s was
proving himself the best seaman on board, with an exact knowledge of the
whereabouts and contents of every case, box and bale, and with a supreme
contempt for heat or cold. Simpson was obviously a first-class scientist,
devoted to his work, in which Wright gave him very great and unselfish
help, while at the same time doing much of the ship's work. Oates and
Atkinson generally worked together in a solid, dependable and somewhat
humorous way.

Evans, who will always be called Lieutenant Evans in this book to
distinguish him from Seaman Evans, was in charge of the ship, and did
much to cement together the rough material into a nucleus which was
capable of standing without any friction the strains of nearly three
years of crowded, isolated and difficult life, ably seconded by Victor
Campbell, first officer, commonly called The Mate, in whose hands the
routine and discipline of the ship was most efficiently maintained. I was
very frightened of Campbell.

Scott himself was unable to travel all the way out to New Zealand in the
Terra Nova owing to the business affairs of the expedition, but he
joined the ship from Simon's Bay to Melbourne.

The voyage itself on the sailing track from Madeira to the Cape was at
first uneventful. We soon got into hot weather, and at night every
available bit of deck space was used on which to sleep. The more
particular slung hammocks, but generally men used such deck space as they
could find, such as the top of the icehouse, where they were free from
the running tackle, and rolled themselves into their blankets. So long as
we had a wind we ran under sail alone, and on those days men would bathe
over the side in the morning, but when the engines were going we could
get the hose in the morning, which was preferred, especially after a
shark was seen making for Bowers' red breast as he swam.

The scene on deck in the early morning was always interesting. All hands
were roused before six and turned on to the pumps, for the ship was
leaking considerably. Normally, the well showed about ten inches of water
when the ship was dry. Before pumping, the sinker would show anything
over two feet. The ship was generally dry after an hour to an hour and a
half's pumping, and by that time we had had quite enough of it. As soon
as the officer of the watch had given the order, "Vast pumping," the
first thing to do was to strip, and the deck was dotted with men trying
to get the maximum amount of water f