i 9 o2] RESULTS OF SEARCH PARTIES 181 



long they walked on in dogged silence before their eyes fell on 

 a well-remembered landmark, and cautiously descending a 

 steep rocky incline, they saw the ship looming through the grey 

 whirl of snow ; but between the breaking-up of their camp and 

 the moment when they clambered over the side to make their 

 report to me, six hours had elapsed. It is little wonder that 

 after such an experience they should have been, as I have men- 

 tioned, both excited and tired. 



The hours which followed the departure of Armitage and 

 his search party on this fatal night were such as one could 

 scarcely forget ; exhausted as our returned wanderers were, we 

 questioned them again and again to get greater light on the 

 accident, but nothing could alter the fact that five of our small 

 company were lost or wandering helplessly about in this dread- 

 ful storm. Hatefully conscious of my inability to help on 

 account of my injured leg, my own mind seemed barren of all 

 suggestion of further help which we might render ; but, as was 

 always my experience in the c Discovery,' my companions were 

 never wanting in resource. Dellbridge thought he could soon 

 raise steam enough to blow the syren, and before long its shrill 

 screams were echoing amongst the hills. Then, as we recon- 

 structed the story of Vince's loss and pictured the cliff over 

 which he had fallen, the bare possibility of some remaining 

 fragment of sea-ice clinging below was suggested. Was it 

 possible that we could reach it ? The only possibility was by 

 boat. Who would volunteer? Of course everyone. In ten 

 minutes a whaler was swinging alongside and being rapidly 

 loaded with provisions, cooking apparatus, and fur clothing; 

 in ten more, with a picked crew of six men in charge of 

 Shackleton, she disappeared around Hut Point. 



Then we could do nothing but peer through the driving 

 snow and wait. It was a trying time, and a full three hours 

 elapsed before there was a hail from without, and through the 

 drift appeared Ferrar leading three of the lost — Barne, Evans 

 and Quartley. Ferrar's tale was soon told. He had accom- 

 panied Armitage's party, and, guided by Wild, they had made 

 for Castle Rock and eventually found the abandoned sledges, 



