60 British Antarctic Expedition. 
through, and were, indeed, necessary if she should 
not have been caught or crushed. When ramming 
in hard ice she was often momentarily stuck when 
the ice “barrier. proved too hard, but she never 
stopped abruptly, and her bows, which sloped off in 
an appropriate gradient, rose out of the ocean, and 
thus gradually equalised the tremendous strain which 
VIEW FROM THE CROW’S NEST. 
the impact brought upon her. The roar and noise 
in the forecastle as the ice-pack rubbed up against 
the vessel’s sides was deafening, and well I remember 
from my first experiences within the Antarctic Circle 
the difficulties of a sleep, even if tired out by hard 
work. 
Such moments were anxious ones for those who 
had not been in Antarctic ice before, and ten cold 
successive hours in the crow’s nest, and with such 
responsible work on my shoulders, even made me 
