The quarters in the 'tween decks were completed by the 10th, and the
men took possession of the cubicles that had been built. The largest
cubicle contained Macklin, McIlroy, Hurley, and Hussey and it was named
"The Billabong." Clark and Wordie lived opposite in a room called
"Auld Reekie." Next came the abode of "The Nuts" or engineers,
followed by "The Sailors' Rest," inhabited by Cheetham and McNeish.
"The Anchorage" and "The Fumarole" were on the other side. The new
quarters became known as "The Ritz," and meals were served there
instead of in the ward room. Breakfast was at 9 a.m., lunch at 1 p.m.,
tea at 4 p.m., and dinner at 6 p.m. Wild, Marston, Crean, and Worsley
established themselves in cubicles in the wardroom, and by the middle
of the month all hands had settled down to the winter routine. I lived
alone aft.

Worsley, Hurley, and Wordie made a journey to a big berg, called by us
the Rampart Berg, on the 11th. The distance out was 7½ miles, and the
party covered a total distance of about 17 miles. Hurley took some
photographs and Wordie came back rejoicing with a little dust and some
moss.

"Within a radius of one mile round the berg there is thin young ice,
strong enough to march over with care," wrote Worsley. "The area of
dangerous pressure, as regards a ship, does not seem to extend for more
than a quarter of a mile from the berg. Here there are cracks and
constant slight movement, which becomes exciting to the traveller when
he feels a piece of ice gradually upending beneath his feet. Close to
the berg the pressure makes all sorts of quaint noises. We heard
tapping as from a hammer, grunts, groans and squeaks, electric trams
running, birds singing, kettles boiling noisily, and an occasional
swish as a large piece of ice, released from pressure, suddenly jumped