eakfast. It is Pennell who has caused this uproar. And the origin is as
follows:

Pennell is the navigator, and the standard compass, owing to its
remoteness from iron in this position, is placed on the top of the
ice-house. The steersman, however, steers by a binnacle compass placed
aft in front of his wheel. But these two compasses for various reasons do
not read alike at a given moment, while the standard is the truer of the
two.

At intervals, then, Pennell or the officer of the watch orders the
steersman to "Stand by for a steady," and goes up to the standard
compass, and watches the needle. Suppose the course laid down is S. 40 E.
A liner would steer almost true to this course unless there was a big
wind or sea. But not so the old Terra Nova. Even with a good steersman
the needle swings a good many degrees either side of the S. 40 E. But as
it steadies momentarily on the exact course Pennell shouts his "Steady,"
the steersman reads just where the needle is pointing on the compass
card before him, say S. 47 E., and knows that this is the course which is
to be steered by the binnacle compass.

Pennell's yells were so frequent and ear-piercing that he became famous
for them, and many times in working on the ropes in rough seas and big
winds, we have been cheered by this unmusical noise over our heads.

We left Simon's Bay on Friday, September 2, 'to make our Easting down'
from the Cape of Good Hope to New Zealand, that famous passage in the
Roaring Forties which can give so much discomfort or worse to sailing
ships on their way.

South Africa had been hospitable. The Admiral Commanding the Station, the
Naval Dockyard, and H.M.S. Mutine and H.M.S. Pandora, had been more than
kind. They had done many repairs and fittings for us and had sent fatigue
parties to do it, thus releasing men for a certain amount of freedom on
shore, which was appreciated after some nine weeks at sea. I can remember
my first long bath now.

Scott, who was up country when we arrived, joined the ship here, and
Wilson travelled ahead of us to Melbourne to carry out some expedition
work, chiefly dealing with the Australian members who were to join us in
New Zealand.

One or two of us went out to Wynberg, which Oates knew well, having been
invalided there in the South African War with a broken leg, the result of
a fight against big odds when, his whole party wounded, he refused to
surrender. He told me later how he had thought he would blee