one hundred miles.

At one o'clock on the morning of January 18, de la Motte, the officer on
watch, reported that a party could be seen descending the glacier. This
proved to be Bickerton, Hodgeman and Whetter returning from their trip
along the west coast. Thus Dr. Mawson's party was the only one which had
not yet returned.

All day work on the wireless mast went along very satisfactorily, while
Captain James Davis and Chief Officer Fletcher spent their time in the
launch dragging for the cable lost on the morning of our arrival.
The launch returned at 10.30 P.M. and Captain Davis reported that the
grapnel had been buoyed until operations could be resumed.

On January 19 we tried to recover the chain, and to this end the
'Aurora' was taken over to the position where the grapnels had
been buoyed and was anchored. All efforts to secure the chain were
unsuccessful. At 7 P.M. we decided to return to our former position,
having a hard job to raise the anchor, which appeared to have dragged
under a big rock. Finally it broke away and came up in a mass of kelp,
and with the stock "adrift." The latter was secured and we steamed back,
"letting go" in eleven fathoms with ninety fathoms of chain.

When Dr. Mawson's party was a week overdue, I considered that the
time had arrived to issue a provisional notice to the members of the
Expedition at Commonwealth Bay concerning the establishment of a relief
party to operate from the Main Base.

A party of four left the Hut on the 20th, keeping a sharp look-out to
the south-east for any signs of the missing party. They travelled as
far as the air-tractor sledge which had been abandoned ten miles to the
south, bringing it back to the Hut.

I decided to remain at Commonwealth Bay until January 30. If the
leader's party had not returned by that day, a search party was to
proceed eastward while the 'Aurora' sailed for Wild's Base. From the
reports of the gales which prevailed during the month of March in 1912,
and considering the short daylight there was at that time, I felt that
it would be risking the lives of all on board to return to the Main Base
after relieving Wild's party. I resolved, therefore, to wait _as long as
possible_. As a result of a consultation with Madigan and Bage, I had a
provisional notice drafted, to be posted up in the Hut on January 22.

This notice was to the effect that the non-arrival of the leader's
party rendered it necessary to prepare for the establish