The mental challenges, by the accounts of the men who recorded them, were harder than the physical ones. As weeks became months and no ship appeared on the horizon, the question of whether the James Caird had made it became harder and harder to avoid. They had seen the boat disappear over the horizon on April 24. By August, they had been waiting for more than three months. The plan was, if rescue had not come by a certain point, to attempt a crossing to another island in the remaining boats. Wild did not say this plan might become necessary. He said, every morning, that today might be the day. He walked the shore. He kept the men occupied.
Every morning, Wild ordered the camp readied for embarkation. Every morning, they packed what needed packing and waited for the ship that might appear. The routine of preparation became its own form of hope.
On August 30, 1916, George Marston and Frank Hurley were the first to see it — a small ship coming through the fog toward the island. Wild gave the order to light the signal fire. The men piled blubber on the flames until the smoke rose high enough to be seen from the water.
The ship was the Yelcho.
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## The Attempts That Failed
The rescue of August 30 was the fourth attempt.
After reaching Stromness on May 20, Shackleton had sent Worsley with the whalers to retrieve the three men left at King Haakon Bay, and then had immediately turned to the problem of getting back to Elephant Island for the other 22. He secured a whaling boat, the Southern Sky, and departed on May 23. Three days out, pack ice stopped him. He reached the Falkland Islands on May 31 and tried to organize another vessel.