a monstrous sea which made a clean breach over her. Instinctively
those on the bridge clutched the rails, and for several moments
they were completely submerged while the spray dashed as high as
the upper topsails.

On November 12 the _Discovery_ was in lat. 51 S., long. 131 E.,
and had arrived in such an extremely
[Page 34]
interesting magnetic area that they steered to the south to explore
it. This new course took them far out of the track of ships and
towards the regions of ice, and they had scarcely arrived in those
lonely waters when Scott was aroused from sleep by a loud knocking
and a voice shouting, 'Ship's afire, sir.' Without waiting to give
any details of this alarming news the informant fled, and when
Scott appeared hastily on the scenes he found that the deck was
very dark and obstructed by numerous half-clad people, all of whom
were as ignorant as he was. Making his way forward he discovered
that the fire had been under the forecastle, and had been easily
extinguished when the hose was brought to bear on it. In these
days steel ships and electric light tend to lessen the fear of
fire, but in a wooden vessel the possible consequences are too
serious not to make the danger very real and alarming. Henceforth
the risk of fire was constantly in Scott's thoughts, but this was
the first and last occasion on which an alarm was raised in the
_Discovery_.

On November 15 the 60th parallel was passed, and during the following
morning small pieces of sea-ice, worn into fantastic shape by the
action of the waves, appeared and were greeted with much excitement
and enthusiasm. As the afternoon advanced signs of a heavier pack