Cape Bird could also be seen. The ship was
moving northwards with the ice. The daylight was no more than a short
twilight of about two hours' duration. The boiler was being filled
with ice, which had to be lifted aboard, broken up, passed through a
small porthole to a man inside, and then carried to the manhole on top
of the boiler. Stenhouse had the wireless aerial rigged during the
afternoon, and at 5 p.m. was informed that the watering of the boiler
was complete. The wind freshened to a moderate southerly gale, with
thick drift, in the night, and this gale continued during the following
day, the 9th. The engineer reported at noon that he had 40-lb. pressure
in the boiler and was commencing the thawing of the auxiliary sea-
connexion pump by means of a steam-pipe.
"Cape Bird is the only land visible, bearing north-east true about
eight miles distant," wrote, Stenhouse on the afternoon of the 9th. "So
this is the end of our attempt to winter in McMurdo Sound. Hard luck
after four months' buffeting, for the last seven weeks of which we
nursed our moorings. Our present situation calls for increasing
vigilance. It is five weeks to the middle of winter. There is no sun,
the light is little and uncertain, and we may expect many blizzards.
We have no immediate water-supply, as only a small quantity of fresh
ice was aboard when we broke drift.
Pages:
489
490
491
492
493
494
495
496
497
498
499
500
501
502
503
504
505
506
507
508
509
510
511
512
513