SOUTH 
the boats. "This has been an eventful day. The morning 
was fine, though somewhat overcast by stratus and cumulus 
clouds ; moderate south-south- westerly and south-easterly 
breezes. We hoped that with this wind the ice would drift 
nearer to Clarence Island. At 7 a.m. lanes of water and leads 
could be seen on the horizon to the west. The ice separating 
us from the lanes was loose, but did not appear to be workable 
for the boats. The long swell from the north-west was coming 
in more freely than on the previous day and was driving the 
floes together in the utmost confusion. The loose brash between 
the masses of ice was being churned to mudlike consistency, 
and no boat could have lived in the channels that opened and 
closed aroimd us. Our own floe was suffering in the general 
disturbance, and after breakfast I ordered the tents to be 
struck and everything prepared for an immediate start when 
the boats could be laimched." I had decided to take the James 
Caird myself, with Wild and eleven men. This was the largest 
of our boats, and in addition to her human complement she 
carried the major portion of the stores. Worsley had charge 
of the Dudley Docker with nine men, and Hudson and Crean 
were the senior men on the Stancomh Wills. 
Soon after breakfast the ice closed again. We were standing 
by, with our preparations as complete as they could be made, 
when at 11 a.m. our floe suddenly split right across under the 
boats. We rushed our gear on to the larger of the two pieces 
and watched with strained attention for the next development. 
The crack had cut through the site of my tent. I stood on the 
edge of the new fracture, and, looking across the widening 
channel of water, could see the spot where for many months 
my head and shoulders had rested when I was in my sleeping- 
bag. The depression formed by my body and legs was on our 
side of the crack. The ice had sunk under my weight during 
the months of waiting in the tent, and I had many times put 
snow under the bag to fill the hollow. The lines of stratification 
showed clearly the different layers of snow. How fragile and 
precarious had been our resting-place ! Yet usage had dulled 
our sense of danger. The floe had become our home, and 
during the early months of the drift we had almost ceased to 
122 
