THE STORM 
1 1 
not be advisable under the circumstances, so we gave up 
this item of our programme. 
Later in the day the wind has veered to the westward, 
heading us slightly. I trust it will not go further round ; 
we are now more than a point to eastward of our course 
to the ice, and three points to leeward of that to Campbell 
Island, so that we should not have fetched the Island 
anyhow. 
Friday, December 2. — A day of great disaster. From 
4 o'clock last night the wind freshened with great rapidity, 
and very shortly we were under topsails, jib, and staysail 
only. It blew very hard and the sea got up at once. 
Soon we were plunging heavily and taking much water 
over the lee rail. Oates and Atkinson with intermittent 
assistance from others were busy keeping the ponies on 
their legs. Cases of petrol, forage, &c, began to break 
loose on the upper deck ; the principal trouble was caused 
by the loose coal-bags, whicli were bodily lifted by the 
seas and swung against the lashed cases. i You know 
how carefully everything had been lashed, but no lashings 
could have withstood the onslaught of these coal sacks 
for long'; they acted like battering rams. * There was 
nothing for it but to grapple with the evil, and nearly 
all hands were labouring for hours in the waist of the 
ship, heaving coal sacks overboard and rc-lashing the 
petrol cases, &c, in the best manner possible under such 
difficult and dangerous circumstances. The seas were 
continually breaking over these people and now and 
again they would be completely submerged. At such 
times they had to cling for dear life to some fixture to 
