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“For scientific leadership give me Scott, for swift and efficient travel, Amundsen; but when you are in a hopeless situation, when there seems to be no way out, get down on your knees and pray for Shackleton.” so said Sir Raymond Priestley.
I have completed my lectures on these 3 famous Polar explorers and hope the guests now have some idea why Priestley felt this way. Scott’s sled had 36 pounds of geological samples onboard, when their bodies were found 11 miles from One Ton Depot. They had literally pulled rocks to their deaths. Tonight I will be speaking about Frank Wild at Recaps, and why he is interred next to Shackleton at Grytviken.

The storm last night was very powerful. I went out at 10pm to secure a balcony door between myself and the Bridge. The wind and spray was appalling, in fact easy to see how quickly one could go overboard. Sobered and very wet, I returned indoors to have a shower. During the night there was a huge amount of noise – the buckling and flexing of the ship, ropes banging against the hull, but most importantly the reports of waves breaking over the ship. The bang and subsequent shudder throughout the ship when a huge roller smacks the bow is quite disconcerting. The Captain never slept a wink. Although the ocean calmed somewhat during the day, to a 5 meter swell and 35 knot winds, the ship is in a constant state of motion. Guests and crew hardly slept last night, and many are seasick today. It is exhausting in the extreme being knocked around like this.

Today I spoke to the Young Explorers (under 18’s), then a Scott lecture at 5pm, and Frank Wild recap at 7pm, before dinner with special friends from San Fransisco. Unfortunately the storm last evening and rough seas all day have slowed our progress significantly. We cannot possibly make the 750 nautical miles to Antarctica in 50 hours (this requires an average speed of 15 knots). Suzana and Marco are looking at rearranging the proposed landings in Antarctica, as there is another low pressure system coming directly our way tomorrow. More storms and high winds! This is Antarctica, after all.
My apologies for a short note, but there is little material news, and I am properly tired this evening.

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