The sight took a great load off my mind.
Rowing carefully and avoiding the blind rollers which showed where sunken rocks lay, we brought the 'Stancomb Wills' towards the opening in the reef.

Then, with a few strong strokes we shot through on the top of a swell and ran the boat on to a stony beach.

The next swell lifted her a little farther.

This was the first landing ever made on Elephant Island, and a thought came to me that the honour should belong to the youngest member of the Expedition, so I told Blackborrow to jump over.

He seemed to be in a state almost of coma, and in order to avoid delay I helped him, perhaps a little roughly, over the side of the boat.