Monthly Archives: April 2013

Dead Reckoning

“…both [islands] exactly on the bearings I had said they would be; and Sir Ernest congratulates me on the accuracy of my navigation under circumstances of some difficulty and after 2 days of Dead Reckoning, while working in and out … Continue reading

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An unforgettable day

“It was for me, and I expect for all of us, an unforgettable day – the wind torn cloudy sky, great banks of cumulus with shafts of sunlight breaking through, the vast ocean with curling white horses… the Caird leaping … Continue reading

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Rime of the Ancient Mariner, pt 4

Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge […] Four ‘I fear thee, ancient Mariner! I fear thy skinny hand! And thou art long, and lank, and brown, As is the ribbed sea-sand. I fear thee and thy glittering … Continue reading

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Condemned to watch impotently

“But some smiles were caused even then by the plight of one man, who had a habit of accumulating bits of food against the day of starvation that he seemed always to think was at hand, and who was condemned … Continue reading

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Things not dreamed of in the killers’ philosophy

“All around we could hear the killers blowing, their short, sharp hisses sounding like sudden escapes of steam. The killers were a source of anxiety, for a boat could easily have been capsized by one of them coming up to … Continue reading

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Man can sustain life with very scanty means

“Other articles of our scanty equipment had to go that night. We were carrying only the things that had seemed essential, but we stripped now to the barest limits of safety. “Many things regarded by us as essentials at that … Continue reading

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An Icy Cerberus

“At the head of an ice tongue that nearly closed the gap through which we might enter the open space was a wave-worn berg shaped like some curious antediluvian monster, an icy Cerberus guarding the way. It had head and … Continue reading

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Watching the watcher

“When I looked down at the camp to rest my eyes from the strain of watching the wide white expanse broken by that one black ribbon of open water, I could see that my companions were waiting with more than … Continue reading

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Morte d’Arthur

Morte d’Arthur by Alfred, Lord Tennyson So all day long the noise of battle roll’d Among the mountains by the winter sea; Until King Arthur’s table, man by man, Had fallen in Lyonnesse about their Lord, King Arthur: then, because … Continue reading

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Awe-inspiring sight

“Never shall I forget the sight that met my eyes in the early dawn light. Ice had surrounded the berg… and the whole mass, made up of all sizes and shapes, and little bergs like our own, was rising and … Continue reading

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