The carpenter mentioned
calmly that earlier in the day he had actually gone adrift on a
fragment of ice. He was standing near the edge of our camping-ground
when the ice under his feet parted from the parent mass. A quick jump
over the widening gap saved him.
The hours dragged on. One of the anxieties in my mind was the
possibility that we would be driven by the current through the eighty-
mile gap between Clarence Island and Prince George Island into the open
Atlantic; but slowly the open water came nearer, and at noon it had
almost reached us. A long lane, narrow but navigable, stretched out to
the south-west horizon. Our chance came a little later. We rushed our
boats over the edge of the reeling berg and swung them clear of the ice-
foot as it rose beneath them. The 'James Caird' was nearly capsized by
a blow from below as the berg rolled away, but she got into deep water.
We flung stores and gear aboard and within a few minutes were away. The
'James Caird' and 'Dudley Docker' had good sails and with a favourable
breeze could make progress along the lane, with the rolling fields of
ice on either side. The swell was heavy and spray was breaking over
the ice-floes. An attempt to set a little rag of sail on the 'Stancomb
Wills' resulted in serious delay. The area of sail was too small to be
of much assistance, and while the men were engaged in this work the
boat drifted down towards the ice-floe, where her position was likely
to be perilous.
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