They did not quite understand what work we had done for them
in the early dawn, and I heard Wild say, "If any of you gentlemen would
like your boots cleaned just put them outside." This was his gentle
way of reminding them that a little thanks will go a long way on such
occasions.
The cook prepared breakfast, which consisted of biscuit and hoosh, at
8 a.m., and I then went over to the 'Endurance' again and made a fuller
examination of the wreck. Only six of the cabins had not been pierced
by floes and blocks of ice. Every one of the starboard cabins had been
crushed. The whole of the after part of the ship had been crushed
concertina fashion. The forecastle and the Ritz were submerged, and
the wardroom was three-quarters full of ice. The starboard side of the
wardroom had come away. The motor-engine forward had been driven
through the galley. Petrol-cases that had been stacked on the fore-
deck had been driven by the floe through the wall into the wardroom and
had carried before them a large picture. Curiously enough, the glass of
this picture had not been cracked, whereas in the immediate
neighbourhood I saw heavy iron davits that had been twisted and bent
like the ironwork of a wrecked train. The ship was being crushed
remorselessly.
Under a dull, overcast sky I returned to camp and examined our
situation.
Pages:
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152