Editor's Note: Orde-Lees began his diary as an extended letter to his wife. This is one of those diary entries where that's particularly noticeable.
Orde-Lees' Journal - November 17, 1915
Temperature +22 about.
Same weather as yesterday but more sun. Things left out to "air" dried off splendidly.
My object in going over to the wreck two days ago was to reach the site of what we call the Dump Camp, because it was there that we abandoned all but the barest necessary personal belongings - and endeavour to retrieve some boot-repairing material, and in this I was actually successful. I also exhumed four tin cake moulds which I can use as plates & add very materially to our comfort. Hitherto we have been using little square pieces of Venesta 3 plywood which having no rim, were not entirely satisfactory.
Everything at the dump camp is under a mantle of snow & frozen in hard. Many articles by thaw & radiation having buried themselves more than a foot deep and to locate any particular article is a matter of considerable difficulty. The recovery of a small article is entirely a matter of chance. My fountain pen - a Swan - was still in my poor old suitcase so I had little difficulty in rescuing it, but I was unable to find my Cygnet stylo of which I was particularly anxious to regain possession as it writes so much more fluently than the nibbed pens & is far more economical in ink. I also searched long & arduously for my bottle of Swan ink in its red wooden case but without success.
A couple of small hand towels of my own, several pieces of Burberry patching material & some straps and 7 tiny packets of Motherwell's sea sick specific were my total bag, with the exception of two blankets that I brought back at Mr. Wild's direction.
It is a truly lamentable spectacle this dump camp, second only to the wreck itself as a monument of utter desolation with its costly instruments, expensive clothing & hundred & one things that make up one's personal belongings scattered about in the wildest confusion. Nothing is anybody's, anything is everybody's & so everybody takes everything they can find and carry.
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