THE RESCUE 
steaming steadily at about six knots, and in the bright, clear 
dawn of the third day we sighted the peaks of Elephant Island- 
Hope ran high ; but our ancient enemy the pack was l}ang 
in wait, and within twenty miles of the island the trawler w^as 
stopped by an impenetrable barrier of ice. The pack lay in 
the form of a crescent, with a horn to the west of the ship 
stretching north. Steaming north-east, we reached another 
horn and saw that the pack, heavy and dense, then trended 
away to the east. We made an attempt to push into the ice, 
but it was so heavy that the trawler was held up at once and 
began to grind in the small thick floes, so we cautiously backed 
out. The propeller, going slowly, was not damaged, though 
any moment I feared we might strip the blades. The island 
lay on our starboard quarter, but there was no possibility of 
approaching it. The Uruguayan engineer reported to me that 
he had three days' coal left, and I had to give the order to 
turn back. A screen of fog hid the lower slopes of the island, 
and the men watching from the camp on the beach could not 
have seen the ship. Northward we steamed again, with the 
engines knocking badly, and after encountering a new gale, 
made Port Stanley with the bunkers nearly empty and the 
engines almost broken doAvn. H.M.S. Glasgoiv Avas in the 
port, and the British sailors gave us a hearty welcome as we 
steamed in. 
The Uruguayan Government offered to send the trawler to 
Punta Arenas and have her dry-docked there and made ready 
for another effort. One of the troubles on the voyage was 
that according to estimate the trawler could do ten knots on 
six tons of coal a day, which would have given us a good margin 
to allow for lying off the ice ; but in reality, owing to the fact 
that she had not been in dock for a year, she only developed a 
speed of six knots on a consumption of ten tons a day. Time 
was precious and these preparations would have taken too long. 
I thanked the Government then for its very generous offer, 
and I want to say now that the kindness of the Uruguayans 
at this time earned my warmest gratitude. I ought to mention 
also the assistance given me by Lieut. Eyan, a Naval Keserve 
officer who navigated the trawler to the Falklands and came 
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