CAPTAIN SCOTT’S OWN STORY . 
9 
“The after- 
guard (i.e., the 
twenty-four 
officers) was organ- 
ized in two parties 
by Lieutenant 
Evans to work 
buckets, the men 
were kept steadily 
going on the 
choked hand- 
pump. . * . What 
a measure to count 
as the sole safe- 
guard of the ship 
from s i n k i n g — 
practically an at- 
tempt to bail her 
out ! Yet, strange 
as it may seem, 
the effort has not 
been wholly fruit- 
less ; the string of 
buckets, which has 
now been kept 
going for four 
hours, together 
with the dribble 
from the pump, 
has kept the water 
under — if any- 
thing, there is a 
small decrease. 
“ Meanwhile we 
have been think- 
ing of a way to 
get at the suction 
of the pump. A 
hole is being made 
in the engine-room 
bulkhead ; the coal 
between this and 
the pump-shaft will 
be removed, and a 
hole made in the 
shaft. With so 
much water coming 
on board it is im- 
possible to open the hatch over the shaft. We 
are not out of the wood, but hope dawns, as 
indeed it should for me, when I find myself so 
wonderfully served. Officers and men are 
singing chanties over their arduous work. 
Williams is working in sweltering heat behind 
the boiler to get the door made in the bulk- 
head ; not a single one has lost his good spirits.” 
Slowly the gale abated, and, though the sea 
was still mountainously high, the ship-laboured 
less heavily and took in less water. Bailing 
WHO HAD CHARGE OF THE 
CAPTAIN OATES, 
PONIES, IS HERE SEEN IN THE STABLE ON THE 
“TERRA NOVA.” 
continued in two-hour shifts. By 10 p.m. 
the hole in the engine-room bulkhead was 
completed, ‘ £ and Lieutenant Evans, wrig- 
gling over the coal, found his way to the pump 
shaft and down it. He soon cleared the 
suction and, to the joy of all, a good stream 
of water came from the pump for the first 
time. Though the pump choked again 
several times, doubt had ended ; and with 
no second gale to follow immediately, the 
ship went on her way with the lo §5 of two 
