One half of the kitchen was occupied by the range, the other by shelves and cooking utensils.  The hut was tarred several times, and every part was carefully marked, so that it could easily be set up.  To fasten it to the ground and prevent the Antarctic storms from blowing it away I had strong eyebolts screwed into each end of the roof-ridge and the four corners of the roof; we carried six strong eyebolts, a metre long, to be rammed into the barrier; between these bolts and those on the hut, steel wires were to be stretched, which could be drawn quite tight.  We also had two spare cables, which could be stretched over the roof if the gales were too severe.  The two ventilating pipes and the chimney were secured outside with strong stays.

As will be seen, every precaution was taken to make the hut warm and comfortable, and to hold it down on the ground.  We also took on board a quantity of loose timber, boards and planks.

Besides the hut we took with us fifteen tents for sixteen men each.  Ten of these were old, but good; they were served out to us from the naval stores; the other five were new, and we bought them from the army depots.  It was our intention to use the tents as temporary houses; they were easily and quickly set up, and were strong and warm.  On the voyage to the South Ronne sewed new floors of good, strong canvas to the five new tents.

All cases of provisions that were intended for winter quarters were marked and stowed separately in the hold in such a way that they could be put out on to the ice at once.

We had ten sledges made by a firm of sporting outfitters in Christiania.  They were built like the old Nansen sledges, but rather broader, and were 12 feet long.  The runners were of the best American hickory, shod with steel.  The other parts were of good, tough Norwegian ash.  To each sledge belonged a pair of spare runners, which could easily be fitted underneath by means of clamps, and as easily removed when not required.  The steel shoeing of the runners was well coated with red lead, and the spare runners with tar.  These sledges were extremely strongly built, and could stand all kinds of work on every sort of surface.  At that time I did not know the conditions on the Barrier as I afterwards came to know them.  Of course, these sledges were very heavy.

We took twenty pairs of ski, all of the finest hickory; they were 8 feet long, and proportionately narrow.  I chose them of this length with a view to being able to cross the numerous cracks in the glaciers; the greater the surface over which the weight could be distributed, the better prospect we should have of slipping over the snow-bridges.  We had forty ski-poles, with ebonite points.  The ski-bindings were a combination of the Huitfeldt and the Hoyer Ellefsen bindings.  We also had quantities of loose straps.