pitch
so badly that the ponies began to give trouble again. Oates asked for the
speed to be reduced, but we got over this by setting fore and aft sail
and keeping the ship's head three or four points off the wind. New Year's
Eve gave us another anxious time, for we encountered a hard blow from the
S.S.E. It was necessary to heave the ship to most of the day under bare
poles with the engines just jogging to keep the swell on her bow. A thin
line of pack ice was sighted in the morning and this turned out to be
quite a blessing in disguise, for I took the ship close to the edge of it
and skirted along to leeward. The ice formed a natural break-water and
damped the swell most effectually. The swell and sea in the open would
have been too much for the ponies as it must be remembered that they had
been in their stalls on board for five weeks.

We had now reached the Continental Shelf, the depth of water had changed
from 1111 fathoms on the 30th to 180 fathoms this day. The biologists
took advantage of our jogging along in the open water to trawl, but very
few specimens were obtained. At midnight the "youth of the town" made the
devil of a din by striking sixteen bells, blowing whistles on the siren,
hooting with the foghorn, cheering and singing. What children we were,
but what matter!

1911 came like the opening of a new volume of an exciting book. This was
the year in which Scott hoped to reach the Pole, the ideal date he had
given being December 21. This was the year that Campbell and his party
were looking forward to so eagerly--if only they could be successful in
landing their gear and equipment in King Edward VII. Land--and, for the
less showy but more scientific sledgers, 1911 held a wealth of excitement
in store. Griffith Taylor and Debenham knew pretty well that next New
Year's Day would see them in the midst of their Western journey with the
secrets of those rugged mountains revealed perhaps. I do not know what my
own feelings were, it would be impossible to describe them. I read up
part of Shackleton's diary and something of what his companion Wilde had
written. Just this:

12 _miles_, 200 _yards_.--1/1/08.

"Started usual time. Quan (pony) got through the forenoon fairly well
with assistance, but after lunch the poor chap broke down and we had
to take him out of harness. Shackleton, Adams, and Marshall dragged
his sledge, and I brought the ponies along with the other load. As
soon as we