A rather lacklustre account of a scientific expedition aboard the Penola and on the Antarctic Peninsula, with solid accomplishment and little adventure. Apart from a few general remarks about reading in the evening, the only references to books are in the appendices. In the list of sledging equipment p. 279, a Nautical Almanac and Hints for Travellers Vol. I (RGS) are cited along with various notebooks needed for traverse and meteorological records. Personal equipment (p. 281) for sledging includes “1 book for reading.”
p. 114, in their hut, during winter: After dinner, things are washed up, we draw our chairs round the fire and settle down to a pleasant evening, most of us reading or writing up notes, others mending clothes or darning socks, while the sewing machine on the table whirrs away to the accompaniment of the gramophone playing somebody’s favourite dance tune.