Naisbitt asked me if he might start a ship’s magazine, to which I assented.
I saw an Antarctic petrel, the first I had seen this trip. The presence of these birds usually indicates proximity of ice.
The fine weather did not last long, for the next day the wind and seas increased, and the Quest took full advantage of the excuse to behave as badly as ever. We encountered fewer bergs, but were never out of sight of them altogether. One which lay two or three miles to starboard had a very peculiar appearance, closely resembling a sailing ship under canvas. Worsley examined it long and attentively through binoculars, and exclaimed, “A sailing vessel!” I cast some doubt on the probability, but after a second look he cried excitedly, “It is a sailing vessel; I can see her topsail yard! Let us go and talk to her!” A gleam of sunshine lighting upon the “topsail yard” dispelled the illusion. I wonder what ship he expected to see down there!
An extract from Marr’s diary on this date gives an interesting sidelight:
A fairly strong sea was running when we came on deck for “the middle,” but this did not deter us from our usual occupation in the night watches, i.e. the consumption of food and drink. Indeed, it must appear that our watch is very hungry, but it is not so. This is merely our very effective method of passing the four long hours on the bridge.
It was customary for the engine-room staff to make a hot drink once a watch. The galley fire was always allowed to go out at night because of the necessity for economy in coal consumption, and the stokers used to boil the water in a tin on the furnace fires. The result was that there was often some difficulty in diagnosing the nature of the concoction, but under circumstances like this one could not be over particular. We used to turn to each other, saying: “Well, at any rate it is hot and wet.”
Photo: Wilkins
A TYPICAL SCENE AT THE PACK EDGE