t of their stores and coal and also to put
some oil aboard the vessel, but on the following day the wind increased
to such an extent that, in attempting to reach the ship with a raft of
oil, they were blown down the coast and had to beach the boat several
miles away.

On the night of the 29th Adelie Land wireless station was again heard
tapping out a message apparently with the hope that some station would
receive it. All we got was: "Having a hell of a time waiting for calm
weather to put up more masts." Sawyer again repeatedly called, but they
evidently could not hear him as no reply was received, and the above
message was repeated time after time.

The weather during September was not quite so rough as that of the
previous two or three months, but misty days were very frequent. Gales
were experienced on six days and strong winds on nine days, but several
quiet periods occurred. The average temperature was 38.6 degrees, with
extremes of 44.7 degrees and 26 degrees F.

October was ushered in by a strong gale and rather heavy rain-squalls.
The 'Rachel Cohen' had a severe buffeting, though she was lying on the
lee side of the island.

Just about three-quarters of a mile to the west of the Shack were two
large sea elephant rookeries, very close to each other, and on the 3rd
Sandell and I went along to see what was happening there. We found about
two hundred and fifty cows in the nearer one, and, as closely as we
could count, about five hundred in the adjacent colony. The babel of
sounds made one feel thankful that these noisy creatures were some
distance from the Shack. Nearly all the cows had pups, some of which
had reached a fair size, while others were only a few hours old. We saw
several dead ones, crushed out almost flat, and some skuas were busily
engaged gorging themselves on the carcases. These birds are indeed
professional plunderers, and will venture almost anywhere in pursuit of
food.

During the evening we again heard Adelie Land station working, and the
burden of their message to an apparently chance audience was: "We do not
seem able to get Macquarie Island, all is well, though bad weather has
so far prevented any attempt at sledging."

Sawyer again called them at regular intervals for the rest of the night,
but, as before, got no response.

Hamilton and Blake were busy at Lusitania Bay during the first two weeks
of October securing sea elephant specimens and collecting eggs. They
visited Caroline C