ESCAPE FROM THE ICE 
burniiig tongues. Thirst is one of the troubles that confront 
the traveller in polar regions. Ice may be plentiful on every 
hand, but it does not become drinkable until it is melted, and 
the amount that may be dissolved in the mouth is limited. 
We had been thirsty during the days of heavy pulling in the 
packj and our condition was aggravated quickly by the salt 
spray. Our sleeping-bags would have given us some warmth, 
but they were not within our reach. They were packed under 
the tents in the bows, where a mail-like coating of ice enclosed 
them, and we were so cramped that we could not pull them out. 
At last daylight came, and ^\ith the dawn the weather 
cleared and the wind fell to a gentle south-westerly breeze. 
A magnificent sunrise heralded in what we hoped would be 
our last day in the boats. Eose-pmk in the growing light, the 
lofty peak of Clarence Island told of the coming glory of the 
sun. The sky grew blue above us and the crests of the waves 
sparkled cheerfully. As soon as it was light enough we chipped 
and scraped the ice off the bows and sterns. The rudders had 
been unshipped during the night in order to avoid the painters 
catching them. We cast off our ice-anchor and pulled the oars 
aboard. They had grown during the night to the thickness of 
telegraph-poles while rising and falling in the freezing seas, 
and had to be chipped clear before they could be brought 
inboard. 
We were dreadfully thirsty now. We found that we could 
get momentary rehef by chewing pieces of raw seal meat and 
swallowing the blood, but thirst came back with redoubled 
force owing to the saltness of the flesh. I gave orders, there- 
fore, that meat was to be served out only at stated hitervals 
during the day or when thirst seemed to threaten the reason 
of any particvilar individual. In the full dayhght Elephant 
Island showed cold and severe to the north-north- west. The 
island was on the bearings that Worsley had laid down, and I 
congratulated him on the accuracy of his navigation under 
difficult circumstances, with two days' dead reckonmg while 
f ollowhig a devious course through the pack-ice and after drifting 
during two nights at the mercy of wind and waves. The Stan- 
comb Wills came up and Mclhoy reported that Blackborrow's 
137 
