the winter of our discontent
Made glorious summer....

On July 6 the wind moderated, and we set about repairing once more the
fortunes of the "wireless." The shattered topmast used to sway about
in the heavy winds, threatening to bring down the rest of the mast.
Bickerton, therefore, climbed up with a saw and cut it almost through
above the doubling. All hands then pulled hard, and the upper
part cracked off, the lower section being easily removed from the
cross-trees. The mast now looked "shipshape" and ready for future
improvements.

It was decided to use as a topmast the mast which had been formerly
employed to support the northern half of the aerial. So on the 29th this
was lowered and removed to the veranda to be fitted for erection.

Almost a fortnight now elapsed, during which the weather was
"impossible." In fact, the wind was frightful throughout the whole
month of July, surpassing all its previous records and wearing out our
much-tried patience. All that one could do was to work on and try grimly
to ignore it. On July 2 we noted: "Thick as a wall outside with an
eighty-five miler." And so it commenced and continued for a day,
subsiding slowly through the seventies to the fifties and then suddenly
redoubling in strength, rose to a climax about midnight on the 5th--one
hundred and sixteen miles an hour! For eight hours it maintained an
average of one hundred and seven miles an hour, and the timbers of
the Hut seemed to be jarred and wrenched as the wind throbbed in its
mightier gusts. These were the highest wind-velocities recorded during
our two years' residence in Adelie Land and are probably the highest
sustained velocities ever reported from a meteorological station.

With the exception of a few Antarctic and snow petrels flying over the
sea on the calmer days, no life had been seen round the Hut during June.
So it was with some surprise that we sighted a Weddell seal on July
9 attempting to land on the harbour-ice in a seventy-five-mile wind.
Several times it clambered over the edge and on turning broadside to the
wind was actually tumbled back into the water. Eventually it struggled
into the lee of some icy hummocks, but only remained there for a few
minutes, deciding that the water was much warmer.

On the 11th there was an exceptionally low barometer at 27.794
inches. At the same time the wind ran riot once more--two hundred and
ninety-eight miles in three hours. The highest barometric reading w