But the thoughts that came to me as I walked up and down in the darkness were not particularly cheerful.

The task now was to secure the safety of the party, and to that I must bend my energies and mental power and apply every bit of knowledge that experience of the Antarctic had given me.

The task was likely to be long and strenuous, and an ordered mind and a clear programme were essential if we were to come through without loss of life.

A man must shape himself to a new mark directly the old one goes to ground.
At midnight I was pacing the ice, listening to the grinding floe and to the groans and crashes that told of the death-agony of the 'Endurance', when I noticed suddenly a crack running across our floe right through the camp.

The alarm-whistle brought all hands tumbling out, and we moved the tents and stores lying on what was now the smaller portion of the floe to the larger portion.