Some of the men had to stand by the oars in order to pole the boats off the cliff-face.
After half an hour's pause I gave the order to start again.

The 'Dudley Docker' was pulling with three oars, as the 'Stancomb Wills' had the odd one, and she fell away to leeward in a particularly heavy squall.

I anxiously watched her battling up against wind and sea.

It would have been useless to take the 'James Caird' back to the assistance of the 'Dudley Docker' since we were hard pressed to make any progress ourselves in the heavier boat.

The only thing was to go ahead and hope for the best.