The 'Dudley Docker' came next to the 'James Caird' and the 'Stancomb Wills' followed.

I had given order that the boats should keep 30 or 40 yds.

apart, so as to reduce the danger of a collision if one boat was checked by the ice.

The pack was thinning, and we came to occasional open areas where thin ice had formed during the night.

When we encountered this new ice we had to shake the reef out of the sails in order to force a way through.
Outside of the pack the wind must have been of hurricane force.
Thousands of small dead fish were to be seen, killed probably by a cold current and the heavy weather.