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After years at sea McNeish knew his naval law, and he was convinced that Endurance’s Ship’s Articles were canceled.

Paper in hand, in a quiet, steady voice, he read the Ship’s Articles, which each man had signed before leaving England.

The Ship’s Articles had not been terminated, and neither had the crew’s pay.

No one may leave or board a merchantman after 8 p.m., and any one who is not on the ship's articles cannot do so even in the daytime without a special permit from the custom-house.

A little mob of us, all strangers, shuffled after the Skipper’s spry heels that morning to the Board of Trade offices, where an official mumbled over the ship’s articles, to our shut ears, and we signed where we were told.