Wilson, Bowers, Atkinson, Evans (P.O.), Clissold, and self went to C. Royds with a ‘go cart’ carrying our sleeping-bags, a cooker, and a small quantity of provision.

The ‘go cart’ consists of a framework of steel tubing supported on four bicycle wheels.
The surface of the floes carries 1 to 2 inches of snow, barely covering the salt ice flowers, and for this condition this vehicle of Day’s is excellent. The advantage is that it meets the case where the salt crystals form a heavy frictional surface for wood runners. I’m inclined to think that there are great numbers of cases when wheels would be more efficient than runners on the sea ice.

We reached Cape Royds in 2 1/2 hours, killing an Emperor penguin in the bay beyond C. Barne. This bird was in splendid plumage, the breast reflecting the dim northern light like a mirror.

It was fairly dark when we stumbled over the rocks and dropped on to Shackleton’s Hut. Clissold started the cooking-range, Wilson and I walked over to the Black beach and round back by Blue Lake.

The temperature was down at -31º and the interior of the hut was very cold.

This entry was posted on Monday, May 22nd, 1911 at 11:08 pm and is filed under Chapter X: In Winter Quarters: Modern Style. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.