SOUTH 
never to be forgotten. By running north for the first two 
days I hoped to get warmer weather and also to avoid lines of 
pack that might be extending beyond the main body. We 
needed all the advantage that we could obtain from the higher 
latitude for sailing on the gi^eat circle, but we had to be cautious 
regarding possible ice-streams. Cramped in our narrow quarters 
and continually wet by the spray, we suffered severely from 
cold throughout the journey. We fought the seas and the 
winds and at the same time had a daily struggle to keep our- 
selves alive. At times we were in dire peril. Generally we 
were upheld by the knowledge that we were making progress 
towards the land where we would be, but there were days and 
nights when we lay hove to, drifting across the storm-whitened 
seas and watching, with eyes interested rather than apprehen- 
sive, the uprearing masses of water, flung to and fro by Nature 
in the pride of her strength. Deep seemed the valleys when 
we lay between the reeling seas. High were the hills when we 
perched momentarily on the tops of giant combers. Nearly 
always there were gales. So small was our boat and so great 
were the seas that often our sail flapped idly in the calm between 
the crests of two waves. Then we would climb the next slope 
and catch the full fury of the gale where the wool-like whiteness 
of the breaking water surged around us. We had our moments 
of laughter — ^rare, it is true, but hearty enough. Even when 
cracked lips and swollen mouths checked the outward and 
visible signs of amusement we could see a joke of the primitive 
kind. Man's sense of humour is always most easily stirred by 
the petty misfortunes of his neighbours, and I shall never forget 
Worsley's efforts on one occasion to place the hot aluminium 
stand on top of the Primus stove after it had fallen off in an 
extra heavy roll. With his frost-bitten fingers he picked it up, 
dropped it, picked it up again, and toyed with it gingerly as 
though it were some fragile article of lady's wear. We laughed, 
or rather gurgled with laughter. 
The wind came up strong and worked into a gale from the 
north-west on the third day out. We stood away to the east. 
The increasing seas discovered the weaknesses of our decking. 
The continuous blows shifted the box-lids and sledge-runners 
166 
