Ed note: I've been traveling for a few days, so let's catch up. I love Orde-Lees' profiles of his fellow crew-members. Perhaps you'll recognize some of the types on your team.
Orde-Lees Journal
"Tuesday, 12 October, 1915
Temperature 28 maximum.
We are to abandon the "Ritz" tomorrow & live in the daylight of the wardroom again whose present occupants are breaking up their erstwhile happy home.
It may seem to be rather hard on our gallant sailors, but they really have been rather troublesome at times. It seems part of the sailor's creed to have a perpetual grievance about something or other and they are all of them "sea-lawyers", forever trying to strain the "Board of Trade" regulations to the last ounce in support of their supposed "rights".
Board of Trade may be all very well on ocean cruises in temperate & tropical climates, but it is pure nonsense to expect legal regulations in the matter of food, to be closely adhered to in polar latitudes. In many ways it is a sheer impossibility to carry them out at all and people who cannot realize this & make the best of the excellent food that is available are undeserving of the honour of serving aboard an exploring ship & under so gracious a leader as ours.
Vincent is the senior man in the fo'c'sle. He was at first the bo'sun but on account of his lack of tact in dealing with the others he was disrated & it seems a better arrangement all round.
He is an immensely strong fellow, was a sailor in the Navy & before joining this ship was employed in trawlers around Iceland.
Howe is a good all round sailor & a very cheery fellow. He has decided skill in wood carving & painting pictures.
Stevenson is an ex-Royal Marine from the Chatham division, has been an officers's servant & is sort of 3rd engineer & stoker in the ship.
McCarty is a witty Irishman with a splendid gift of repartee. McLeod is an elderly Scotchman, a quaint old character. He was on the "Discovery" expedition. Bakewell is a Canadian & one of the nicest & best educated of the "hands". His ambition is to own a small motor ship of his own. He is studying navigation. Holness is the youngest, a Yorkshire lad. He is perhaps the most loyal to the expedition. ...
Wednesday, 13 October, 1915
Temperature 23 maximum.
Clear & bright, a beautiful day & very warm. Our position is very unsatisfactory. We are no further north than we were nearly six weeks ago.
Besides the men mentioned previously Green, the cook, & Blackborrow, my faithful friend in the pantry, are both accommodated in the fo'c'sle. I have described them earlier in this diary. They have very different temperaments but both are intensely loyal to the expedition & Sir Ernest has a very high opinion of Blackborrow. He is one of those scrupulously clean and conscientious young fellows. For his age he is extraordinarily reliable and competent. His only enemy is his own hasty temper, but he is immensely improved since he has been in this ship. Both he and Holness take a great interest in the dogs and all outdoor exercise & games.
The cook & Blackborrow take their meals in the pantry.
The sailors have ridiculously little work to do. They bring in the ice for melting each morning & beyond occasionally clearing the snow off the deck, repairing sledges and clearing up generally they have little else to do except one hours watch each during the daytime. One of them, too, is told off each week to assist the cook & act as sweeper & steward to the fo'c'sle. They seem to spend all the rest of their time sitting round their fire arguing or lying in their bunks reading and the more enterprising sometimes try experiments in curing seal hides, not without some success.
This is our last day in the Ritz. Everyone has been exceedingly busy taking down their bunks & carting their lares & penates up to the cabins. The general packing up gives the impression of paying off. Everything is chaos. The stove has been moved up to the cabin alley-way. I alone am to remain down in my cubicle in the Ritz, or the hold as it really is. It is a curious place to live in all alone & may be cold without a fire."
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