STORES BURIED IN ICE 



work to get the stores clear of the ice. It was probable 

 also that the salt water would have damaged the fodder, 

 and worked its way into cases that were not tin-lined or 

 made of Venesta wood, and that some of the things would 

 never be seen again. No one would have recognised the 

 landing-place as the spot on which we had been working 

 during the past fortnight, so great was the change 

 wrought by the furious storm. Our heap of coal had a 

 sheet of frozen salt water over it, but this was a blessing 

 in disguise, for it saved the smaller pieces of coal from 

 being blown away. 



There was no time then to do anything about releasing 

 the stores from the ice; the main thing was to get the 

 remainder of the coal ashore and send the ship north. 

 We immediately started landing coal at the extreme edge 

 of Front Door Bay. The rate of work was necessarily 

 very slow, for the whole place was both rough and slip- 

 pery from the newly formed ice that covered everything. 

 In spite of the swell we worked all the morning, and 

 in the early afternoon, as the bay became full of ice, 

 instructions were sent to the ship to proceed to Glacier 

 Tongue, deposit five tons of coal there, and then report 

 at Flagstaff Point. The sea went down greatly about 

 half an hour after the ship left, and we were much 

 pleased, about 6 p.m.^ to see the Nimrod returning, for 

 it was greatly to our advantage to land the coal at winter 

 quarters instead of having to sledge it thirteen miles 

 from Glacier Tongue. 



On the Nimrod's return, England reported that loose 

 floe-ice surrounded Glacier Tongue, so that it was impos- 

 sible to make a depot there. We now proceeded to 

 continue discharging, and shortly before 10 p.m. on 

 February 22, the final boatload of coal arrived. We 

 calculated that we had in all only about eighteen tons, 

 so that the strictest economy would be required to make 



125 



