By morning the leak was being kept in check.

The carpenter and his assistants caulked the coffer-dam with strips of blankets and nailed strips over the seams wherever possible.

The main or hand pump was frozen up and could not be used at once.

After it had been knocked out Worsley, Greenstreet, and Hudson went down in the bunkers and cleared the ice from the bilges.
"This is not a pleasant job," wrote Worsley.

"We have to dig a hole down through the coal while the beams and timbers groan and crack all around us like pistol-shots.