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State Library of NSW
Collection Item
Diary of Frank Hurley14 April 1916
Sir E & self snuggling together for warmth.
Sleep was however more distant than [indecipherable] on the stern sheets for the cold wet penetrated to ones backbone &; all shivered as with ague.
14 April 1916 Friday
Welcome dawn! & with it something even more welcome a glimpse of land! Clarence &; Elephant Islands immediately ahead some 30 miles. What a contrast to the Terrors of the night. Calm & peaceful the sun rose from out the ocean with the promised land ahead, tipping the peaks of Clarence Island, till it resembled a vast gilt pyramid peering through the pink mists of dawn.
As Elephant appeared closest, it was decided to make all speed for its shores. With a light fresh breeze the three boats made fair progress, but at noon the breeze calming we took to rowing. How anxiously we watched the land gradually loom clearer & the details of the snowy peaks assume finite detail.
At 3 pm we were but 10 miles from land when it was observed that row as strenuously as we could we were making no headway. This disheartening circumstance was caused by a strong