“We cut off the topsides and took out all the moveable gear. Then we waited for Byron’s “great ninth wave,” and when it lifted the James Caird in we held her and, by dint of great exertion, worked her round broadside to the sea. Inch by inch we dragged her up until we reached the fringe of the tussock grass and knew that the boat was above the high-water mark.

“The completion of this job removed our immediate anxieties, and we were free to examine our surroundings and plan the next move.”

– Ernest Shackleton, South