THE BOAT JOURNEY 
sciatica. I had become possessor of this originally on the floe 
several months earlier. 
Our meals were regiilar in spite of the gales. Attention to 
this point was essential, since the conditions of the voyage made 
increasing calls upon our vitality. Breakfast, at 8 a.m., con- 
sisted of a pannikin of hot hoosh made from Bovril sledging 
ration, two biscuits, and some Imnps of sugar. Limch came 
at 1 p.m., and comprised Bovril sledging ration, eaten raw, 
and a pannildn of hot milk for each man. Tea, at 5 p.m., had 
the same menu. Then diu'ing the night we had a hot drink, 
generally of milk. The meals were the bright beacons in those 
cold and stormy days. The glow of warmth and comfort 
produced by the food and drink made optimists of us all. We 
had two tins of Virol, which we were keeping for an emergency ; 
but, finding ourselves in need of an oil-lamp to eke out our 
supply of candles, we emptied one of the tins in the manner 
that most appealed to us, and fitted it with a wick made by 
shredding a bit of canvas. WTien this lamp was filled with 
oil it gave a certain amount of light, though it was easily blown 
out, and was of great assistance to us at night. We were fairly 
well off as regarded fuel, since we had 6| gallons of petroleum. 
A severe south-westerly gale on the fourth day out forced 
us to heave to. I would have liked to have run before the wind, 
but the sea was very high and the James Caird was in danger 
of broaching to and swamping. The delay was vexatious, since 
up to that time we had been making sixty or seventy miles a 
day ; good going with our limited sail area. We hove to under 
double-reefed mainsail and our little jigger, and waited for the 
gale to bloAV itself out. During that afternoon we saw bits of 
wreckage, the remains probably of some unfortunate vessel 
that had failed to weather the strong gales south of Cape Horn. 
The weather conditions did not improve, and on the fifth day 
out the gale was so fierce that we were compelled to take in 
the double-reefed mainsail and hoist our small jib instead. We 
put out a sea-anchor to keep the James Caird' s head up to the 
sea. This anchor consisted of a triangular canvas bag fastened 
to the end of the painter and allowed to stream out from the 
bows. The boat was high enough to catch the wind, and, as 
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