SOUTH 
drinking the pure, ice-cold water in long drauglits that put new 
life into us. It was a splendid moment. 
The next thing was to get the stores and ballast out of the 
boat, in order that we might secure her for the night. We 
carried the stores and gear above high-water mark and threw 
out the bags of sand and the boulders that we knew so well. 
Then we attempted to pull the empty boat up the beach, and 
discovered by this effort how weak we had become. Our united 
strength was not sufficient to get the James Caird clear of the 
water. Time after time we pulled together, but without avail. 
I saw that it would be necessary to have food and rest before we 
beached the boat. We made fast a line to a heavy boulder and 
set a watch to fend the James Caird off the rocks of the beach. 
Then I sent Crean round to the left side of the cove, about thirty 
yards away, where I had noticed a little cave as we were running 
in. He covdd not see much in the darkness, but reported that 
the place certainly promised some shelter. We carried the 
sleeping-bags round and found a mere hollow in the rock-face, 
Avith a shingle floor sloping at a steep angle to the sea. There 
we prepaxed a hot meal, and when the food was finished I 
ordered the men to turn in. The time was now about 8 p.m., 
and I took the first watch beside the James Caird, which was 
still afloat in the tossing water just off the beach. 
Fending the James Caird off the rocks in the darkness was 
awkward worlc. The boat would have bumped dangerously if 
allowed to ride in with the M^aves that drove into the cove. I 
found a flat rock for my feet, which were in a bad way owing to 
cold, wetness, and lack of exercise in the boat, and during the 
next few hours I laboured to keep the James Caird clear of the 
beach. Occasionally I had to rush into the seething water. Then, 
as a wave receded, I let the boat out on the alpine rope so as 
to avoid a sudden jerk. The heavy painter had been lost when 
the sea-anchor went adrift. The James Caird could be seen but 
dimly in the cove, where the high black cliffs made the darkness 
almost complete, and the strain upon one's attention was great. 
After several hours had passed I found that my desire for sleep 
was becoming irresistible, and at 1 a.m. I called Crean. I could 
hear him groaning as he stumbled over the sharp rocks on his 
180 
