THE BOAT JOURNEY 
tent came adrift in a gust, and, althougli it was chased to the 
water's edge, it disappeared for good. Blackborrow's feet were 
giving him much pain, and Mcllroy and Macklin thought it 
would be necessary for them to operate soon. They were 
under the impression then that they had no chloroform, but 
they found some subsequently in the medicine-chest after 
we had left. Some cases of stores left on a rock off the spit 
on the day of our arrival were retrieved during this day. We 
were setting aside stores for the boat journey and choosing the 
essential equipment from the scanty stock at oiu: disposal. 
Two ten-gallon casks had to be filled with water melted down 
from ice collected at the foot of the glacier. This was a rather 
slow business. The blubber-stove was kept going all night, and 
the watchmen emptied the water into the casks from the pot in 
which the ice was melted. A working party started to dig a hole 
in the snow-slope about forty feet above sea-level with the object 
of providing a site for a camp. They made fahly good progress 
at first, but the snow drifted down unceasingly from the inland 
ice, and in the end the party had to give up the project. 
The weather was fine on April 23, and we hurried forward 
our preparations. It was on this day I decided finally that 
the crew for the James Caird should consist of Worsley, Crean, 
McNeish, McCarthy, Vincent, and myself. A storm came on 
about noon, with driving snow and heavy squalls. Occasionally 
the air would clear for a few minutes, and we could see a line 
of pack-ice, five miles out, driving across from west to east. 
This sight increased my anxiety to get away quickly. Winter 
was advancing, and soon the pack might close completely round 
the island and stay our departure for days or even for weeks, 
I did not think that ice would remain around Elephant Island 
continuously dming the winter, since the strong winds and 
fast currents would keep it in motion. We had noticed ice 
and bergs going past at the rate of foui' or five knots. A 
certain amount of ice was held up about the end of our spit, 
but the sea was clear where the boat would have to be launched. 
Worsley, Wild, and I climbed to the summit of the seaward 
rocks and examined the ice from a better vantage-point than 
the beach offered. The belt of pack outside appeared to be 
L 161 
