FROM EDINBURGH TO THE ANTARCTIC 51 
of his poems, that a thirst can only be raised somewhere 
' East of Suez/ We are considerably west of that, and 
the thirst raised by this warm weather and salt sea air is 
remarkable ! The mere mention of oranges makes us feel 
parched. The worst of it is, that outside the medicine- 
chest, there is absolutely nothing to quench our thirst but 
lime-juice and tepid water of many flavours. It is re- 
ported thatisome bottles of Talisker were put on board by 
some unknown friends for the crew on New Year's Day, 
or other great occasions. But these have not appeared 
yet, and it is a weary time to wait till the New Year. 
The men did not rise to Kipling's Tommy Atkins 
rhymes at all ; but it was a treat to see how ' The Bolivar ' 
went down. How they cussed when they read it ! Not 
one of our old hands but had sailed on just such a coffin- 
ship, — old, over-insured, undermanned, meant to founder. 
Such vessels are getting scarce, thanks to Plimsoll and his 
white mark, though it» unfortunately is a moveable object. 
How the men bless his name! Their own united efforts 
have done much to do away with the evils of a sailor's life, 
and at present the leader of the S. F. Union is fighting 
for a scale of provisions to be regulated by Government 
At present men are far too dependent on the generosity 
of owners and masters in this respect. In two ships 
they have enough properly cooked food, whilst in the 
third — a dog's food is more plentiful and better served. 
Saturday, 24th September. — Lat. 46.53; long. 13.49. 
Calm as calm can be. Last night we were bowling along 
at seven knots, a tremendous speed for us, and this 
