“It was during this month of June, that Drs Mcllroy and Macklin transformed our snuggery into an operating theatre and amputated the frost-bitten toes of our youngest member, Blackborrow, who had been suffering severely and was a chronic cripple. Wild and I acted as hospital orderlies and maintained the temperature of the ‘theatre’ at 50°, by stoking-up the bogie fire with penguin skins. In the dense smoke, by the feeble glimmer of blubber lamps, Macklin administered the chloroform and Mcllroy performed the operation which saved Blackborrow's leg if not indeed his life.”