rdroom. "Rouse and shine, rouse and shine:
show a leg, show a leg" (a relic of the old days when seamen took their
wives to sea). "Come on, Mr. Nelson, it's seven o'clock. All hands on the
pumps!"

From first to last these pumps were a source of much exercise and hearty
curses. A wooden ship always leaks a little, but the amount of water
taken in by the Terra Nova even in calm weather was extraordinary, and
could not be traced until the ship was dry-docked in Lyttelton, New
Zealand, and the forepart was flooded.

In the meantime the ship had to be kept as dry as possible, a process
which was not facilitated by forty gallons of oil which got loose during
the rough weather after leaving South Trinidad, and found its way into
the bilges. As we found later, some never-to-be-sufficiently-cursed
stevedore had left one of the bottom boards only half-fitted into its
neighbours. In consequence the coal dust and small pieces of coal, which
was stowed in this hold, found their way into the bilges. Forty gallons
of oil completed the havoc and the pumps would gradually get more and
more blocked until it was necessary to send for Davies, the carpenter, to
take parts of them to pieces and clear out the oily coal balls which had
stopped them. This pumping would sometimes take till nearly eight, and
then would always have to be repeated again in the evening, and sometimes
every watch had to take a turn. At any rate it was good for our muscles.

The pumps were placed amidships, just abaft the main mast, and ran down a
shaft adjoining the after hatch, which led into the holds which were
generally used for coal and patent fuel. The spout of the pump opened
about a foot above the deck, and the plungers were worked by means of
two horizontal handles, much as a bucket is wound up on the drum of a
cottage well. Unfortunately, this part of the main deck, which is just
forward of the break of the poop, is more subject to seas breaking
inboard than any other part of the ship, so when the ship was labouring
the task of those on the pump was not an enviable one. During the big
gale going South the water was up to the men's waists as they tried to
turn the handles, and the pumps themselves were feet under water.

From England to Cape Town these small handles were a great inconvenience.
There was very much pumping to be done and there were plenty of men to do
it, but the handles were not long enough to allow more than four men to
each handle. Also