SOUTH 
in our need. Among memories of kindness received in many 
lands sundered by the seas, the recollection of the hospitality 
and help given to me in South Georgia ranks high. There is 
a brotherhood of the sea. The men who go down to the sea 
in ships, serving and suffering, fighting their endless battle 
against the caprice of wind and ocean, bring into their own 
horizons the perils and troubles of their brother sailormen. 
The Southern Sky was ready on Tuesday morning, and at 
nine o'clock we steamed out of the bay, while the whistles of 
the whaling-station sounded a friendly farewell. AVe had for- 
gathered aboard Captain Thom's ship on the Monday night 
with several whaling captains who were bringing up their sons 
to their own profession. They were old stagers " with faces 
lined and seamed by the storms of half a century, and they 
were even more interested in the story of our voyage from 
Elephant Island than the younger generation was. They con- 
gratulated us on ha\dng accomplished a remarkable boat 
journey, I do not wish to belittle our success with the pride 
that apes humility. Under Providence we had overcome 
great difficulties and dangers, and it was pleasant to tell 
the tale to men who knew those sullen and treacherous 
southern seas. 
McCarthy, McNeish, and Vincent had been landed on the 
Monday afternoon. They were already shoAving some signs of 
increasing strength under a regime of warm quarters and 
abundant food. The carpenter looked woefully thin after he 
had emerged from a bath. He must have worn a lot of clothes 
when he landed from the boat, and I did not realize how he 
had wasted till I saw him washed and changed. He was a 
man over fifty years of age, and the strain had told upon him 
more than upon the rest of us. The rescue came just in time 
for him. 
The early part of the voyage down to Elephant Island in 
the Southern SJcy was uneventful. At noon on Tuesday, May 23, 
we were at sea and steaming at ten knots on a south-westerly 
course. We made good progress, but the temperature fell very 
low, and the signs gave me some cause for anxiety as to the 
probability of encountering ice. On the third night out the 
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