On February 24 we ceased to observe ship routine, and the ‘Endurance’ became a winter station.  All hands were on duty during the day and slept at night, except a watchman who looked after the dogs and watched for any sign of movement in the ice.  We cleared a space of 10 ft. by 20 ft. round the rudder and propeller, sawing through ice 2 ft. thick, and lifting the blocks with a pair of tongs made by the carpenter.  Crean used the blocks to make an ice-house for the dog Sally, which had added a little litter of pups to the strength of the expedition.  Seals appeared occasionally, and we killed all that came within our reach.  They represented fuel as well as food for men and dogs.  Orders were given for the after-hold to be cleared and the stores checked, so that we might know exactly how we stood for a siege by an Antarctic winter.  The dogs went off the ship on the following day.  Their kennels were placed on the floe along the length of a wire rope to which the leashes were fastened.  The dogs seemed heartily glad to leave the ship, and yelped loudly and joyously as they were moved to their new quarters.  We had begun the training of teams, and already there was keen rivalry between the drivers.  The flat floes and frozen leads in the neighbourhood of the ship made excellent training grounds.  Hockey and football on the floe were our chief recreations, and all hands joined in many a strenuous game.  Worsley took a party to the floe on the 26th and started building a line of igloos and “dogloos” round the ship.  These little buildings were constructed, Esquimaux fashion, of big blocks of ice, with thin sheets for the roofs.  Boards or frozen sealskins were placed over all, snow was piled on top and pressed into the joints, and then water was thrown over the structures to make everything firm.  The ice was packed down flat inside and covered with snow for the dogs, which preferred, however, to sleep outside except when the weather was extraordinarily severe.  The tethering of the dogs was a simple matter.  The end of a chain was buried about eight inches in the snow, some fragments of ice were pressed around it, and a little water poured over all.  The icy breath of the Antarctic cemented it in a few moments.  Four dogs which had been ailing were shot.  Some of the dogs were suffering badly from worms, and the remedies at our disposal, unfortunately, were not effective.  All the fit dogs were being exercised in the sledges, and they took to the work with enthusiasm.  Sometimes their eagerness to be off and away produced laughable results, but the drivers learned to be alert.  The wireless apparatus was still rigged, but we listened in vain for the Saturday-night time signals from New Year Island, ordered for our benefit by the Argentine Government.  On Sunday the 28th, Hudson waited at 2 a.m. for the Port Stanley monthly signals, but could hear nothing.  Evidently the distances were too great for our small plant.

CHAPTER III