CHAPTER XII 
ELEPHANT ISLAND 
The twenty-two men who liad been left behind on Elephant 
Island were under the command of Wild, in whom I had 
absolute confidence, and the account of their experiences during 
the long four and a half months' wait while I was trying to get 
help to them, I have secured from their various diaries, sup- 
plemented by details which I obtained in conversation on the 
voyage back to civilization. 
The first consideration, which was even more important 
than that of food, was to provide shelter. The semi-starvation 
during the drift on the ice-floe, added to the exposure in the 
boats, and the inclemencies of the weather encountered after 
our landing on Elephant Island, had left its mark on a good 
many of them. Rickenson, who bore up gamely to the last, 
collapsed from heart-failure. Blackborrow and Hudson could 
not move. All were frost-bitten in varying degrees ; and their 
clothes, which had been worn continuously for six months, were 
much the worse for wear. The blizzard which sprang up the 
day that we landed at Cape Wild lasted for a fortnight, often 
blowing at the rate of seventy to ninety miles an hour, and 
occasionally reaching even higher figures. The tents which 
had lasted so well and endured so much were torn to ribbons, 
with the exception of the square tent occupied by Hurley, 
James, and Hudson. Sleeping-bags and clothes were wringing 
wet, and the physical discomforts were tending to produce 
acute mental depression. The two remaining boats had been 
turned upside down with one gunwale resting on the snow, and 
the other raised about two feet on rocks and cases, and under 
these the sailors and some of the scientists, with the two invalids, 
Rickenson and Blackborrow, found head-cover at least. Shelter 
from the weather and warmth to dry their clothes was impera- 
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