Orde-Lees Journal
Monday, 18 October, 1915
Temperature max. 27.
A mild misty damp day.
After the "pressure" of yesterday we thought that things had settled down a bit but it was not to be so.
We were having tea peacefully at 4 p.m. after having spent the greater part of the day pumping out & bailing out the foreward lower hold, when we heard & felt several light bumps, such as we have grown quite accustomed to, followed by one very loud one which aroused our curiosity sufficiently to cause us to casually saunter up on deck. There are always possibilities of the "pressure" resulting in some interesting spectacle for the mighty forces which can split asunder vast floes of ice many feet thick must always be somewhat awe inspiring when at work, but we were not prepared for what we saw today.
No sooner had we reached the deck than the ship was heaved up suddenly & violently & immediately rolled over slowly onto her side until she lay on her port side to all intents & purposes on her "beam ends". It looked at first as if she must turn turtle.
Everything was at once pandemonium.
Kennels, spars, sledges, etc. all sliding down the deck & the dogs howling with terror.
We feared at first that many of the dogs were injured if not killed but eventually we found that none were seriously hurt which was really marvellous for the kennels are in batches of about ten weighing with the spars etc. on top of them say half a ton & they were all jumbled up & sandwiched like carriages in a railway accident.
Our first task was to liberate the dogs, & no easy one on account of the weights of the kennels & the difficulty of working at all with the deck at an angle of fifty degrees & very slippery with thawed slush & blubber all over it.
At the time, I happened to be standing against an open space on the port side amidships i.e. the side to which the ship heeled over. Before I had time to consider what was the most useful thing I could do a kennel just beside me commenced to slide overboard.
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