FROM EDINBURGH TO THE ANTARCTIC 133 
vermin and smells from the bilge, it's a wonder to me 
the men can live. One can scarcely stand upright in it, 
yet they make merry over the miserable housing. They 
had the option of staying at home, of course, and 
starving. I would be ashamed to keep a dog in the 
place myself. 
So far as Peter is concerned it is a change for the better, 
for he and the galley have been once or twice nearly 
washed away, but I miss seeing him on deck. He was an 
interesting figure in the ship's company, a tall thin man 
with a bushy beard and a somewhat severe aspect, his 
shirt-sleeves were always turned up, and every now and 
then he popped his head out of the square house and 
made the men on deck squirm with laughter by his 
jests and snatches of funny songs. 
The boys rather score by having Peter and the galley 
below. In the night watches they can go below and warm 
themselves, light their pipes and forage round, and then 
when the mate comes down the main hatch they nip up 
the forescuttle, or vice versa. 
I must not forget to give a sketch of our ship's dog. The 
cook and she are great allies and play at hide-and-seek 
round the galley whenever there's a moment to spare. If 
the cook is busy Fanny is given a leg up to the galley 
roof and sits there with the ship in charge. When it — she, 
correctly speaking — came on board, it was nothing but 
an insignificant black ball with protuberances where its 
legs were to be ; and it used to roll across the decks at 
every lurch, now it has grown long legs, rickety from 
want of milk, I suppose, and has developed signs of its 
