Endurance Part 4: 3-5, Lansing

After failing to reach a safe floe for two consecutive nights, Shackleton decided that it would be best for them to just stay in the boats until they found land. Shackleton changed their hopeful destination to Hope Bay. The weather became chillin and snow began to fall. To keep warm, the men took turns rowing. The only person who refused to row was Orde-Lees, who always complained that he either was not well enough to row or that he was an insufficient rower. Whatever the case, the men did not view this as fair, so they let Orde-Lees have it whenever they got the chance and always had an ad hominem argument. In all of the haste, the men forgot to bring along ice to melt for drinking purposes, so that was added into the equation. They were hungry, frozen, tired, and had no means of receiving water to quench the pallet. Once again the destination was changed; this time the destination was Elephant Island, which was only about 100 miles northwest. They set sail through the night, and within a couple of days could see elephant island a meer 30 miles in front of them. Worsley and Shackleton made the joint decision to split up and have the Caird and the Wills sail together and to have the Docker sail separately, that way at least some of the men would have a chance at finding land. The plan worked and after a hellish night sailing, the sunrise brought the men happiness; they were only about 100 yards away from land. By some miracle, all three ships docked on the same narrow strip of land. Lansing writes, "For the first time in 497 days they were on land. Soling, unsinkable, immovable, blessed land" (175). The men were as happy as a kid on Christmas morning.