But the _Pioneer_ had been damaged from the first, and could not go so
far. At Banner Cove the natives were hostile and troublesome, and
Spaniards' Harbour was the only refuge, and even there a furious wind, on
the 1st of February, drove the _Pioneer_ ashore against the jagged root
of a tree, so as to damage her past all her crew's power of mending,
though they hauled her higher up on the beach, and, by the help of a
tent, made a lodging for the night of the wreck close to the cave, which
they called after her name.

The question then was, whether to place all the seven in the _Speedwell_
with some of the provisions and make for Button Island, and this might
probably have saved their lives; but they had already experienced the
exceeding difficulty of navigating the launch in the heavy seas. Both
their landing boats were lost, and they therefore decided to remain where
they were until the arrival of the vessel with supplies, which they
confidently expected either from home or from the Falklands. Indeed,
their power of moving away was soon lost, for Williams, the surgeon, and
Badcock, one of the Cornishmen, both fell ill of the scurvy. The cold
was severe, and neither fresh meat nor green food was to be had, and this
in February--the southern August. However, the patients improved enough
to enable the party to make a last expedition to Banner Cove to recover
more of the provisions buried there, and to paint notices upon the rocks
to guide the hoped-for relief to Spaniards' Harbour; but this was not
effected without much molestation from the Fuegians. Then passed six
weary months of patient expectation and hope deferred. There was no
murmuring, no insubordination, while these seven men waited--waited--waited
in vain, through the dismal Antarctic winter for the relief that came too
late. The journals of Williams and Gardiner breathe nothing but hopeful,
resigned trust, and comfort in the heavenly-minded resolution of each of
the devoted band, who may almost be said to have been the Theban legion
of the nineteenth century.

For a month they were able to procure fish, and were not put on short
allowance till April, when Williams and Badcock both became worse, and
Bryant began to fail, though he never took to his bed. They, with Erwin,
were lodged in the _Speedwell_ at Blomfield Harbour, a sheltered inlet,
about a mile and a half from the wreck of the _Pioneer_, where, to leave
the sick more room, Captain Gardiner