THE HEART OF THE ANTARCTIC 



that came nearer to the hearts of those of us who were 

 sailors than any other could. Lying inside the 

 Heads were three of his Majesty's ships of the Australian 

 Squadron, the flagship Powerful, the Pegasus and the 

 Pioneer. As we steamed past the last-named her crew 

 mustered on the forecastle head and gave us three hearty 

 cheers; we received the same from the Pegasus as we 

 came abeam of her, our party of thirty-nine returning 

 the cheers as we passed each ship in turn. Then we 

 drew abreast of the flagship and from the throats of the 

 nine hundred odd bluejackets on board her we got a 

 ringing farewell, and across the water came the sound 

 of her band playing " Hearts of oak are our ships," fol- 

 lowed by " Auld Lang Syne." We responded with three 

 cheers and gave another cheer for Lady Fawkes, who had 

 taken a kindly interest in the expedition. 



Shortly after passing the Powerful, we stopped to 

 pick up our tow-line from the Koonya, but before doing 

 this we transferred to the tug-boat Canterbury the few 

 personal friends who had accompanied some of the 

 members of the expedition down the harbour. We then 

 came close up to the stern of the Koonya and hauled 

 in the 4-inch wire cable she was to tow us with. A 4-inch 

 wire is measured not as 4 inch diameter, but 4 inches in 

 circumference, and is made of the finest steel. We passed 

 a shackle through the eye at the end of this wire and 

 shackled on to the free ends of both our chain cables. 

 We then let out thirty fathoms of each cable one on each 

 side of the bow, and made the inner ends fast round 

 the foremast in the 'tween decks. This cable acted 

 as a " spring," to use a nautical term: that is to say, it 

 lessened the danger of the wire snapping if a sudden 

 strain were put upon it, for the cable hung down in the 

 water owing to its weight, even when the ship was being 

 towed at seven or eight knots. This operation being 



42 



