Drake, the secretary. On the starboard side of the screw are Oates,
Atkinson and Levick, the two latter being doctors, and on the port side
Campbell and Pennell, who is navigator. Then Rennick and Bowers, the
latter just home from the Persian Gulf--both of these are watchkeepers.
In the next cabin are Simpson, meteorologist, back from Simla, with
Nelson and Lillie, marine biologists. In the last cabin, the Nursery, are
the youngest, and necessarily the best behaved, of this community,
Wright, the physicist and chemist, Gran the Norwegian ski-expert, and
myself, Wilson's helper and assistant zoologist. It is difficult to put a
man down as performing any special job where each did so many, but that
is roughly what we were.

Certain men already began to stand out. Wilson, with an apparently
inexhaustible stock of knowledge on little things and big; always ready
to give help, and always ready with sympathy and insight, a tremendous
worker, and as unselfish as possible; a universal adviser. Pennell, as
happy as the day was long, working out sights, taking his watch on the
bridge, or if not on watch full of energy aloft, trimming coal, or any
other job that came along; withal spending hours a day on magnetic work,
which he did as a hobby, and not in any way as his job. Bowers was
proving himself the best seaman on board, with an exact knowledge of the
whereabouts and contents of every case, box and bale, and with a supreme
contempt for heat or cold. Simpson was obviously a first-class scientist,
devoted to his work, in which Wright gave him very great and unselfish
help, while at the same time doing much of the ship's work. Oates and
Atkinson generally worked together in a solid, dependable and somewhat
humorous way.

Evans, who will always be called Lieutenant Evans in this book to
distinguish him from Seaman Evans, was in charge of the ship, and did
much to cement together the rough material into a nucleus which was
capable of standing without any friction the strains of nearly three
years of crowded, isolated and difficult life, ably seconded by Victor
Campbell, first officer, commonly called The Mate, in whose hands the
routine and discipline of the ship was most efficiently maintained. I was
very frightened of Campbell.

Scott himself was unable to travel all the way out to New Zealand in the
Terra Nova owing to the business affairs of the expedition, but he
joined the ship from Simon's Bay to Melbourne.

The voyage itself on the sailing track from Madeira to the Cape was at
first uneventful. We soon got into hot weather, and at night every
available bit of deck space was used on which to sleep. The more
particular slung hammocks, but generally men used such deck space as they
could find, such as the top of the icehouse, where they were free from
the running tackle, and rolled themselves into their blankets. So long as
we had a wind we ran under sail alone, and on those days men would bathe
over the side in the morning, but when the engines were going we could
get the hose in the morning, which was preferred, especially after a
shark was seen making for Bowers' red breast as he swam.

The scene on deck in the early morning was always interesting. All hands
were roused before six and turned on to the pumps, for the ship was
leaking considerably. Normally, the well showed about ten inches of water
when the ship was dry. Before pumping, the sinker would show anything
over two feet. The ship was generally dry after an hour to an hour and a
half's pumping, and by that time we had had quite enough of it. As soon
as the officer of the watch had given the order, "Vast pumping," the
first thing to do was to strip, and the deck was dotted with men trying
to get the maximum amount of water from the sea in a small bucket let
down on a line from the moving ship. First efforts in this direction
would have been amusing had it not been for the caustic eye of the 'Mate'
on the bridge. If the reader ever gets the chance to try the experiment,
especially in a swell, he will soon find himself with neither bucket nor
water. The poor Mate was annoyed by the loss of his buckets.

Everybody was working very hard during these days; shifting coal, reefing
and furling sail aloft, hauling on the ropes on deck, together with
magnetic and meteorological observations, tow-netting, collecting and
making skins and so forth. During the first weeks there was more cargo
stowing and paintwork than at other times, otherwise the work ran in
very much the same lines all the way out--a period of nearly five months.
On July 1 we were overhauled by the only ship we ever saw, so far as I
can remember, during all that time, the Inverclyde, a barque out from
Glasgow to Buenos Ayres. It was an oily, calm day with a sea like glass,
and she looked, as Wilson quoted, "like a painted ship upon a painted
ocean," as she lay with all sail set.

We picked up the N.E. Trade two days later, being then north of the Cape
Verde Islands (lat. 22 deg. 28' N., long. 23 deg. 5' W. at noon). It was a
Sunday, and there was a general 'make and mend' throughout the ship, the
first since we sailed. During the day we ran from deep clear blue water
into a darkish and thick green sea. This remarkable change of colour,
which was observed by the Discovery Expedition in much the same place,
was supposed to be due to a large mass of pelagic fauna called plankton.
The plankton, which drifts upon the surface of the sea, is distinct from
the nekton, which swims submerged. The Terra Nova was fitted with tow
nets with very fine meshes for collecting these inhabitants of the open
sea, together with the algae, or minute plant organisms, which afford
them an abundant food supply.

The plankton nets can be lowered when the ship is running at full speed,
and a great many such hauls were made during the expedition.

July 5 had an unpleasant surprise in store. At 10.30 A.M. the ship's bell
rang and there was a sudden cry of "Fire quarters." Two Minimax fire
extinguishers finished the fire, which was in the lazarette, and was
caused by a lighted lamp which was upset by the roll of the ship. The
result was a good deal of smoke, a certain amount of water below, and
some singed paper, but we realized that a fire on such an old wooden ship
would be a very serious matter, and greater care was taken after this.

Such a voyage shows Nature in her most attractive form, and always there
was a man close by whose special knowledge was in the whales, porpoises,
dolphins, fish, birds, parasites, plankton, radium and other things which
we watched through microscopes or field-glasses. Nelson caught a
Portuguese man-of-war (Arethusa) as it sailed past us close under the
counter. These animals are common, but few can realize how beautiful they
are until they see them, fresh-coloured from the deep sea, floating and
sailing in a big glass bowl. It vainly tried to sail out, and vigorously
tried to sting all who touched it. Wilson painted it.

From first to last the study of life of all kinds was of absorbing
interest to all on board, and, when we landed in the Antarctic, as well
as on the ship, everybody worked and was genuinely interested in all that
lived and had its being on the fringe of that great sterile continent.
Not only did officers who had no direct interest in anything but their
own particular work or scientific subject spend a large part of their
time in helping, making notes and keeping observations, but the seamen
also had a large share in the specimens and data of all descriptions
which have been brought back. Several of them became good pupils for
skinning birds.

Meanwhile, perhaps the constant cries of "Whale, whale!" or "New bird!"
or "Dolphins!" sometimes found the biologist concerned less eager to
leave his meal than the observers were to call him forth. Good
opportunities of studying the life of sea birds, whales, dolphins and
other forms of life in the sea, even those comparatively few forms which
are visible from the surface, are not too common. A modern liner moves so
quickly that it does not attract life to it in the same way as a
slow-moving ship like the Terra Nova, and when specimens are seen they
are gone almost as soon as they are observed. Those who wish to study sea
life--and there is much to be done in this field--should travel by tramp
steamers, or, better still, sailing vessels.

Dolphins were constantly playing under the bows of the ship, giving a
very good chance for identification, and whales were also frequently
sighted, and would sometimes follow the ship, as did also hundreds of sea
birds, petrels, shearwaters and albatross. It says much for the interest
and keenness of the officers on board that a complete hourly log was
kept from beginning to end of the numbers and species which were seen,
generally with the most complete notes as to any peculiarity or habit
which was noticed. It is to be hoped that full use will be made, by those
in charge of the working out of these results, of these logs which were
kept so thoroughly and sometimes under such difficult circumstances and
conditions of weather and sea. Though many helped, this log was largely
the work of Pennell, who was an untiring and exact observer.

We lost the N.E. Trade about July 7, and ran into the Doldrums. On the
whole we could not complain of the weather. We never had a gale or big
sea until after leaving South Trinidad, and though an old ship with no
modern ventilation is bound to be stuffy in the tropics, we lived and
slept on deck so long as it was not raining. If it rained at night, as it
frequently does in this part of the world, a number of rolled-up forms
could be heard discussing as to whether it was best to stick it above or
face the heat below; and if the rain persisted, sleepy and somewhat
snappy individuals were to be seen trying to force themselves and a
maximum amount of damp bedding down the wardroom gangway. At the same
time a thick wooden ship will keep fairly cool in the not severe heat
through which we passed.

One want which was unavoidable was the lack of fresh water. There was
none to wash in, though a glass of water was allowed for shaving! With an
unlimited amount of sea water this may not seem much of a hardship; nor
is it unless you have very dirty work to do. But inasmuch as some of the
officers were coaling almost daily, they found that any amount of cold
sea water, even with a euphemistically named 'sea-water soap,' had no
very great effect in removing the coal dust. The alternative was to make
friends with the engine-room authorities and draw some water from the
boilers.

Perhaps therefore it was not with purely disinterested motives that some
of us undertook to do the stoking during the morning watch, and also
later in the day during our passage through the tropics, since the
engine-room staff was reduced by sickness. A very short time will
convince anybody that the ease with which men accustomed to this work get
through their watch is mainly due to custom and method. The ship had no
forced draught nor modern ventilating apparatus. Four hours in the
boiling fiery furnace which the Terra Nova's stokehold formed in the
tropics, unless there was a good wind to blow down the one canvas shaft,
was a real test of staying power, and the actual shovelling of the coal
into the furnaces, one after the other, was as child's play to handling
the 'devil,' as the weighty instrument used for breaking up the clinker
and shaping the fire was called. The boilers were cylindrical marine or
return tube boilers, the furnaces being six feet long by three feet wide,
slightly lower at the back than at the front. The fire on the bars was
kept wedge-shape, that is, some nine inches high at the back, tapering to
about six inches in front against the furnace doors. The furnaces were
corrugated for strength. We were supposed to keep the pressure on the
gauge between 70 and 80, but it wanted some doing. For the most part it
was done.

We did, however, get uncomfortable days with the rain sluicing down and a
high temperature--everything wet on deck and below. But it had its
advantages in the fresh water it produced. Every bucket was on duty, and
the ship's company stripped naked and ran about the decks or sat in the
stream between the laboratories and wardroom skylight and washed their
very dirty clothes. The stream came through into our bunks, and no amount
of caulking ever stopped it. To sleep with a constant drip of water
falling upon you is a real trial. These hot, wet days were more trying to
the nerves than the months of wet, rough but cooler weather to come, and
it says much for the good spirit which prevailed that there was no
friction, though we were crowded together like sardines in a tin.

July 12 was a typical day (lat. 4 deg. 57' N., long. 22 deg. 4' W.). A very hot,
rainy night, followed by a squall which struck us while we were having
breakfast, so we went up and set all sail, which took until about 9.30
A.M. We then sat in the water on the deck and washed clothes until just
before mid-day, when the wind dropped, though the rain continued. So we
went up and furled all sail, a tedious business when the sails are wet
and heavy. Then work on cargo or coal till 7 P.M., supper, and glad to
get to sleep.

On July 15 (lat. 0 deg. 40' N., long. 21 deg. 56' W.) we crossed the Line with
all pomp and ceremony. At 1.15 P.M. Neptune in the person of Seaman Evans
hailed and stopped the ship. He came on board with his motley company,
who solemnly paced aft to the break of the poop, where he was met by
Lieutenant Evans. His wife (Browning), a doctor (Paton), barber
(Cheetham), two policemen and four bears, of whom Atkinson and Oates were
two, grouped themselves round him while the barrister (Abbott) read an
address to the captain, and then the procession moved round to the bath,
a sail full of water slung in the break of the poop on the starboard
side.

Nelson was the first victim. He was examined, then overhauled by the
doctor, given a pill and a dose, and handed over to the barber, who
lathered him with a black mixture consisting of soot, flour and water,
was shaved by Cheetham with a great wooden razor, and then the policemen
tipped him backwards into the bath where the bears were waiting. As he
was being pushed in he seized the barber and took him with him.

Wright, Lillie, Simpson and Levick followed, with about six of the crew.
Finally Gran, the Norwegian, was caught as an extra--never having been
across the Line in a British ship. But he threw the pill-distributing
doctor over his head into the bath, after which he was lathered very
gingerly, and Cheetham having been in once, refused to shave him at all,
so they tipped him in and wished they had never caught him.

The procession re-formed, and Neptune presented certificates to those who
had been initiated. The proceedings closed with a sing-song in the
evening.

These sing-songs were of very frequent occurrence. The expedition was
very fond of singing, though there was hardly anybody in it who could
sing. The usual custom at this time was that every one had to contribute
a song in turn all round the table after supper. If he could not sing he
had to compose a limerick. If he could not compose a limerick he had to
contribute a fine towards the wine fund, which was to make some
much-discussed purchases when we reached Cape Town. At other times we
played the most childish games--there was one called 'The Priest of the
Parish has lost his Cap,' over which we laughed till we cried, and much
money was added to the wine fund.

As always happens, certain songs became conspicuous for a time. One of
these I am sure that Campbell, who was always at work and upon whom the
routine of the ship depended, will never forget. I do not know who it was
that started singing

"Everybody works but Father,
That poor old man,"

but Campbell, who was the only father on board and whose hair was
popularly supposed to be getting thin on the top of his head, may
remember.

We began to make preparations for a run ashore--a real adventure on an
uninhabited and unknown island. The sailing track of ships from England
round the Cape of Good Hope lies out towards the coast of Brazil, and not
far from the mysterious island of South Trinidad, 680 miles east of
Brazil, in 20 deg. 30' S. and 29 deg. 30' W.

This island is difficult of access, owing to its steep rocky coast and
the big Atlantic swell which seldom ceases. It has therefore been little
visited, and as it is infested with land crabs the stay of the few
parties which have been there has been short. But scientifically it is of
interest, not only for the number of new species which may be obtained
there, but also for the extraordinary attitude of wild sea birds towards
human beings whom they have never learnt to fear. Before we left England
it had been decided to attempt a landing and spend a day there if we
should pass sufficiently near to it.

Those who have visited it in the past include the astronomer Halley, who
occupied it, in 1700. Sir James Ross, outward bound for the Antarctic in
1839, spent a day there, landing "in a small cove a short distance to
the northward of the Nine Pin Rock of Halley, the surf on all other parts
being too great to admit of it without hazarding the destruction of our
boats." Ross also writes that "Horsburgh mentions ... 'that the island
abounds with wild pig and goats; one of the latter was seen. With the
view to add somewhat to the stock of useful creatures, a cock and two
hens were put on shore; they seemed to enjoy the change, and, I have no
doubt, in so unfrequented a situation, and so delightful a climate, will
quickly increase in numbers.' I am afraid we did not find any of their
descendants, nor those of the pig and goats."[34] I doubt whether fowls
would survive the land crabs very long. There are many wild birds on the
island, however, which may feed the shipwrecked, and also a depot left by
the Government for that purpose. Another visitor was Knight, who wrote a
book called The Cruise of the Falcon, concerning his efforts to discover
the treasure which is said to have been left there. Scott also visited it
in the Discovery in 1901, when a new petrel was found which was
afterwards called 'Oestrelata wilsoni,' after the same 'Uncle Bill' who
was zoologist of both Scott's Expeditions.

And so it came about that on the evening of July 25 we furled sail and
lay five miles from South Trinidad with all our preparations made for a
very thorough search of this island of treasure. Everything was to be
captured, alive or dead, animal, vegetable or mineral.

At half-past five the next morning we were steaming slowly towards what
looked like a quite impregnable face of rock, with bare cliffs standing
straight out of the water, which, luckily for us, was comparatively
smooth. As we coasted to try and find a landing-place the sun was rising
behind the island, which reaches to a height of two thousand feet, and
the jagged cliffs stood up finely against the rosy sky.

[Illustration: SOUTH TRINIDAD--E. A. Wilson, del.]

We dropped our anchor to the south of the island and a boat's crew left
to prospect for a landing-place, whilst Wilson seized the opportunity to
shoot some birds as specimens, including two species of frigate bird,
and the seamen caught some of the multitudinous fish. We also fired shots
at the sharks which soon thronged round the ship, and about which we were
to think more before the day was done.

The boat came back with the news that a possible landing-place had been
found, and the landing parties got off about 8.30. The landing was very
bad--a ledge of rock weathered out of the cliff to our right formed, as
it were, a staging along which it was possible to pass on to a steeply
shelving talus slope in front of us. The sea being comparatively smooth,
everybody was landed dry, with their guns and collecting gear.

The best account of South Trinidad is contained in a letter written by
Bowers to his mother, which is printed here. But some brief notes which I
jotted down at the time may also be of interest, since they give an
account of a different part of the island:

"Having made a small depot of cartridges, together with a little fluffy
tern and a tern's egg, which Wilson found on the rocks, we climbed
westward, round and up, to a point from which we could see into the East
Bay. This was our first stand, and we shot several white-breasted petrel
(Oestrelata trinitatis), and also black-breasted petrel (Oestrelata
arminjoniana). Later on we got over the brow of a cliff where the petrel
were nesting. We took two nests, on each of which a white-breasted and a
black-breasted petrel were paired. Wilson caught one in his hands and I
caught another on its nest; it really did not know whether it ought to
fly away or not. This gives rise to an interesting problem, since these
two birds have been classified as different species, and it now looks as
though they are the same.

"The gannets and terns were quite extraordinary, like all the living
things there. If you stay still enough the terns perch on your head. In
any case they will not fly off the rocks till you are two or three feet
away. Several gannets were caught in the men's hands. All the fish which
the biologist collected to-day can travel quite fast on land. When the
Discovery was here Wilson saw a fish come out of the sea, seize a land
crab about eighteen inches away and take it back into the water.

"The land crabs were all over the place in thousands; it seems probable
that their chief enemies are themselves. They are regular cannibals.

"Then we did a real long climb northwards, over rocks and tufty grass
till 1.30 P.M. From the point we had reached we could see both sides of
the island, and the little Martin Vas islands in the distance.

"We found lots of little tern and terns' eggs, lying out on the bare rock
with no nest at all. Hooper also brought us two little gannets--all
fluffy, but even at this age larger than a rook. As we got further up we
began to come across the fossilized trees for which the island is well
known.

"Four or five Captain biscuits made an excellent lunch, and afterwards we
started to the real top of the island, a hill rising to the west of us.
It was covered with a high scrubby bush and rocks, and was quite thick;
in fact there was more vegetation here than on all the rest we had seen,
and in making our way through it we had to keep calling in order to keep
touch with one another.

"The tree ferns were numerous, but stunted. The gannets were sleeping on
the tops of the bushes, and some of the crabs had climbed up the bushes
and were sunning themselves on the top. These crabs were round us in
thousands--I counted seven watching me out of one crack between two
rocks.

"We sat down under the lee of the summit, and thought it would not be bad
to be thrown away on a desert island, little thinking how near we were to
being stranded, for a time at any rate.

"The crabs gathered round us in a circle, with their eyes turning towards
us--as if they were waiting for us to die to come and eat us. One big
fellow left his place in the circle and waddled up to my feet and
examined my boots. First with one claw and then with the other he took a
taste of my boot. He went away obviously disgusted: one could almost see
him shake his head.

"We collected, as well as our birds and eggs, some spiders, very large
grasshoppers, wood-lice, cockchafers, with big and small centipedes. In
fact, the place teemed with insect life. I should add that their names
are given rather from the general appearance of the animals than from
their true scientific classes.

"We had a big and fast scramble down, and about half way, when we could
watch the sea breaking on the rocks far below, we saw that there was a
bigger swell running. It was getting late, and we made our way down as
fast as we could--denting our guns as we slipped on the rocks.

"The lower we got the bigger the sea which had risen in our absence
appeared to be. No doubt it was the swell of a big disturbance far away,
and when we reached the debris slope where we had landed, flanked by big
cliffs, we found everybody gathered there and the boats lying off--it
being quite impossible for them to get near the shore.

"They had just got a life-line ashore on a buoy. Bowers went out on to
the rocks and secured it. We put our guns and specimens into a pile, out
of reach, as we thought, of any possible sea. But just afterwards two
very large waves took us--we were hauling in the rope, and must have been
a good thirty feet above the base of the wave. It hit us hard and knocked
us all over the place, and wetted the guns and specimens above us through
and through.

"We then stowed all gear and specimens well out of the reach of the seas,
and then went out through the surf one by one, passing ourselves out on
the line. It was ticklish work, but Hooper was the only one who really
had a bad time. He did not get far enough out among the rocks which
fringed the steep slope from which he started as a wave began to roll
back. The next wave caught him and crashed him back, and he let go of the
line. He was under quite a long time, and as the waves washed back all
that we could do was to try and get the line to him. Luckily he succeeded
in finding the slack of the line and got out.

"When we first got down to the shore and things were looking nasty,
Wilson sat down on the top of a rock and ate a biscuit in the coolest
possible manner. It was an example to avoid all panicking, for he did
not want the biscuit.

"He remarked afterwards to me, apropos to Hooper, that it was a curious
thing that a number of men, knowing that there was nothing they could do,
could quietly watch a man fighting for his life, and he did not think
that any but the British temperament could do so. I also found out later
that he and I had both had a touch of cramp while waiting for our turn to
swim out through the surf."

The following is Bowers' letter:

"_Sunday, 31st July._

"The past week has been so crowded with incident, really, that I
don't know where to start. Getting to land made me long for the
mails from you, which are such a feature of getting to port.
However, the strange uninhabited island which we visited will
have to make up for my disappointment till we get to Capetown--or
rather Simon's Town. Campbell and I sighted S. Trinidad from the
fore yardarm on 25th, and on 26th, at first thing in the morning,
we crept up to an anchorage in a sea of glass. The S.E. Trades,
making a considerable sea, were beating on the eastern sides,
while the western was like a mill-pond. The great rocks and hills
to over 2000 feet towered above us as we went in very close in
order to get our anchor down, as the water is very deep to quite
a short distance from the shore. West Bay was our selection, and
so clear was the water that we could see the anchor at the bottom
in 15 fathoms. A number of sharks and other fish appeared at once
and several birds. Evans wanted to explore, so Oates, Rennick,
Atkinson and myself went away with him--pulling the boat. We
examined the various landings and found them all rocky and
dangerous. There was a slight surf although the sea looked like a
mill-pond. We finally decided on a previously unused place, which
was a little inlet among the rocks.

"There was nothing but rock, but there was a little nook where we
decided to try and land. We returned to breakfast and found that
Wilson and Cherry-Garrard had shot several Frigate and other
birds from the ship, the little Norwegian boat--called a
Pram--being used to pick them up. By way of explanation I may say
that Wilson is a specialist in birds and is making a collection
for the British Museum.

"We all landed as soon as possible. Wilson and Garrard with their
guns for birds: Oates with the dogs, and Atkinson with a small
rifle: Lillie after plants and geological specimens: Nelson and
Simpson along the shore after sea beasts, etc.: and last but not
least came the entomological party, under yours truly, with
Wright and, later, Evans, as assistants. Pennell joined up with
Wilson, so altogether we were ready to 'do' the island. I have
taken over the collection of insects for the expedition, as the
other scientists all have so much to do that they were only too
glad to shove the small beasts on me. Atkinson is a specialist in
parasites: it is called 'Helminthology.' I never heard that name
before. He turns out the interior of every beast that is killed,
and being also a surgeon, I suppose the subject must be
interesting. White terns abounded on the island. They were
ghost-like and so tame that they would sit on one's hat. They
laid their eggs on pinnacles of rock without a vestige of nest,
and singly. They looked just like stones. I suppose this was a
protection from the land-crabs, about which you will have heard.
The land-crabs of Trinidad are a byword and they certainly
deserve the name, as they abound from sea-level to the top of the
island. The higher up the bigger they were. The surface of the
hills and valleys was covered with loose boulders, and the whole
island being of volcanic origin, coarse grass is everywhere, and
at about 1500 feet is an area of tree ferns and subtropical
vegetation, extending up to nearly the highest parts. The
withered trees of a former forest are everywhere and their
existence unexplained, though Lillie had many ingenious theories.
The island has been in our hands, the Germans', and is now
Brazilian. Nobody has been able to settle there permanently,
owing to the land-crabs. These also exclude mammal life. Captain
Kidd made a treasure depot there, and some five years ago a chap
named Knight lived on the island for six months with a party of
Newcastle miners--trying to get at it. He had the place all
right, but a huge landslide has covered up three-quarters of a
million of the pirate's gold. The land-crabs are little short of
a nightmare. They peep out at you from every nook and boulder.
Their dead staring eyes follow your every step as if to say, 'If
only you will drop down we will do the rest.' To lie down and
sleep on any part of the island would be suicidal. Of course,
Knight had a specially cleared place with all sorts of
precautions, otherwise he would never have survived these beasts,
which even tried to nibble your boots as you stood--staring hard
at you the whole time. One feature that would soon send a lonely
man off his chump is that no matter how many are in sight they
are all looking at you, and they follow step by step with a
sickly deliberation. They are all yellow and pink, and next to
spiders seem the most loathsome creatures on God's earth. Talking
about spiders [Bowers always had the greatest horror of
spiders]--I have to collect them as well as insects. Needless to
say I caught them with a butterfly net, and never touched one.
Only five species were known before, and I found fifteen or
more--at any rate I have fifteen for certain. Others helped me to
catch them, of course. Another interesting item to science is the
fact that I caught a moth hitherto unknown to exist on the
island, also various flies, ants, etc. Altogether it was a most
successful day. Wilson got dozens of birds, and Lillie plants,
etc. On our return to the landing-place we found to our horror
that a southerly swell was rolling in, and great breakers were
bursting on the beach. About five P.M. we all collected and
looked at the whaler and pram on one side of the rollers and
ourselves on the other. First it was impossible to take off the
guns and specimens, so we made them all up to leave for the
morrow. Second, a sick man had come ashore for exercise, and he
could not be got off: finally, Atkinson stayed ashore with him.
The breakers made the most awe-inspiring cauldron in our little
nook, and it meant a tough swim for all of us. Three of us swam
out first and took a line to the pram, and finally we got a good
rope from the whaler, which had anchored well out, to the shore.
I then manoeuvred the pram, and everybody plunged into the surf
and hauled himself out with the rope. All well, but minus our
belongings, and got back to the ship; very wet and ravenous was a
mild way to put it. During my 12 to 4 watch that night the surf
roared like thunder, and the ship herself was rolling like
anything, and looked horribly close to the shore. Of course she
was quite safe really. It transpired that Atkinson and the seaman
had a horrible night with salt water soaked food, and the crabs
and white terns which sat and watched them all night, squawking
in chorus whenever they moved. It must have been horrible, though
I would like to have stayed, and had I known anybody was staying
would have volunteered. This with the noise of the surf and the
cold made it pretty rotten for them. In the morning, Evans,
Rennick, Oates and I, with two seamen and Gran, took the whaler
and pram in to rescue the maroons. At first we thought we would
do it by a rocket line to the end of the sheer cliff. The
impossibility of such an idea was at once evident, so Gran and I
went in close in the pram, and hove them lines to get off the
gear first. I found the spoon-shaped pram a wonderful boat to
handle. You could go in to the very edge of the breaking surf,
lifted like a cork on top of the waves, and as long as you kept
head to sea and kept your own head, you need never have got on
the rocks, as the tremendous back-swish took you out like a shot
every time. It was quite exciting, however, as we would slip in
close in a lull, and the chaps in the whaler would yell, 'Look
out!' if a big wave passed them, in which case you would pull out
for dear life. Our first lines carried away, and then, with
others, Rennick and I this time took the pram while Atkinson got
as near the edge as safe to throw us the gear. I was pulling, and
by watching our chances we rescued the cameras and glasses, once
being carried over 12 feet above the rocks and only escaping by
the back-swish. Then the luckiest incident of the day occurred,
when in a lull we got our sick man down, and I jumped out, and he
in, as I steadied the boat's stern. The next minute the boat
flew out on the back-wash with the seaman absolutely dry, and I
was of course enveloped in foam and blackness two seconds later
by a following wave. Twice the day before this had happened, but
this time for a moment I thought, 'Where will my head strike?' as
I was like a feather in a breeze in that swirl. When I banked it
was about 15 feet above, and, very scratched and winded, I clung
on with my nails and scrambled up higher. The next wave, a bigger
one, nearly had me, but I was just too high to be sucked back.
Atkinson and I then started getting the gear down, Evans having
taken my place in the pram. By running down between waves we hove
some items into the boat, including the guns and rifles, which I
went right down to throw. These were caught and put into the
boat, but Evans was too keen to save a bunch of boots that
Atkinson threw down, and the next minute the pram passed over my
head and landed high and dry, like a bridge, over the rocks
between which I was wedged. I then scrambled out as the next wave
washed her still higher, right over and over, with Evans and
Rennick just out in time. The next wave--a huge one--picked her
up, and out she bumped over the rocks and out to sea she went,
water-logged, with the guns, fortunately, jammed under the
thwarts. She was rescued by the whaler, baled out, and then Gran
and one of the seamen manned her battered remains again, and we,
unable to save the gear otherwise, lashed it to life-buoys, threw
it into the sea and let it drift out with the back-wash to be
picked up by the pram.

"Clothes, watches and ancient guns, rifles, ammunition, birds
(dead) and all specimens were, with the basket of crockery and
food, soaked with salt water. However, the choice was between
that or leaving them altogether, as anybody would have said had
they seen the huge rollers breaking among the rocks and washing
30 to 40 feet up with the spray; in fact, we were often knocked
over and submerged for a time, clinging hard to some rock or one
of the ropes for dear life. Evans swam off first. Then I was
about half an hour trying to rescue a hawser and some lines
entangled among the rocks. It was an amusing job. I would wait
for a lull, run down and haul away, staying under for smaller
waves and running up the rocks like a hare when the warning came
from the boat that a series of big ones were coming in. I finally
rescued most of it--had to cut off some and got it to the place
opposite the boat, and with Rennick secured it and sent it out to
sea to be picked up. My pair of brown tennis shoes (old ones) had
been washed off my feet in one of the scrambles, so I was wearing
a pair of sea-boots--Nelson's, I found--which, fortunately for
him, was one of the few pairs saved. The pram came in, and
waiting for a back-wash Rennick swam off. I ran down after the
following wave, and securing my green hat, which by the bye is a
most useful asset, struck out through the boiling, and grabbed
the pram safely as we were lifted on the crest of an immense
roller. However, we were just beyond its breaking-point, so all
was well, and we arrived aboard after eight hours' wash and
wetness, and none the worse, except for a few scratches, and
yours truly in high spirits. We stayed there that night, and the
following, Thursday, morning left. Winds are not too favourable
so far, as we dropped the S.E. Trades almost immediately, and
these are the variables between the Trades and the Westerlies.
Still 2500 miles off our destination. Evans has therefore decided
to steer straight for Simon's Town and miss out the other
islands. It is a pity, but as it is winter down here, and the
worst month of the year for storms at Tristan Da Cunha, it is
perhaps just as well. I am longing to get to the Cape to have
your letters and hear all about you. Except for the absence of
news, life aboard is much to be desired. I simply love it, and
enjoy every day of my existence here. Time flies like anything,
and though it must have been long to you, to us it goes like the
wind--so different to that fortnight on the passage home from
India."[35]

After the return of the boat's crew we left South Trinidad, and the
zoologists had a busy time trying to save as many as possible of the bird
skins which had been procured. They skinned on all through the following
night, and, considering that the birds had been lying out in the tropics
for twenty-four hours soaked with sea-water and had been finally capsized
in the overturned boat, the result was not so disappointing as was
expected. But the eggs and many other articles were lost. Since the
black-breasted and white-breasted petrels were seen flying and nesting
paired together, it is reasonable to suppose that their former
classification as two separate species will have to be revised.

Soon after leaving South Trinidad we picked up our first big long swell,
logged at 8, and began to learn that the Terra Nova can roll as few ships
can. This was followed by a stiff gale on our port beam, and we took over
our first green seas. Bowers wrote home as follows:

_August 7th, Sunday._

"All chances of going to Tristan are over, and we are at last booming
along with strong Westerlies with the enormous Southern rollers lifting
us like a cork on their crests. We have had a stiff gale and a very high
sea, which is now over, though it is still blowing a moderate gale, and
the usual crowd of Albatross, Mollymawks, Cape Hens, Cape Pigeons, etc.,
are following us. These will be our companions down to the South.
Wilson's idea is that, as the prevailing winds round the forties are
Westerlies, these birds simply fly round and round the world--via Cape
Horn, New Zealand and the Cape of Good Hope. We have had a really good
opportunity now of testing the ship's behaviour, having been becalmed
with a huge beam swell rolling 35 deg. each way, and having stood out a heavy
gale with a high sea. In both she has turned up trumps, and really I
think a better little sea boat never floated. Compared to the Loch
Torridon--which was always awash in bad weather--we are as dry as a cork,
and never once shipped a really heavy sea. Of course a wooden ship has
some buoyancy of herself, and we are no exception. We are certainly an
exception for general seaworthiness--if not for speed--and a safer,
sounder ship there could not be. The weather is now cool too--cold, some
people call it. I am still comfortable in cotton shirts and whites, while
some are wearing Shetland gear. Nearly everybody is provided with
Shetland things. I am glad you have marked mine, as they are all so much
alike. I am certainly as well provided with private gear as anybody, and
far better than most, so, being as well a generator of heat in myself, I
should be O.K. in any temperature. By the bye Evans and Wilson are very
keen on my being in the Western Party, while Campbell wants me with him
in the Eastern Party. I have not asked to go ashore, but am keen on
anything and am ready to do anything. In fact there is so much going on
that I feel I should like to be in all three places at once--East, West
and Ship."

FOOTNOTES:

[34] Ross, _Voyage to the Southern Seas_, vol. i. pp. 22-24.

[35] Bowers' letter.




CHAPTER II

MAKING OUR EASTING DOWN


"Ten minutes to four, sir!"

It is an oilskinned and dripping seaman, and the officer of the watch, or
his so-called snotty, as the case may be, wakes sufficiently to ask:

"What's it like?"

"Two hoops, sir!" answers the seaman, and makes his way out.

The sleepy man who has been wakened wedges himself more securely into his
six foot by two--which is all his private room on the ship--and collects
his thoughts, amid the general hubbub of engines, screw and the roll of
articles which have worked loose, to consider how he will best prevent
being hurled out of his bunk in climbing down, and just where he left his
oilskins and sea-boots.

If, as is possible, he sleeps in the Nursery, his task may not be so