SOUTH 
tlic sliore, oars in hand, and at last we were able to seize it. 
Surely a remarkable salvage ! The day was bright and clear ; 
our clothes were drying and our strength was returning. Run- 
ning water made a musical sound doAvn the tussock slope and 
among the boulders. We carried our blanlcets up the hill and 
tried to dry them in the breeze 300 ft. above sea-level In the 
afternoon we began to prepare the James Caird for the journey 
to the head of King Haakon Bay. A noon observation on this 
day gave oiu- latitude as 54° 10' 47" S., but according to the 
German chart the position should have been 54° 1 2' S. Probably 
Worsley's observation was the more accurate. We were able 
to keep the fire alight until we went to sleep that night, for 
while climbing the rocks above the cove I had seen at the 
foot gf a cliff a broken spar, which had been thrown up by the 
waves. We could reach this spar by climbing down the cliff, 
and with a reserve supply of fuel thus in sight w^e could afford 
to bmii the fragments of tlie James Caird' s topsides more freely. 
During the morning of this day (May 13) Worsley and I 
tramped across the hills in a north-easterly direction with the 
object of getting a view of the sound and possibly gathering 
some information that would be useful to us in the next stage 
of our journey. It was exhausting work, but after covering 
about 2|- miles in two hom^s, we Avere able to look east, up the 
bay. We could not see very much of the country that we 
would have to cross in order to reach the whaling-station on 
the other side of the island. We had passed several brooks 
and frozen tarns, and at a point where we had to take to the 
beach on the shore of the sound we found some wreckage — an 
18-ft. pine-spar (probably part of a ship's topmast), several 
pieces of timber, and a little model of a ship's hull, evidently a 
child's toy. We wondered what tragedy that pitiful little 
plaything indicated. We encountered also some gentoo pen- 
guins and a young sea-elephant, which Worsley killed. 
When w^e got back to the cave at 3 p.m., tired, hungry, 
but rather pleased with ourselves, we found a splendid meal 
of stewed albatross chicken waiting for us. We had carried a 
quantity of blubber and the sea-elephant's liver in our blouses, 
and we produced our treasures as a surprise for the men. Rough 
188 
