I wanted a wooden ship capable
of pushing into loose ice, with fair speed and a reasonable coal
capacity. Messages of congratulation and goodwill were reaching me
from all parts of the world, and the kindness of hundreds of friends in
many lands was a very real comfort in a time of anxiety and stress.
The British Admiralty informed me that no suitable vessel was
available in England and that no relief could be expected before
October. I replied that October would be too late. Then the British
Minister in Montevideo telegraphed me regarding a trawler named
'Instituto de Pesca No. 1', belonging to the Uruguayan Government. She
was a stout little vessel, and the Government had generously offered to
equip her with coal, provisions, clothing, etc., and send her across to
the Falkland Islands for me to take down to Elephant Island. I
accepted this offer gladly, and the trawler was in Port Stanley on June
10. We started south at once.
The weather was bad but the trawler made good progress, steaming
steadily at about six knots, and in the bright, clear dawn of the third
day we sighted the peaks of Elephant Island. Hope ran high; but our
ancient enemy the pack was lying in wait, and within twenty miles of
the island the trawler was stopped by an impenetrable barrier of ice.
The pack lay in the form of a crescent, with a horn to the west of the
ship stretching north.
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