force (force 11 out of 12) and such a sea got up as only the Southern
Fifties can produce. All the afterguard turned out and the pumps were
vigorously shaken up,--sickening work as only a dribble came out. We had
to throw some coal overboard to clear the after deck round the pumps, and
I set to work to rescue cases of petrol which were smashed adrift. I
broke away a plank or two of the lee bulwarks to give the seas some
outlet as they were right over the level of the rail, and one was
constantly on the verge of floating clean over the side with the cataract
force of the backwash. I had all the swimming I wanted that day. Every
case I rescued was put on the weather side of the poop to help get us on
a more even keel. She sagged horribly and the unfortunate ponies,--though
under cover,--were so jerked about that the weather ones could not keep
their feet in their stalls, so great was the slope and strain on their
forelegs. Oates and Atkinson worked among them like Trojans, but morning
saw the death of one, and the loss of one dog overboard. The dogs, made
fast on deck, were washed to and fro, chained by the neck, and often
submerged for a considerable time. Though we did everything in our power
to get them up as high as possible, the sea went everywhere. The wardroom
was a swamp and so were our bunks with all our nice clothing, books, etc.
However, of this we cared little, when the water had crept up to the
furnaces and put the fires out, and we realized for the first time that
the ship had met her match and was slowly filling. Without a pump to suck
we started the forlorn hope of buckets and began to bale her out. Had we
been able to open a hatch we could have cleared the main pump well at
once, but with those appalling seas literally covering her, it would
have meant less than 10 minutes to float, had we uncovered a hatch.

"The Chief Engineer (Williams) and carpenter (Davies), after we had all
put our heads together, started cutting a hole in the engine room
bulkhead, to enable us to get into the pump-well from the engine room; it