SOUTH 
I had laid the course for Elephant Island and we were making 
good progress. The Dudley Docker ran down to me at dusk 
and Worsley suggested that we should stand on all night ; but 
already the Stancomb Wills was barely discernible among the 
rollers in the gathering dusk, and I decided that it would be safer 
to heave to and wait for the daylight. It would never have done 
for the boats to have become separated from one another during 
the night. The party must be kept together, and, moreover, 
I thought it possible that we might overrun our goal in the 
darkness and not be able to return. So we made a sea-anchor 
of oars and liove to, the Dudley Docker in the lead, since she 
had the longest painter. The James Caird swung astern of the 
Dudley Docker and the Stancomb Wills again had the third 
place. We ate a cold meal and did what little we could to 
make things comfortable for the hours of darkness. Rest was 
not for us. During the greater part of the night the sprays 
broke over the boats and froze in masses of ice, especially at 
the stern and bows. This ice had to be broken away in order 
to prevent the boats growing too heavy. The temperature was 
below zero and the wind penetrated our clothes and chilled us 
almost unbearably. I doubted if all the men would sm^vive 
that night. One of our troubles was lack of water. We had 
emerged so suddenly from the pack into the open sea that we 
had not had time to take aboard ice for melting in the cookers, 
and without ice we could not have hot food. The Dudley 
Docker had one lump of ice weighing about ten pounds, and 
this was shared out among all hands. We sucked small pieces 
and got a little relief from thirst engendered by the salt spray, 
but at the same time we reduced our bodily heat. The con- 
dition of most of the men was pitiable. All of us had swollen 
mouths and we could hardly touch the food. I longed intensely 
for the daAvn. I called out to the other boats at intervals 
during the night, asking how things were with them. The 
men always managed to reply cheerfully. One of the people 
on the Stancomb Wills shouted, " We are doing all right, but 
I would like some dry mits." The jest brought a smile to 
cracked lips. He might as well have asked for the moon. The 
only dry things aboard the boats were swollen mouths and 
136 
