CHAPTER XII.
ELEPHANT ISLAND The twenty-two men who had been left behind on Elephant Island were under the command of Wild, in whom I had absolute confidence, and the account of their experiences during the long four and a half months' wait while I was trying to get help to them, I have secured from their various diaries, supplemented by details which I obtained in conversation on the voyage back to civilization.
The first consideration, which was even more important than that of food, was to provide shelter.

The semi-starvation during the drift on the ice-floe, added to the exposure in the boats, and the inclemencies of the weather encountered after our landing on Elephant Island, had left its mark on a good many of them.

Rickenson, who bore up gamely to the last, collapsed from heart-failure.

Blackborrow and Hudson could not move.

All were frost-bitten in varying degrees and their clothes, which had been worn continuously for six months, were much the worse for wear.