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sort of specialised knowledge you can provide.’
    Nobody asked me how I felt about a voyage into the Antarctic. They just seemed to take it for granted I would go along with them, the talk turning to the availability of a suitable search vessel that would be within the budget Ward was offering. And like a fool I just sat there and said nothing. If I’d had any sense I’d have got to my feet and walked out, for the boat the Sunderby woman had in mind was a sixty-foot motor-sailer with a quarter-inch steel hull and a powerful diesel auxiliary. It was lying in the Chilean naval port of Punta Arenas on the north side of the Magellan Strait and had been strengthened and equipped for a Norwegian prospecting expedition in Queen Maude Land that had run out of money before it had even started.
    Mrs Sunderby had been down to Punta Arenas, had seen the boat. Its name was Isvik and it had been left in charge of one of the expedition members, a Norwegian named Nils Solberg. The boat was for sale and she thought Solberg, who was an engineer and whom she regarded as highly competent, would go along with any new expedition.
    The discussion then turned to the feasibility of wintering over in the ice. The name David Lewis was mentioned. Apparently he had wintered a vessel of very similar size in the ice in Prydz Bay in the Australian territory of Queen Mary Land with a crew of only six, including two girls. Clearly it could be done, and the meeting finally broke up with Ward agreeing to meet the initial cost, including purchase of the vessel, which Mrs Sunderby thought could be acquired for a figure well below the US$230,000 the bankrupt Norwegian expedition were asking.
    The object of the meeting in the Cutty Sark after cabin had clearly been to influence Ward’s decision. But once she had his agreement, she also had the backing of all the three institutions represented there. As she put it, ‘Now all we need is about thirty hours in every day, the right weather and a hell of a lot of luck.’ She rose to her feet, looking round the table. ‘Thank you, gentlemen – for your time, and for your help.’ She was smiling, her eyes shining, and she added, ‘You’ve no idea what this means to me – personally.’ The way she said it conveyed an extraordinary sense of excitement. And as the maritime heritage men said goodbye and ducked out through the after door beside the dresser, leaving just the three of us there in the cabin, the thing I was chiefly conscious of was her vitality. Now that she had got what she wanted, she seemed packed full of energy, so that just being there with her gave me an extraordinary lift, my feeling of depression quite gone.
    â€˜Did you come by car?’ She was speaking to Ward.
    â€˜No. Water bus.’
    â€˜Can I give you a lift then?’
    He shook his head. ‘Ah’d prefer to go back the way Ah came. There’s a lot to see on the river here. Also, Ah’ve a wee bit o’ thinkin’ to dae, ye understan’. Ah’ve never before had anythin’ to dae wi’ this sort of an outfit – Ah mean admirals an’ directors o’ museums an’ maritime trusts. It’s all new to me. An’ there’s the wee matter o’ what Ah’m lettin’ mesel’ in fur. Ah mean, six months, maybe a year if we’re locked into the ice, searchin’ fur a vessel Ah’m no’ at all sure really exists.’
    â€˜But you’ve read the notes Charles made.’ The voice was crisp and sharp. ‘You know very well that he must have written that description of the ship within minutes of having sighted it. We’ve been over all this on the phone and I’ve explained to you that I have a navigator in mind, a man I’m convinced has actually seen what my husband saw.’
    â€˜Aye, but ye haven’t produced the man. Ye haven’t even told me his name or where Ah can contact