m Signal Hill its
warm farewell. From the swaying poop we flashed back, "Good-bye, all
snug on board."

Onward with a dogged plunge our laden ship would press. If 'Fram' were
"Forward," _she_ was to be hereafter our 'Aurora' of "Hope"--the Dawn of
undiscovered lands.

Home and the past were effaced in the shroud of darkness, and thought
leapt to the beckoning South--the "land of the midnight sun."

During the night the wind and sea rose steadily, developing into a full
gale. In order to make Macquarie Island, it was important not to allow
the ship to drive too far to the east, as at all times the prevailing
winds in this region are from the west. Partly on this account, and
partly because of the extreme severity of the gale, the ship was hove
to with head to wind, wallowing in mountainous seas. Such a storm,
witnessed from a large vessel, would be an inspiring sight, but was
doubly so in a small craft, especially where the natural buoyancy had
been largely impaired by overloading. With an unprecedented quantity of
deck cargo, amongst which were six thousand gallons of benzine, kerosene
and spirit, in tins which were none too strong, we might well have been
excused a lively anxiety during those days. It seemed as if no power on
earth could save the loss of at least part of the deck cargo. Would it
be the indispensable huts amidships, or would a sea break on the benzine
aft and flood us with inflammable liquid and gas?

By dint of strenuous efforts and good seamanship, Captain Davis with
his officers and crew held their own. The land parties assisted in the
general work, constantly tightening up the lashings and lending "beef,"
a sailor's term for man-power, wherever required. For this purpose the
members of the land parties were divided into watches, so that there
were always a number patrolling the decks.

Most of us passed through a stage of sea-sickness, but, except in the
case of two or three, it soon passed off. Seas deluged all parts of the
ship. A quantity of ashes was carried down into the bilge-water pump and
obstructed the steam-pump. Whilst this was being cleared, the emergency
deck pumps had to be requisitioned. The latter were available for
working either by hand-power or by chain-gearing from the after-winch.

The deck-plug of one of the fresh-water tanks was carried away and,
before it was noticed, sea-water had entered to such an extent as to
render our supply unfit for drinking. Thus we were, hence