The glimmering combers roll.
Almost these mindless waters work
As though they had a soul—
However, as the Boss used to say: “When things are bad any change is likely to be for the better.” We pour some vile epithets upon the head of poor old Quest, but she really does not deserve them, for she is always at her best when things are bad. Commander Wild says she is like a woman, quoting something about “Women in our hours of ease, perfidious, fickle, hard to please!” I suppose he knows all about it. Anyway, she has brought us through what might well have caused many a more stately ship to founder. Things have remained much the same during the day—water keeps coming over the gunwales in huge masses and hundreds of tons pass hourly across “The Rubicon,” as we call the wash of water in the waist of her. Occasionally big green seas come aboard en masse, flooding the whole ship, and find their way everywhere, through cracks in the doors, spirting through the keyholes and through the ventilators, which, with all the ports tightly closed, must be kept open.
Macklin places in my mouth an incorrect rendering which I would never apply to the gentler sex, but which is certainly very appropriate to the Quest.
“Bridget,” the pig which was presented to us by Mr. Jacobsen on leaving South Georgia, had a very miserable time, and I was almost giving instructions to have it killed right away. It was totally unable to keep its footing on the slippery deck and it was very sea-sick. I handed it over to the care of McLeod, who found it a snug berth in the bathroom, where it quickly recovered its spirits and began to develop an insatiable appetite.
In passing I may mention that the bathroom, so-called, was a small recess containing a tub situated at the side of the engine-room and opening into the starboard alleyway. It was always warm from the heat of the engines and we used it chiefly as a drying-room for clothes. It was used occasionally also on very cold nights as a warming-room for chilled night-watchmen. We possessed nothing so luxurious as a real bathroom, and, sinking modesty, we bathed ourselves from a bucket on deck. In the very cold weather those who were able to ingratiate themselves with Kerr, the chief engineer, could sometimes take their tub in front of the furnace fires. This was a real luxury.
I was glad to notice on May 14th a falling off of both wind and sea, and McIlroy predicted a spell of finer weather. On the 15th it was distinctly calmer and we were able to continue the work on deck, which in a ship at sea is interminable, but which the heavier weather had compelled us to suspend temporarily. “Bridget” emerged from her retreat and started to move about the deck, where she quickly made friends with Query. It was highly amusing to watch the antics of the two of them. She also started to make friendships amongst the hands—notably with Green, whom she quickly learned to regard as the source of her food supply. At times she became too friendly, for she began to take an interest in the cabins and wardroom. Another bad habit was that of moving about the decks at night, where she had repeated collisions with the men working the sails.
In spite of the improvement there was still a big enough sea to cause the Quest to roll heavily, and on the 18th we nearly had a nasty accident.
I had set a party, composed of Macklin, McIlroy, Jeffrey, Carr and Marr, to hoisting up from the lower hold a number of sacks of beans which had got wet and become offensive. The work, which was hard and difficult on account of the awkward motion, was being carried out, and to clear a space Macklin had sent up a large heavy ice-basket full of sundry stores, the whole weighing many hundredweights. Carr was on deck, and had received the basket when the ship gave an unusually heavy lurch. Both he and the basket were shot to the opening, and though he was able to save himself the basket fell with a crash into the hold where the men were working. Carr yelled a warning and they managed to leap clear, receiving the impact of some of the cases but escaping a direct blow. This is but one example of many “incidents” of the kind that occurred throughout the trip.