My wife managed to borrow some irons from the Australian stewardess, which she heated on the stove in the cook’s galley.  With these she ironed her blouses and my shirts and soft collars, while I helped with the hankeys.  The ironing space was not ideal, being the cover, about twenty inches square, of the cabin washstand.  But the result was highly creditable!

The saloon, about eighteen feet square, in which all the meals were served in two sittings, was very rarely clean, and the habits of the Captain’s mongrel pup, born on the Wolf, did not improve matters. Something connected with the expedition had to be called “Luchs,” so, failing the Hitachi, the pup rejoiced in this name, and as he frequently made the saloon so exclusively his own, it was often appropriately named the “Salon de luxe.”  Poor Luchs!  Every man’s hand, or rather foot—­with the exception of the Captain’s—­was against him (when the Captain was not looking!) on account of his reprehensible behaviour.  Many a sly kick was aimed at him, and when a yelp assured us that the blow had struck home, one of us would exclaim, “Hooray for our side!”; “our side” being all who suffered from his bad conduct.  The table “appointments” were often disgusting.  The tablecloth was filthy after the first meal or so, thanks to the rolling of the ship and consequent upsetting of soup, tea, and coffee, but was only changed twice, sometimes only once, a week.  Cups were used without saucers, and spoons gradually disappeared, so that towards the end one had to suffice between four or five persons.

The ship, generally speaking, was filthy—­she was never properly clean.  I remember on one occasion a large bottle of castor-oil was smashed just outside the saloon door.  The stuff remained there for hours before being cleaned up.  The crew certainly was not large, but a great deal more could have been done in the direction of keeping the ship clean, and her condition was never a credit to her Captain.  This was a surprise to those of us who had previously travelled on German ships.

We got thoroughly sick of the food provided, but the German officers and crew had just the same.  The Hitachi had been carrying ten thousand cases of Japanese canned crab to England.  A great part of this was saved, and divided between the Wolf and her prize.  None of us ever want to see or hear of this commodity again; we were fed on it till most of us loathed it, but as there was nothing else to eat when it was served, we perforce had to eat that or dry bread, and several of us chose the latter.  How we groaned when we saw any more crab being brought over from the Wolf!  Bully beef, every variety of bean, dried vegetables, dried fish that audibly announced its advent to the table, bean soup, and pea soup (maggot soup would often have been a more correct description), we got just as sick of, till, long before the end, all the food served nauseated us.  Tea, sometimes made in a coffee-pot, sometimes