“Pray God we may find a landing here and so be off this drifting uncontrollable pack, taking us we know not where, and in spite of any efforts we may attempt to make…But we are in the hands of a Higher Power, and puny mortals that we are, can do nothing to help ourselves against these colossal forces of nature. If we fail to make a landing, and it is quite likely, I think it might be a good plan to make an effort to get on a berg. Indeed many of us have talked and wished for this for many weeks now, but of course there are other more weighty opinions.”

— Alexander Macklin

“Those opinions belong to Ernest Shackleton.”

— Alfred Lansing, Endurance

“There has been some discussion in the camp as to the advisability of making one of the bergs our home for the time being and drifting with it to the west. The idea is not sound. I cannot be sure that the berg would drift in the right direction. If it did move west and carried us into the open water, what would be our fate when we tried to launch the boats down the steep sides of the berg in the sea swell after the surrounding floes had left us? One must reckon, too, the chance of the berg splitting or even overturning during our stay… No, I do not like the idea of drifting on a berg.”

— Ernest Shackleton, South