SOUTH 
time heeling six degrees to port. The ice was getting below us 
and the immediate danger had passed. The position was lat, 
69^ 19' S., long. 50° 40' W. 
The next attack of the ice came on the afternoon of October 
18th. The two floes began to move laterally, exerting great 
pressure on the ship. Suddenly the floe on the port side 
cracked and huge pieces of ice shot up from under the port 
bilge. Within a few seconds the ship heeled over until she had 
a list of thirty degrees to port, being held under the starboard 
bilge by the opposing floe. The lee boats were now almost 
resting on the floe. The midship dog-kennels broke away and 
crashed down on to the lee kennels, and the howls and barks 
of the frightened dogs assisted to create a perfect pandemonium. 
Everything movable on deck and below fell to the lee side, 
and for a few minutes it looked as if the Endurance would be 
thrown upon her beam ends. Order was soon restored. I had 
all fires put out and battens nailed on the deck to give the 
dogs a foothold and enable people to get about. Then the crew 
lashed all the movable gear. If the ship had heeled any farther 
it would have been necessary to release the lee boats and pull 
them clear, and Worsley was watching to give the alarm. Hurley 
meanwhile descended to the floe and took some photographs 
of the ship in her unusual position. Dinner in the ward- 
room that evening was a curious affair. Most of the diners 
had to sit on the deck, their feet against battens and their 
plates on their knees. At 8 p.m. the floes opened, and within a 
few minutes the Endurance was nearly upright again. Orders 
were given for the ice to be chipped clear of the rudder. 
The men poled the blocks out of the way when they had been 
detached from the floe with the long ice-chisels, and we were 
able to haul the ship's stern into a clear berth. Then the 
boiler was pumped up. This work was completed early in the 
morning of October 19, and during that day the engineer lit 
fires and got up steam very slowly, in order to economize fuel 
and avoid any strain on the chiUed boilers by unequal heating. 
The crew cut up all loose lumber, boxes, etc., and put them in 
the bunkers for fuel. The day was overcast, with occasional 
snowfalls, the temperature + 12^ Fahr. The ice in our neigh- 
70 
