"This is the life," said the German sailor who supplied us with water
twice daily. He was a very hardworked member of the prize crew, doing
all sorts of odd jobs and always willing to help, and was said to be the
black sheep of a high German family, which numbered among its members
officers holding high commands in the German army and navy. If he
thought it "was the life," we didn't!

The Germans showed us the "Second Christmas Annual of the _Wolf_." It
was very well got up, with well-drawn and clever illustrations of their
exploits, and caricatures of some of their officers and prisoners. One
picture illustrated the _Wolf_ running the blockade on her outward
voyage. If the picture represented anything like the truth, she must
have got through by the very skin of her teeth! The covers of both
"Annuals" were very striking and very cleverly done.

The weather on Boxing Day was only a little more favourable than that on
Christmas Day, but the Germans decided to wait no longer to coal the
_Wolf_. They had previously conveyed water to our ship from the _Wolf_
in boats. The same method of transferring coal was discussed, but that
idea was abandoned. At 5 p.m. she tied up alongside us. She bumped into
us with considerable force when she came up, and not many of us on board
the _Igotz Mendi_ will ever forget that night of terror. Both ships were
rolling heavily, and repeatedly bumping into each other, each ship
quivering from end to end, and the funnel of the _Igotz Mendi_ was
visibly shaking at every fresh collision. Sleep was impossible for any
one on our boat; in fact, many feared to turn in at all, as they thought
some of the plates of the boats might be stove in. We wandered about
from cabin to deck, and from deck to cabin, trying in vain to get to
sleep. The Spanish Chief Engineer came to us on the deck about 4 a.m.