LOSS OF THE ENDURANCE 
bourhood was quiet, but in the distance pressure was at 
work. The wind freshened in the evening, and we ran a wire- 
mooring astern. The barometer at 11 p.m. stood at 28*96, the 
lowest since the gales of July. An uproar among the dogs 
attracted attention late in the afternoon, and we found a 25-ft. 
whale cruising up and down in our pool. It pushed its head 
up once in characteristic killer fashion, but we judged from its 
small curved dorsal fin that it was a specimen of Balcenoptera 
acutorostrata, not Orca gladiator, 
A strong south-westerly wind was blowing on October 20 
and the pack was working. The Endmance was imprisoned 
securely in the pool, but our chance might come at any time. 
Watches were set so as to b ready for working ship. Wild 
and Hudson, Greenstreet and Cheetham, Worsley and Crean, took 
the deck watches, and the Chief Engineer an-l Second Engineer 
kept watcli and watch with three of the A.B.'s for stokers. 
The staff and the forward hands, with the exception of the cook, 
the carpenter and his mate, were on " watch and watch " — 
that is, four hours on deck and four hours below, or off duty. 
The carpenter was busy makhig a light punt, which might 
prove useful in the navigation of lanes and channels. At 11 a.m. 
we gave the engines a gentle trial turn astern. Everything 
worked well after eight months of frozen inactivity, except 
that the bilge-pump and the discharge proved to be frozen up ; 
they were cleared with some little difficulty. The engineer 
reported that to get steam he had used one ton of coal, with 
wood-ashes and blubber. The fires required to keep the boiler 
Vv^arm consumed one and a quarter to one and a half hundred- 
weight of coal per day. We \ ad about fifty tons of coal re- 
maining in the bunkers. 
October 21 and 22 were days of low temperature, which 
caused the open leads to freeze over. The pack was working, 
and ever and anon the roar of pressure came to our ears. 
We waited for the next move of the gigantic forces arrayed 
against us. The 23rd brought a strong north-westerly wind, 
and the movement of the floes and pressure-ridges became 
more formidable. Then on Sunday, October 24, there came 
what for the Endurance was the beginning of the end. The 
71 
