SOUTH 
allowance of water to be increased since an unfavourable wind 
might drive us away from the island and lengthen our voyage 
by many days. Lack of water is always the most severe 
privation that men can be condemned to endure, and we found, 
as during our earlier boat voyage, that the salt w^ater in our 
clothing and the salt spray that lashed our faces made our 
thirst grow quickly to a bm^ning pain. I had to be very firm 
in refusing to allow any one to anticipate the morrow's allow- 
ance, which I \vas sometimes begged to do. We did the neces- 
sary work dully and hoped for the land. I had altered the 
course to the east so as to make sure of our striking the island, 
which would have been impossible to regain if we had run past 
the northern end. The course was laid on our scrap of chart 
for a point some thirty miles doAvn the coast. That day and 
the following day passed for us in a sort of nightmare. Our 
mouths were dry and our tongues were swollen. The wind 
w^as still strong and the heavy sea forced us to navigate care- 
fully, but any thought of our peril from the waves was buried 
beneath the consciousness of our raging thirst. The bright 
moments were those when we each received our one mug of 
hot milk during the long, bitter watches of the night. Things 
were bad for us in those days, but the end was coming. The 
morning of May 8 broke thick and stormy, with squalls from 
the north-west. We searched the waters ahead for a sign of 
land, and though we could see nothing more than had met 
our eyes for many days, we were cheered by a sense that the 
goal was near at hand. About ten o'clock that morning we 
passed a little bit of kelp, a glad signal of the proximity of land. 
An hour later we saw two shags sitting on a big mass of kelp, 
and knew then that we must be within ten or fifteen miles of the 
shore. These birds are as sure an indication of the proximity 
of land as a lighthouse is, for they never venture far to sea. 
We gazed ahead with increasing eagerness, and at 12.30 p.m., 
through a rift in the clouds, McCarthy caught a glimpse of the 
black cliffs of South Georgia, just fourteen days after our 
departure from Elephant Island. It was a glad moment. 
Thirst-ridden, chilled, and weak as we were, happiness irradiated 
us. The job was nearly done. 
176 
