It is surprising the amount of exercise one can get on board an airship of this size. The keel is about 600 feet long, and one is constantly running about from one end to the other. There are also steps in a vertical ladder at the top of the ship for those who feel energetic or have duty up there. By the time it becomes one’s turn to go to bed one generally finds one is very sleepy, and the warmth of one’s sleeping-bag and hum of the engines soon send one to sleep.
3.15 P. M.—Sea now visible at intervals through the clouds—a deep blue in color with a big swell on. Our shadow on the water helps us to measure our drift angle, which both Scott and Cooke worked out to be 21 degrees. Running on the forward and two aft engines, resting the two wing engines. Speed—making forty-nine miles per hour.
Durant, the wireless officer, reports he has just been speaking to St. John’s, N. F.—Rather faint but quite clear signals. As we are still in touch with East Fortune and Clifden, and have been exchanging signals with the Azores since reaching the Irish coast, our communications seem to be quite satisfactory.
Remarkable rainbow effects on the clouds. One complete rainbow encircled the airship itself and the other, a smaller one, encircled the shadow. Both are very vivid in their coloring.
3.45 P. M.—Excellent tea consisting of bread and butter and green-gage jam, also two cups of scalding hot tea, which had been boiled over the exhaust-pipe cooker fitted to the forward engine.
See Little of Ocean
Fruitarian cake was also tried for the first time—rather sickly to taste but very nourishing. The whole assisted by Miss Lee White on the gramophone. We would one and all give anything for a smoke. Greenland, the first officer of the ship, is vainly trying to discover the culprit who used his tooth-brush for stirring the mustard at lunch.
4.30 P. M.—Still in fog and low clouds and no sea visible. We have hardly seen any sign of the Atlantic since leaving the Irish coast, and we are beginning to wonder if we shall see it at all the whole way across.
5 P. M.—Tramp steamer S. S. Ballygally Head, outward bound from Belfast, destination Montreal, picked up our wireless on their Marconi spark set, which has a range of thirty miles only. She heard us but didn’t see us, as we were well above and completely hidden by the clouds. She gave her position as latitude 54 degrees 30 minutes north, longitude 18 degrees 20 minutes west, and reported as follows:
“Steering south 80 west true, wind north, barometer 30.10, overcast, clouds low.”