138 VOYAGE TO THE POLAE SEA. August 



effort must be made, for even with the very hard work 

 that we are doing now, we are losing ground every 

 hour — even on the march we seem hardly to recover it. 



'Started at 11 p.m., with the intention of going in 

 straight for Cape Baird, and reaching it before we 

 stopped. 



' We worked steadily on to lunch, then from lunch 

 on to camping time. 



' At that time a breeze sprang up from the west 

 and set the ice in motion, clearing it away from Cape 

 Lieber. 



' The water was making fast on the west side of 

 Kennedy Channel ; everywhere the ice was on the 

 move, and we were obliged to go on. 



' We had been slowly going south all day, and 

 now Cape Baird was in a line with Bellot Island, and 

 we could not see the south shore of Petermann Fiord. 

 There was no time to take angles or bearings, or even 

 to keep a record of events. The change from sledging 

 to boating, and vice versa, became so frequent and 

 hurried, that we had not time to unload, but did 

 everything at full speed, to the imminent risk of both 

 sledge and boat. 



'At about 10.15p.m. the wind changed to the 

 south-east, and began to blow the ice back again, and 

 from that time we made real progress ; eventually 

 reaching the land by boat between Cape Lieber and 

 Cape Baird at 7 a.m., 12th of August, after having 

 been under weigh thirty-five hours. 



' The men, and especially the convalescents, are 

 dead beat. 



' loth and l\th. — As there was no danger of being 



