The main or hand pump was frozen up and could not be
used at once. After it had been knocked out Worsley, Greenstreet, and
Hudson went down in the bunkers and cleared the ice from the bilges.
"This is not a pleasant job," wrote Worsley. "We have to dig a hole
down through the coal while the beams and timbers groan and crack all
around us like pistol-shots. The darkness is almost complete, and we
mess about in the wet with half-frozen hands and try to keep the coal
from slipping back into the bilges. The men on deck pour buckets of
boiling water from the galley down the pipe as we prod and hammer from
below, and at last we get the pump clear, cover up the bilges to keep
the coal out, and rush on deck, very thankful to find ourselves safe
again in the open air."
Monday, October 25, dawned cloudy and misty, with a minus temperature
and a strong south-easterly breeze. All hands were pumping at
intervals and assisting the carpenter with the coffer-dam. The leak was
being kept under fairly easily, but the outlook was bad. Heavy pressure-
ridges were forming in all directions, and though the immediate
pressure upon the ship was not severe, I realized that the respite
would not be prolonged. The pack within our range of vision was being
subjected to enormous compression, such as might be caused by cyclonic
winds, opposing ocean currents, or constriction in a channel of some
description.
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