THE BOAT JOURNEY 
and scraping did more. We liad to be very careful not to put 
axe or knife through the frozen canvas of the decking as we 
crawled over it, but gradually we got rid of a lot of ice. The 
James Caird lifted to the endless waves as though she lived 
again. 
About 11 a.m. the boat suddenly fell ofi into the trough of 
the sea. The painter had parted and the sea-anchor had gone. 
This was serious. The James Caird went away to leeward, and we 
had no chance at all of recovering the anchor and our valuable 
rope, which had been oirr only means of keeping the boat's 
head up to the seas without the risk of hoisting sail in a gale. 
Now we had to set the sail and trust to its holding. While the 
James Caird rolled heavily in the trough, we beat the frozen 
canvas until the bulk of the ice had cracked ofi it and then 
hoisted it. The frozen gear worked protestingly, but after a 
struggle our little craft came up to the wind again, and we 
breathed more freely. Skin frost-bites were troubling us, and 
we had developed large bhsters on our fingers and hands. I 
shall always carry the scar of one of these frost-bites on my left 
hand, which became badly inflamed after the slrin had burst 
and the cold had bitten deeply. 
We held the boat up to the gale during that day, enduring 
as best we could discomforts that amounted to pain. The boat 
tossed interminably on the big waves under grey, threatening 
skies. Our thoughts did not embrace much more than the 
necessities of the hour. Every surge of the sea was an enemy 
to be watched and circumvented. We ate our scanty meals, 
treated our frost-bites, and hoped for the improved conditions 
that the morrow might bring. Night fell early, and in the 
lagging hours of darkness we were cheered by a change for the 
better in the weather. The wind dropped, the snow-squalls 
became less frequent, and the sea moderated. When the 
morning of the seventh day dawned there was not much wind. 
We shook the reef out of the sail and laid our course once more 
for South Georgia. The sun came out bright and clear, and 
presently Worsley got a snap for longitude. We hoped that 
the sky would remain clear until noon, so that we could get the 
latitude. We had been six days out without an observation, and 
171 
