ESCAPE FROM THE ICE 
hummock. The other two boats were fastened alongside the 
James Caird. They could not lie astern of us in a line, since 
cakes of ice came drifting round the floe and gatheruig under 
its lee. As it was we spent the next two hours poling oft the 
drifting ice that surged towards us. The blubber-stove could 
not be used, so we started the Primus lamps. There was a 
rough, choppy sea, and the Dudley Docker could not get her 
Primus under way, something being adrift. The men in that 
boat had to wait until the cook on the James Caird had boiled 
up the first pot of milk. 
The boats were bumping so heavily that I had to slack away 
the painter of the Stancomb Wills and put her astern. Much 
ice was coming round the floe and had to be poled off. 
Then the Dudley DocJcer, being the heavier boat, began to 
damage the James Caird, and I slacked the Dudley Docker 
away. The James Caird remained moored to the ice, with 
the Dudley Docker and the Stancomb Wills in line behind her. 
The darkness had become complete, and we strained our eyes 
to see the fragments of ice that threatened us. Presently we 
thought we saw a great berg bearing down upon us, its form 
outlined against the sky, but this startUng spectacle resolved 
itself into a low-lying cloud in front of the rising moon. The 
moon appeared in a clear sky. The wind shifted to the south- 
east as the light improved and drove the boats broadside on 
towards the jagged edge of the floe. We had to cut the painter 
of the James Caird and pole her off, thus losing much valuable 
rope. There was no time to cast off. Then we pushed away 
from the floe, and all night long we lay in the open, freezing 
sea, the Dudley Docker now ahead, tlie James Caird astern of 
her, and the Stancomb Wills third in the line. The boats were 
attached to one another by their painters. Most of the time 
the Dudley Docker kept the James Caird and the Stancomb 
Wills up to the swefl, and the men who were ro\ving were in 
better pass than those in the other boats, waiting inactive for 
the dawn. The temperature was down to 4° below zero, and 
a film of ice formed on the surface of the sea. When we were 
not on watch we lay in each other's arms for warmth. Our 
frozen suits thawed where our bodies met, and as the slightest 
133 
