THE BOAT JOURNEY 
Our party spent a quiet day, attending to clothing and gear, 
checking stores, eating and resting. Some more of the yoimg 
albatrosses made a noble end ui our pot. The birds Avere 
nesting on a small plateau above the right-hand end of our 
beach. We had previously discovered that when we were 
landing from the boat on the night of May 10 we had lost the 
rudder. The James Caird had been bumping heavily astern as 
we were scrambling ashore, and evidently the rudder was then 
kaocked off. A careful search of the beach and the rocks within 
our reach failed to reveal the missing article. This was a 
serious loss, even if the voyage to the head of the sound could 
be made in good weather. At dusk the ice in the cove was 
rearing and crashing on the beach. It had forced up a ridge 
of stones close to where the James Caird lay at the edge of the 
tussock-grass. Some pieces of ice were driven right up to the 
canvas wall at the front of our cave. Fragments lodged within 
two feet of Vincent, who had the lowest sleeping-place, and 
within four feet of our fire. Crean and McCarthy had brought 
down six more of the young albatrosses in the afternoon, so we 
were well supplied with fresh food. The air temperature that 
night probably was not lower than 38° or 40° Fahr., and we were 
rendered uncomfortable in our cramped sleeping quarters by 
the imaccustomed warmth. Our feelings towards our neigh- 
bours underwent a change. Mien the temperature was below 
20° Fahr. we could not get too close to one another-— every 
man wanted to cuddle against his neighbour; but let the 
temperature rise a few degrees and the warmth of another 
man's body ceased to be a blessing. The ice and the waves 
had a voice of menace that night, but I heard it only in my 
dreams. 
The bay was still filled with ice on the morning of Satiu'day, 
May 13, but the tide took it all away in the afternoon. Then 
a strange thing happened. The rudder, with all the broad 
Atlantic to sail in and the coasts of two continents to search 
for a resting-place, came bobbing back into our cove. With 
anxious eyes we watched it as it advanced, receded again, and 
then advanced once more under the capricious influence of 
wind and wave. Nearer and nearer it came as we waited on 
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