OCEAN CAMP 
of depression over the camp. No one said much, but we 
cannot be blamed for feeling it in a sentimental way. It 
seemed as if the moment of severance from many cherished 
associations, many happy moments, even stirring incidents, 
had come as she silently up-ended to find a last resting-place 
beneath the ice on which we now stand. When one knows 
every little nook and corner of one's ship as we did, and 
has helped her time and again in the fight that she made 
so well, the actual parting was not without its pathos, 
quite apart from one's own desolation, and I doubt if there 
was one amongst us who did not feel some personal emotion 
when Sir Ernest, standing on the top of the look-out, said 
somewhat sadly and quietly, * She's gone, boys.' 
" It must, however, be said that we did not give way to 
depression for long, for soon every one was as cheery as usual. 
Laughter rang out from the tents, and even the Boss had a 
passage-at-arms with the storekeeper over the inadequacy of 
the sausage ration, insisting that there should be two each 
' because they were such little ones,' instead of the one and a 
half that the latter proposed." 
The psychological effect of a slight increase in the rations 
soon neutralized any tendency to downheartedness, but with 
the high temperatures surface-thaw set in, and our bags and 
clothes were soaked and sodden. Our boots squelched as we 
walked, and we lived in a state of perpetual wet feet. At 
nights, before the temperature had fallen, clouds of steam 
could be seen rising from our soaking bags and boots. During 
the night, as it grew colder, this all condensed as rime on the 
inside of the tent, and showered down upon us if one happened 
to touch the side inadvertently. One had to be careful how 
one walked, too, as often only a thin crust of ice and snow 
covered a hole in the floe, through which many an unwary 
member went in up to his waist. These perpetual soakings, 
however, seemed to have had little lasting effect, or perhaps 
it was not apparent owing to the excitement of the prospect of 
an early release. 
A north-westerly wind on December 7 and 8 retarded our 
progress somewhat, but I had reason to believe that it would 
99 
