“If this crack in the furnace proves serious I may have to abandon the expedition—my reputation will stand it—but I am not beaten; John Rowett understands me, and will trust me to make the best of things, even if I have to get a new ship.”
He reverted to his original northern scheme, saying:
“The Quest would have been suitable for that; in the Davis Strait, even if we lost her, we should have had no difficulty in reaching land, where we could subsist on game and carry on without her.”
So ended the Old Year. New Year’s Day brought us a calm sea with long oily swell, and over all a drenching mist. Being a Sunday little work was done, and all hands were allowed a rest after the somewhat trying days we had just experienced.
With the new year Sir Ernest Shackleton again commenced to write in his journal, which I insert verbatim.
January 1st, 1922.
Rest and calm after the storm. The year has begun kindly for us; it is curious how a certain date becomes a factor and a milestone in one’s life. Christmas Day in a raging gale seemed out of place. I dared not venture to hope that to-day would be as it was. Anxiety has been probing deeply into me, for until the very end of the year things have gone awry. Engines unreliable; furnace cracked; water short; heavy gales; all that physically can go wrong, but the spirit of all on board is sound and good.
There are two points in the adventures of a diver,
One when a beggar he prepares to plunge,
One when a prince he rises with his pearl.