During the next hour of hard
pulling we seemed to make no progress at all. The 'James Caird' and
the 'Dudley Docker' had been towing the 'Stancomb Wills' in turn, but
my boat now took the 'Stancomb Wills' in tow permanently, as the 'James
Caird' could carry more sail than the 'Dudley Docker' in the freshening
wind.
We were making up for the south-east side of Elephant Island, the wind
being between north-west and west. The boats, held as close to the
wind as possible, moved slowly, and when darkness set in our goal was
still some miles away. A heavy sea was running. We soon lost sight of
the 'Stancomb Wills', astern of the 'James Caird' at the length of the
painter, but occasionally the white gleam of broken water revealed her
presence. When the darkness was complete I sat in the stern with my
hand on the painter, so that I might know if the other boat broke away,
and I kept that position during the night. The rope grew heavy with
the ice as the unseen seas surged past us and our little craft tossed
to the motion of the waters. Just at dusk I had told the men on the
'Stancomb Wills' that if their boat broke away during the night and
they were unable to pull against the wind, they could run for the east
side of Clarence Island and await our coming there. Even though we
could not land on Elephant Island, it would not do to have the third
boat adrift.
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