27th October 1915

The end came at last at about 5pm; she was doomed. No ship built by human hands could have withstood the strain. I ordered all hands onto floe. As the ice near us was cracking, we started to sledge the most important gear onto another, more stable looking floe. All the faces of the 28 men were shivering and looked like they were going to freeze. The faces around me looked scared, worried but we must continue.

28th October 1915

She was almost beautiful, if not for the freezing conditions. Encased in ice, with frozen protrusions hooking her into the wasteland of pack ice. She was almost part of it. I hoped we wouldn’t join her...

The piercing weather bit through the layers of clothes - right down to the bones - as if they weren’t even there. We had a little shelter next to her and the conditions on the vast open ice was harsh. A small party was sent to find a better place to camp.

A few hours later, Ocean Camp was set up about a mile and a half from her now splintered and shattered carcass. The tents formed into a semi-circle; flanked by giant sea ice on either side.

29th October 1915

We all watched on from Ocean Camp as the last remains of her sank beneath the ice. Gone forever. A feeling of foreboding sat in the pit of my stomach. I was in charge of these 27 lives and had a responsibility to them and their families to keep them alive: this was my new priority. However, nobody knows that she is gone. Nobody knows we are trapped. We are alone.

‘Is this really how it ends?’ I whispered whilst looking up to the empty and cloudless sky.