Macklin, in speaking of “the veneration accorded to the albatross,” voices a very old superstition amongst seamen of the old sailing ship days. When I first went to sea as a boy this was still a common belief amongst sailors, but though there are a few of these old-timers left who still hold to the old romantic ideas, they are becoming more and more scarce. Romance is not dead, as Kipling says, but it moves with the times. Masefield says: Them birds goin’ fishin’ is nothin’ but souls o’ the drowned, Souls o’ the drowned an’ the kicked as are never no more; An’ that there haughty old albatross cruisin’ around, Belike he’s Admiral Nelson or Admiral Noah. I recalled the party on account of the weather, for a strong wind had blown up, the seas were increasing and there were indications of a heavy storm. I did not care to be caught with the _Quest_ on a lee shore, so went back to Prince Olaf Harbour, where we found that all their own whale catchers had returned for shelter. In addition there were a number belonging to other stations which had put in here till the weather should abate. We had for dinner the next night the baby albatross which Macklin had brought off. This was the first food obtained by Sir Ernest Shackleton on his arrival at South Georgia from the boat journey, and often had we listened to Worsley’s telling of the story, this much of which never varied: “Baby albatross just off the nest—we ate them! By jove, they were good, damn good!” By one of life’s little ironies he was having dinner ashore that night and so missed them; his disappointment on hearing of it was keen. On the 22nd, the weather having abated somewhat, we left to carry out an extensive series of soundings about the north-western end of South Georgia. This we accomplished in spite of very bad weather. The _Quest_, as usual, behaved abominably, having a most uncomfortable motion as we butted into the head seas, which sent the spray in clouds high over the yards. We returned to Prince Olaf Harbour on the 25th. There was still much to be done, and Mr. Bostock kindly lent me his shore carpenter for some jobs that were still outstanding on the ship. On the 27th we said good-bye to our friends and left for Leith, passing _en route_ the _Woodville_, which was coming up the coast, and presented a fine sight as she dipped her nose deeply into the swell. We arrived in Leith Harbour in a blinding snow squall which made mooring to the buoy a difficult matter. The _Quest’s_ engines were of such low power that manœuvring in close spaces was an extremely difficult matter during the squalls, which came out of the mountains with hurricane force and startling suddenness.