tell me that the ship was in difficulties. I got up at once, called the
four seamen, and with Uncle Bill we all went out on to the floe. The ice
to which the ship was fast had broken away, and so we helped her re-moor
with her ice-anchors. Petty Officer Evans went adrift on the floe, but we
got him back in the pram. We turned in again at 5.15 and set a watch, but
at 6.30 the "Terra Nova" hoisted an ensign at the main, a pre-arranged
signal, and so all hands again went out and got her ice anchors; she
slipped the ends of the wire hawsers holding them and stood out into the
Sound. The ice was breaking up fast, a swell rolling in causing the big
floes to grind and crunch in rather alarming fashion. Fortunately,
Pennell had raised steam, which was just as well for before he got clear
the ship was only half a cable from Cape Evans, which lay dead to
leeward--she was well out of it. We took the wire hawsers, pram and ice
anchors to our winter quarters and kept them in readiness for the ship's
return, then had a delightful breakfast, with appetites sharpened from
the early morning exercise and chill wind. Afterwards we continued the
preparations for the depot trip and got eight out of eleven sledges
fitted up with the bulk of their gear and a portion of stores.

At about 3 p.m. the "Terra Nova" came in, and just as she was turning to
come alongside the fast ice she struck a rock with only twelve feet of
water on it. This pinnacle, as it proved to be, lay within twenty feet of
a sounding of eleven fathoms. Pennell immediately sounded all round,
shifted several tons weight aft, and with the engines going full speed
astern, he made his crew run from side to side and roll ship. Scott sent
me out in the whaler with a party to assist the ship; we sounded all
round and quickly made a plan of the relative disposition of the
soundings round the "Terra Nova." However, as we finished, the ship moved
astern and successfully floated, the crew gave three cheers, and we
cheered lustily from the whaler. Pennell, as usual, was quite equal to