Scotts Last Expedition Volume I | Page 9

night, instead of to-morrow, as I had
anticipated. The delay of waiting for daylight would not be advisable
under the circumstances, so we gave up this item of our programme.
Later in the day the wind has veered to the westward, heading us
slightly. I trust it will not go further round; we are now more than a
point to eastward of our course to the ice, and three points to leeward of
that to Campbell Island, so that we should not have fetched the Island
anyhow.
_Friday, December_ 1.--A day of great disaster. From 4 o'clock last
night the wind freshened with great rapidity, and very shortly we were
under topsails, jib, and staysail only. It blew very hard and the sea got
up at once. Soon we were plunging heavily and taking much water over
the lee rail. Oates and Atkinson with intermittent assistance from others
were busy keeping the ponies on their legs. Cases of petrol, forage, etc.,
began to break loose on the upper deck; the principal trouble was
caused by the loose coal-bags, which were bodily lifted by the seas and
swung against the lashed cases. 'You know how carefully everything
had been lashed, but no lashings could have withstood the onslaught of
these coal sacks for long'; they acted like battering rams. 'There was
nothing for it but to grapple with the evil, and nearly all hands were
labouring for hours in the waist of the ship, heaving coal sacks
overboard and re-lashing the petrol cases, etc., in the best manner
possible under such difficult and dangerous circumstances. The seas

were continually breaking over these people and now and again they
would be completely submerged. At such times they had to cling for
dear life to some fixture to prevent themselves being washed overboard,
and with coal bags and loose cases washing about, there was every risk
of such hold being torn away.'
'No sooner was some semblance of order restored than some
exceptionally heavy wave would tear away the lashing and the work
had to be done all over again.'
The night wore on, the sea and wind ever rising, and the ship ever
plunging more distractedly; we shortened sail to main topsail and
staysail, stopped engines and hove to, but to little purpose. Tales of
ponies down came frequently from forward, where Oates and Atkinson
laboured through the entire night. Worse was to follow, much worse--a
report from the engine-room that the pumps had choked and the water
risen over the gratings.
From this moment, about 4 A.M., the engine-room became the centre
of interest. The water gained in spite of every effort. Lashley, to his
neck in rushing water, stuck gamely to the work of clearing suctions.
For a time, with donkey engine and bilge pump sucking, it looked as
though the water would be got under; but the hope was short-lived: five
minutes of pumping invariably led to the same result--a general
choking of the pumps.
The outlook appeared grim. The amount of water which was being
made, with the ship so roughly handled, was most uncertain. 'We knew
that normally the ship was not making much water, but we also knew
that a considerable part of the water washing over the upper deck must
be finding its way below; the decks were leaking in streams. The ship
was very deeply laden; it did not need the addition of much water to get
her water-logged, in which condition anything might have happened.'
The hand pump produced only a dribble, and its suction could not be
got at; as the water crept higher it got in contact with the boiler and
grew warmer--so hot at last that no one could work at the suctions.
Williams had to confess he was beaten and must draw fires. What was
to be done? Things for the moment appeared very black. The sea

seemed higher than ever; it came over lee rail and poop, a rush of green
water; the ship wallowed in it; a great piece of the bulwark carried
clean away. The bilge pump is dependent on the main engine. To use
the pump it was necessary to go ahead. It was at such times that the
heaviest seas swept in over the lee rail; over and over [again] the rail,
from the forerigging to the main, was covered by a solid sheet of
curling water which swept aft and high on the poop. On one occasion I
was waist deep when standing on the rail of the poop.
The scene on deck was devastating, and in the engine-room the water,
though really not great in quantity, rushed over the floor plates and
frames in a fashion that gave it a fearful significance.
The afterguard were organised in two parties by Evans to work buckets;