and our decks laid open to the sea, which washed in and out as it would
have over a rock. The poor ship laboured dreadfully, and after
consultation with Captain Scott we commenced to cut a hole in the engine
room bulkhead to get at the hand pump-well.

Meanwhile I told the afterguard off into watches, and, relieving every
two hours, they set to work, formed a chain at the engine room ladder way
and bailed the ship out with buckets. In this way they must have
discharged between 2000 and 3000 gallons of water. The watch manned the
hand pump, which, although choked, discharged a small stream, and for
twenty-four hours this game was kept up, Scott himself working with the
best of them and staying with the toughest.

It was a sight that one could never forget: everybody saturated, some
waist-deep on the floor of the engine room, oil and coal dust mixing with
the water and making every one filthy, some men clinging to the iron
ladder way and passing full buckets up long after their muscles had
ceased to work naturally, their grit and spirit keeping them going. I did
admire the weaker people, especially those who were unhardened by the
months of physical training of the voyage out from England.

When each two-hour shift was relieved, the party, coughing and
spluttering, would make their way into the ward-room where Hooper and
Neale, the stewards, mere boys, supplied them with steaming cocoa. How on
earth the cooks kept the galley fires going I could never understand:
they not only did this, but fed us all at frequent intervals.

By 10 p.m. on the 2nd December the hole in the engine room bulkhead was
cut completely. I climbed through it, followed by Bowers, the carpenter,
and Teddy Nelson, and when we got into the hold there was just enough