PREFACE 
promised financial lielp did not materialize, and I was now faced 
with the fact that I had contracted for a ship and stores, and 
had engaged the stafi, and I was not in possession of funds to 
meet these liabilities. I immediately set about appealing for 
help, and met with generous response from all sides. 1 cannot 
here give the names of all who supported my application, but 
whilst taking this opportunity of thanking every one for their 
support, which came from parts as far apart as the interior of 
China, Japan, New Zealand, and Australia, I must particularly 
refer to the munificent donation of £24,000 from the late Sir 
James Caird, and to one of £10,000 from the British Government. 
I must also thank Mr. Dudley Docker, who enabled me to 
complete the purchase of the Endurance, and Miss Elizabeth 
Dawson Lambton, who since 1901 has always been a firm friend 
to Antarctic exploration, and who again, on this occasion, 
assisted largely. The Royal Geographical Society made a grant 
of £1000 ; and last, but by no means least, I take this oppor- 
tunity of tendering my grateful thanks to Dame Janet Stancomb 
Wills, whose generosity enabled me to equip the Endurance 
efficiently, especially as regards boats (which boats were the 
means of our ultimate safety), and who not only, at the inception 
of the Expedition, gave financial help, but also continued it 
through the dark days when we were overdue, and funds were 
required to meet the need of the dependents of the Expedition. 
The only return and privilege an explorer has in the way 
of acknowledgment for the help accorded him is to record on 
the discovered lands the names of those to whom the Ex- 
pedition owes its being. 
Owing to the exigencies of the war the publication of this book 
has been long delayed, and the detailed maps must come with 
the scientific monographs. I have the honour to place on the 
new land the names of the above and other generous donors 
to the Expedition. The two hundred miles of new coast-line I 
have called Caird Coast. Also, as a more personal note, I 
named the three ship's boats, in which Ave ultimately escaped 
from the grip of the ice, after the three principal donors to 
the Expedition — the James Cawd, the Siancmnb Wilh, and 
the Dudley Docker, The two last-named are still on the deso- 
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