little, we collected the most valuable of our letters and papers and had
them sewn up in sailcloth by a German sailor to put in our pockets. The
King of Siam had conferred a decoration on me before I left; this was
carefully packed and sewn up. I was determined to save this, if nothing
else, though it seemed hopeless to expect to save some much-treasured
parting presents and addresses presented to me by my Siamese friends.
Earlier in my service the King of Siam had conferred another decoration
on me, and I was carrying with me His Majesty's Royal Licence for this,
signed by him, and also King George V.'s Royal Licence with his
Sign-Manual, giving me permission to accept and wear the decoration.
Both of these documents, together with others highly valued which I was
also determined to save, were secured in water-tight cases, ready to be
put in my pockets at the last moment.

On January 8th, when the two ships stopped, the Captain went on to the
_Wolf_ and brought back with him charts of the North Atlantic and North
Sea. We wondered if this would be his farewell visit to and our farewell
acquaintance with the _Wolf_, but we remained in company of the _Wolf_
for the next few days, and at 7 p.m. on the 10th she again came
alongside in the open sea and coaled from us till 4 p.m. on the next
day. Conditions were slightly better than on the previous occasion, and
the Commander of the _Wolf_ was evidently of opinion that they would
never again be more favourable, but they were still quite sufficiently
unpleasant. More fenders were lost and the _Wolf_ was further damaged,
and this time our ship also sustained some damage. Some of her plates
had been badly dented and she was leaking about a ton and a half an
hour. The great uproar caused by the winches going all night, the
periodic emptying of ashes dragged in iron buckets over the iron decks,
the shifting of coal from the bunkers immediately underneath our cabins,
and the constant bumping of the ships made sleep quite out of the