All were frost-bitten in varying degrees and their clothes,
which had been worn continuously for six months, were much the worse
for wear. The blizzard which sprang up the day that we landed at Cape
Wild lasted for a fortnight, often blowing at the rate of seventy to
ninety miles an hour, and occasionally reaching even higher figures.
The tents which had lasted so well and endured so much were torn to
ribbons, with the exception of the square tent occupied by Hurley,
James, and Hudson. Sleeping-bags and clothes were wringing wet, and
the physical discomforts were tending to produce acute mental
depression. The two remaining boats had been turned upside down with
one gunwale resting on the snow, and the other raised about two feet on
rocks and cases, and under these the sailors and some of the
scientists, with the two invalids, Rickenson and Blackborrow, found
head-cover at least. Shelter from the weather and warmth to dry their
clothes was imperative, so Wild hastened the excavation of the ice-cave
in the slope which had been started before I left.
The high temperature, however, caused a continuous stream of water to
drip from the roof and sides of the ice-cave, and as with twenty-two
men living in it the temperature would be practically always above
freezing, there would have been no hope of dry quarters for them there.
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