We had two tins of Virol, which we
were keeping for an emergency; but, finding ourselves in need of an oil-
lamp to eke out our supply of candles, we emptied one of the tins in
the manner that most appealed to us, and fitted it with a wick made by
shredding a bit of canvas. When this lamp was filled with oil it gave a
certain amount of light, though it was easily blown out, and was of
great assistance to us at night. We were fairly well off as regarded
fuel, since we had 6? gallons of petroleum.
A severe south-westerly gale on the fourth day out forced us to heave
to. I would have liked to have run before the wind, but the sea was
very high and the 'James Caird' was in danger of broaching to and
swamping. The delay was vexatious, since up to that time we had been
making sixty or seventy miles a day, good going with our limited sail
area. We hove to under double-reefed mainsail and our little jigger,
and waited for the gale to blow itself out. During that afternoon we
saw bits of wreckage, the remains probably of some unfortunate vessel
that had failed to weather the strong gales south of Cape Horn. The
weather conditions did not improve, and on the fifth day out the gale
was so fierce that we were compelled to take in the double-reefed
mainsail and hoist our small jib instead.
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