But some smiles were caused even then by the plight of one
man, who had a habit of accumulating bits of food against the day of
starvation that he seemed always to think was at hand, and who was
condemned now to watch impotently while hungry comrades with
undisturbed stomachs made biscuits, rations, and sugar disappear with
extraordinary rapidity.
We ran before the wind through the loose pack, a man in the bow of
each boat trying to pole off with a broken oar the lumps of ice that
could not be avoided. I regarded speed as essential. Sometimes
collisions were not averted. The 'James Caird' was in the lead, where
she bore the brunt of the encounter with lurking fragments, and she was
holed above the water-line by a sharp spur of ice, but this mishap did
not stay us. Later the wind became stronger and we had to reef sails,
so as not to strike the ice too heavily. The 'Dudley Docker' came next
to the 'James Caird' and the 'Stancomb Wills' followed. I had given
order that the boats should keep 30 or 40 yds. apart, so as to reduce
the danger of a collision if one boat was checked by the ice. The pack
was thinning, and we came to occasional open areas where thin ice had
formed during the night. When we encountered this new ice we had to
shake the reef out of the sails in order to force a way through.
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