THE HEART OF THE ANTARCTIC 



into the main hut when the fire was lighted. We 

 turned in about midnight, and got up at seven next 

 morning. The ship had just come straight in, and I went 

 off on board. Marshall also came off to attend to Mack- 

 intosh, whose wound was rapidly healing. He was now 

 up and about. He was very anxious to stay with us, but 

 Marshall did not think it advisable for him to risk it. 

 During the whole of this day and the next, the 15th, the 

 swell was too great to admit of any stores being landed, 

 but early on the morning of the 16th we found it possible 

 to get ashore at a small ice-foot to the north of Flagstaff 

 Point, and here, in spite of the swell, we managed to 

 land six boatloads of fruit, some oil, and twenty-four 

 bags of coal. The crew of the boat, whilst the stores 

 were being taken out, had to keep to their oars, and when- 

 ever the swell rolled on the shelving beach, they had 

 to back with all their might to keep the bow of the boat 

 from running under the overhanging ice-foot and being 

 crushed under the ice by the lifting wave. Davis, the 

 chief officer of the Nimrod, worked like a Titan. A 

 tall, red-headed Irishman, typical of his country, he was 

 always working and always cheerful, having no time-limit 

 for his work. He and Harboard, the second officer, a 

 quiet, self-reliant man, were great acquisitions to the 

 expedition. These two officers were ably supported by 

 the efforts of the crew. They had nothing but hard 

 work and discomfort from the beginning of the voyage, 

 and yet they were always cheerful, and worked splen- 

 didly. Dunlop, the chief engineer, not only kept his 

 department going smoothly on board but was the prin- 

 cipal constructor of the hut. A great deal of the credit 

 for the work being so cheerfully performed was due to 

 the example of Cheetham, who was an old hand in the 

 Antarctic, having been boatswain of the Morning on 



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