SOUTH 
adjusted our weights from time to time ; occasional glimpses 
showed that the shore was nearer. I knew that Annewkow Island 
lay to the south of us, but our small and badly marked chart 
showed uncertain reefs in the passage between the island and the 
mainland, and I dared not trust it, though as a last resort we 
could try to lie under the lee of the island. The afternoon 
wore away as we edged down the coast, with the thunder of 
the breakers in our ears. The approach of evening found us 
still some distance from Annewkow Island, and, dimly in the twi- 
light, we could see a snow-capped mountain looming above us. 
The chance of smrviving the night, "with the driving gale and 
the implacable sea forcing us on to the lee shore, seemed 
small. I think most of us had a feeling that the end was 
very near. Just after 6 p.m., in the dark, as the boat was in 
the yeasty backwash from the seas flung from this iron-bound 
coast, then, just when things looked their worst, they changed 
for the best. I have marvelled often at the thin line that 
divides success from failure and the sudden turn that leads 
from apparently certain disaster to comparative safety. The 
wind suddenly shifted, and we were free once more to make 
an offing. Almost as soon as the gale eased, the pin that locked 
the mast to the thwart fell out. It must have been on the 
point of doing this throughout the hurricane, and if it had 
gone nothing could have saved us ; the mast would have snapped 
like a carrot. Our backstays had carried away once before 
when iced up and were not too strongly fastened now. We were 
thankful indeed for the mercy that had held that pin in its 
place throughout the hurricane. 
We stood off shore again, tired almost to the point of apathy. 
Our water had long been finished. The last was about a pint 
of hairy liquid, which we strained through a bit of gauze from 
the medicine-chest. The pangs of thirst attacked us with 
redoubled intcDsity, and I felt that we must make a landing 
on the following day at almost any hazard. The night wore 
on. We were very tired. We longed for day. When at last 
the dawn came on the morning of May 10 there was practically 
no wind, but a high cross-sea was running. We made slow 
progress towards the shore. About 8 a.m. the wind backed 
178 
