took the unsatisfying form of accounts of British and French reverses.
We would have been glad to have had the latest tidings from a
friendlier source. A year and a half later we were to learn that the
'Harpoon', the steamer which tends the Grytviken station, had arrived
with mail for us not more than two hours after the 'Endurance' had
proceeded down the coast.

The bows of the 'Endurance' were turned to the south, and the good
ship dipped to the south-westerly swell. Misty rain fell during the
forenoon, but the weather cleared later in the day, and we had a good
view of the coast of South Georgia as we moved under steam and sail to
the south-east. The course was laid to carry us clear of the island
and then south of South Thule, Sandwich Group. The wind freshened
during the day, and all square sail was set, with the foresail reefed
in order to give the look-out a clear view ahead; for we did not wish
to risk contact with a "growler," one of those treacherous fragments of
ice that float with surface awash. The ship was very steady in the
quarterly sea, but certainly did not look as neat and trim as she had
done when leaving the shores of England four months earlier. We had
filled up with coal at Grytviken, and this extra fuel was stored on
deck, where it impeded movement considerably. The carpenter had built
a false deck, extending from the poop-deck to the chart-room. We had
also taken aboard a ton of whale-meat for the dogs. The big chunks of
meat were hung up in the rigging, out of reach but not out of sight of
the dogs, and as the 'Endurance' rolled and pitched, they watched with
wolfish eyes for a windfall.

I was greatly pleased with the dogs, which were tethered about the
ship in the most comfortable positions we could find for them. They
were in excellent condition, and I felt that the Expedition had the