SOUTH 
were all stoutly pro-German, and the news " they had to 
give took the unsatisfying form of accounts of British and 
French reverses. We would have been glad to have had 
the latest tidings from a friendlier source. A year and a half 
later we were to learn that the Harpoon, the steamer which 
tends the Grytviken station, had arrived with mail for us not 
more than two hours after the Endurance had proceeded down 
the coast. 
The bows of the Endurance were turned to the south, and 
the good ship dipped to the south-westerly swell. Misty rain 
fell during the forenoon, but the weather cleared later in the 
day, and we had a good view of the coast of South Georgia as 
we moved under steam and sail to the south-east. Tlie course 
was laid to carry us clear of the island and then south of South 
Thule, Sandwich Group. The wind freshened during the day, 
and all square sail was set, with the foresail reefed in order 
to give the look-out a clear view ahead ; for we did not wish to 
risk contact with a growler," one of those treacherous frag- 
ments of ice that float with surface awash. The ship was 
very steady in the quarterly sea, but certainly did not look 
as neat and trim as she had done when leaving the shores of 
England four months earlier. We had filled up with coal at 
Grytviken, and this extra fuel was stored on deck, where it 
impeded movement considerably. The carpenter had built a 
false deck, extending from the poop-deck to the chart-room. 
We had also taken aboard a ton of whale-meat for the dogs. 
The big chunks of meat were hung up in the rigging, out of 
reach but not out of sight of the dogs, and as the Eridurance 
rolled and pitched, they watched with wolfish eyes for a wind- 
fall. 
I was greatly pleased with the dogs, which were tethered 
about the ship in the most comfortable positions we could find 
for them. They were in excellent condition, and I felt that 
the Expedition had the right tractive-power. They were big, 
sturdy animals, chosen for endurance and strength, and if they 
were as keen to pull our sledges as they were now to fight one 
another all would be well The men in charge of the dogs 
were doing their work enthasiastically, and the eagerness they 
4 
