Hut where I found that full preparations had been
made for wintering a second year. The weather was calm and the Ship was
no distance away so I decided to recall her by wireless. The masts at
the Hut had been re-erected during the summer, and on board the 'Aurora'
Hannam was provided with a wireless receiving set. Jeffryes had arranged
with Hannam to call up at 8, 9 and 10 P.M. for several evenings while
the 'Aurora' was "within range" in case there were any news of my party.
A message recalling the Ship was therefore sent off and repeated at
frequent intervals till past midnight.

Next morning there was a forty-mile wind when we went outside, but away
across Commonwealth Bay to the west the 'Aurora' could be seen close to
the face of the ice-cliffs. She had returned in response to the call and
was steaming up and down, waiting for the wind to moderate.

We immediately set to work getting all the records, instruments and
personal gear ready to be taken down to the boat harbour in anticipation
of calm weather during the day.

The wind chose to continue and towards evening was in the sixties, while
the barometer fell. During the afternoon Hodgeman went across to the
western ridge and saw that the Ship was still in the Bay. The sea was so
heavy that the motor-boat could never have lived through it.

That night Jeffryes sent another message, which we learned afterwards
was not received, in which Captain Davis was given the option of
remaining until calm weather supervened or of leaving at once for the
Western Base. I felt that the decision should be left to him, as he
could appreciate exactly the situation of the Western Base and what the
Ship could be expected to do amid the ice at that season of the year.
The time was already past when, according to my written instructions
left for him on arrival at Commonwealth Bay, the 'Aurora' should sail
west to relieve Wild and his party.

On the morning of the 10th there was no sign of the Ship and evidently
Captain Davis had decided to wait no longer, knowing that further delay
would endanger the chances of picking up the eight men who had elected
to winter on the shelf-ice one thousand five hundred miles to the
west. At such a critical moment determination, fearless and swift, was
necessary, and, in coming to his momentous decision, Captain Davis acted
well and for the best interests of the Expedition.

A long voyage lay before the 'Aurora' through many miles of ice-strewn