THE HEART OF THE ANTARCTIC 



dipping into the wave valleys, from which all we could 

 discern of our consort was in very truth " just a funnel 

 and a mast lurching through the spray." 



As the afternoon wore on, those of us who were not 

 still in the clutches of sea-sickness watched the grandeur 

 of the gale. I shall always remember Buckley, who stood 

 for hour after hour on the Nimrodfs poop, revelling in the 

 clash and strife of the elements. Keen yachtsman that 

 he was, his admiration was aroused by the way the two 

 ships battled with the storm. Professor David also, 

 hanging to the dripping rails, was fascinated by the wild 

 scene, and between the gusts, we spoke of many things. 

 Somehow or another the conversation turned to one's 

 favourite poets, and it is but natural that, under these 

 circumstances of stress and strain, Browning's verse 

 was often the subject of conversation. Night drew on, 

 sullen and black, our only light the lamp we steered by 

 on the Koonya's mast. We could imagine the stalwart 

 figure of that splendid seaman, Captain Evans, as he stood 

 on his spray-drenched bridge, alert, calm and keen, 

 doing his best to ease the little ship astern. We had 

 nothing but admiration for the consummate seamanship 

 that anticipated our every need and wish. All that night 

 it blew harder than ever; on the morning of the 5th I 

 told Captain England to signal the Kooyna and ask her 

 to pour oil on the water in the hope that it might help 

 us. To a certain extent I think it did, but not enough to 

 prevent the heaviest seas from breaking on board. I 

 thought that the gale had reached its height on the pre- 

 vious day, but certainly this evening it was much stronger. 

 The Nirnrod rolled over fifty degrees from the perpen- 

 dicular to each side; how much more than that I cannot 

 say, for the indicator recording the roll of the ship was 

 only marked up to fifty degrees, and the pointer had 

 passed that mark. Let the reader hold a pencil on end 



48 



