"I am afraid it is all up with the ship"
McNeish's Journal, October 24, 1915
"I dont know what Lat we are in at present but things looks a bit serious now I have built a coffer dam in the engine room & we are still managing to keep the water down with the pumps Sir Ernest & most of the hands are packing sledges I am afraid it is all up with the ship."
Orde-Lees' Journal, October 25, 1915
The carpenter turned to like a trojan & has worked continuously for 48 hrs building a coffer dam across the inside of the stern of the ship with a view to minimise the leakage & with so much success already that it has at any rate considerably reduced it. We shifted all stores from aft foreward so as to be able to get the stern out of the water as soon as the ice opens enough to float us again. What with alternate quarter hours on the pump and shifting gear all day it has been hard work, but the life of the ship & ourselves depends upon it and we all work with a will.