6 FROM EDINBURGH TO THE ANTARCTIC 
this impedimenta was the office. It was a quaint little 
place, not at all the sort of place one associates with 
well-to-do shipping concerns. Round the walls were a few 
maps, mostly of the Arctic regions, much soiled by many 
voyages of skippers' fingers. A pile of rusty, greasy rifles, 
mostly old Henrys, leant against the counter, and in the 
far corner of the room was a collection of whaling-gear 
and old ledgers. The agent himself was ^ pleasant, 
bright little business man, full of interest in the expedi- 
tion, and I suppose as well informed about Arctic matters 
as any of his ships' masters. He seemed willing enough 
to take a passenger ; but the objection remained that 
there was not an inch of room to spare on the Balsena, or 
in any other of the three ships. However, his advice was 
to go down to the docks and have a look round the ships 
myself. So off I went, and found the Bakena — she had 
just returned from somewhere beyond 80 north, and as 
she lay in the dry dock, her iron-wood lining could be 
seen right down to the keel, scarred with long ragged 
furrows, which told of late encounters with the ice. The 
first impression was rather disappointing. Everything 
about the vessel was in hopeless disorder : aloft, stays were 
slack, halyards and braces dangled anyhow, and from 
stem to stern her decks were littered with blocks and 
tackles, cables and anchors, coal-bags, spare spars, boats, 
and all sorts of ship's-gear. 
On board I found that what the agent had said was 
quite the case, — every spare corner was filled with stores. 
The only untenanted bunk was a place about the size 
of a chest of drawers, next the surgeon s berth, and this 
