. It was Regatta day and Lyttelton 

 was crowded with holiday-makers, many thousands of 

 whom had come to see the Nimrod. All day the deck 

 of our little vessel was thronged by the general public, 

 who evinced the greatest interest in everything con- 

 nected with the ship and her equipment. Naturally 

 the ten ponies, now safely housed in their stalls on the 



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