Orde-Lees Journal, 28 October 1915
We had been asleep only one & a half hours when at 2:30 a.m. the floe split in half right through the line of tents (five of them) narrowly missing one of the boats.
We were all up instantly and once more shifted everything over a rapidly widening crack still further ahead of the ship which was now visibly sinking bows first.
We turned in again at 3:30 a.m. but, with the thermometer standing at -16, the few odd blankets we had been able to bring from the ship in our hurry were insufficient to induce much slumber in spite of being as exhausted as we were.
Sir Ernest walked about all night, I believe, and he must have had plenty to think about.
Last night I happened to ask him if he had remembered to save a particularly valuable & beautiful gold cigarette case of his which I have often admired. "I hope you haven't lost that cigarette case.", I said tentatively, "Cigarette case be blowed, I've just lost a bally ship haven't I?", he very appropriately replied.
We were roused at 7:30 a.m., Hurley, I believe, having got ready a good hoosh of sledging ration (14 - 8 oz. rations) cooked over a wood & blubber fire lighted with petrol. It was extremely acceptable after such a night of cold & disturbances.
The ship appeared to be sinking more & more being now well down by the bows. There was no hope of saving anything from below even if we had wanted to. The cracking of her timbers all through last night & today has been terrible; the ice was over riding her fore deck & had smashed in the wardroom; and at 11 a.m. the yards on her foremast carried away, owing to the pressure of the ice against her stays & sides, foremast & main-mast being twisted out of her about noon, both falling on the floe on the starboard sides.
Everyone was hard at work sorting out the sledging stores & making them up into sledge loads for our intended march. I put a few missing bolts into the aero-sledge on which was mounted one of the boats, and a makeshift sledge was improvised for the other boat from two dog sledges side by side together with the runners of the motor tractor sledge.
Marston, who has all along been in charge of clothing, tents, etc., was very busy serving us out with new polar clothing for our journey.
In the afternoon every one was in their tents making up their own little private bundles of spare clothing, repairing their old gear & sewing pockets onto their jerseys in which to carry knife, spoon, etc. We were served out with aluminum mugs & a big stew pot to each tent.