“The site chosen for the hut was the spot where the stove had been originally erected on the night of our arrival.  It lay between two large boulders, which, if they would not actually form the walls of the hut, would at least provide a valuable protection from the wind.  Further protection was provided to the north by a hill called Penguin Hill at the end of the spit.  As soon as the walls were completed and squared off, the two boats were laid upside down on them side by side.  The exact adjustment of the boats took some time, but was of paramount importance if our structure was to be the permanent affair that we hoped it would be.  Once in place they were securely chocked up and lashed down to the rocks.  The few pieces of wood that we had were laid across from keel to keel, and over this the material of one of the torn tents was spread and secured with guys to the rocks.  The walls were ingeniously contrived and fixed up by Marston.  First he cut the now useless tents into suitable lengths; then he cut the legs of a pair of seaboots into narrow strips, and using these in much the same way that the leather binding is put round the edge of upholstered chairs, he nailed the tent-cloth all round the insides of the outer gunwales of the two boats in such a way that it hung down like a valance to the ground, where it was secured with spars and oars.  A couple of overlapping blankets made the door, superseded later by a sack-mouth door cut from one of the tents.  This consisted of a sort of tube of canvas sewn on to the tent-cloth, through which the men crawled in or out, tying it up as one would the mouth of a sack as soon as the man had passed through.  It is certainly the most convenient and efficient door for these conditions that has ever been invented.

“Whilst the side walls of the hut were being fixed, others proceeded to fill the interstices between the stones of the end walls with snow.  As this was very powdery and would not bind well, we eventually had to supplement it with the only spare blanket and an overcoat.  All this work was very hard on our frost-bitten fingers, and materials were very limited.

“At last all was completed and we were invited to bring in our sodden bags, which had been lying out in the drizzling rain for several hours; for the tents and boats that had previously sheltered them had all been requisitioned to form our new residence.

“We took our places under Wild’s direction.  There was no squabbling for best places, but it was noticeable that there was something in the nature of a rush for the billets up on the thwarts of the boats.