rteen bags of coal, Gillies being in charge. The boat harbour was
reached in safety, the wind freshening to a gale before 6 P.M.

Terrific gusts followed in rapid succession and, without warning, the
cable parted sixty fathoms from the anchor at 9 P.M. Having cleared the
reefs to leeward, we managed to get in the rest of the chain and then
stood along the coast to the north-west. By keeping about three miles
from the shore, we seemed to be beyond the reach of the more violent
gusts, but a short sea holding the ship broadside to the wind during the
squalls, rendered it difficult to maintain a fixed course.

With reefs and bergs around, the increasing darkness about midnight
made our position unpleasant. The engines had to be stopped and the ship
allowed to drift with the wind, owing to a bearing becoming hot, but in
a quarter of an hour they were moving once more.

Early on January 26 the 'Aurora' was about half-way between Winter
Quarters and the western point of Commonwealth Bay, when the wind
suddenly ceased, and then came away light from the north-west. We could
see that a south-east gale was still raging close inshore. Over the sea,
towards the north, dark clouds were scudding with great rapidity along
the horizon: the scene of a violent disturbance.

We returned towards our late anchorage. On reaching it, the south-east
wind had moderated considerably, and we let go our spare anchor and what
had been saved of the chain.

To the north, violent gusts appeared to be travelling in various
directions, but, to our astonishment, these gusts, after approaching our
position at a great rate, appeared to curve upwards; the water close to
the ship was disturbed, and nothing else. This curious phenomenon
lasted for about an hour and then the wind came with a rush from the
south-east, testing the anchor-chain in the more furious squalls.

The gale was in its third day on the 27th, and there was a "hurricane
sky" during the morning. The wind would die away, only to blow more
fiercely than before. The suddenness with which the changes occurred may
be gathered from the following extracts from my journal:

"January 27. 6 A.M. A whole gale blowing from the south-east.

"9 A.M. Light airs from north to east. Launch taking coal ashore.

"11 A.M. Last cargo of coal had just left ship when the wind freshened
from the south-east. The launch had just got inside the boat harbour
when a terrific gust struck the vessel and our chain p