By 23 August, it seemed that Wild's no-stockpiling policy had failed. The surrounding sea was dense with pack ice that would halt any rescue ship, food supplies were running out and no penguins were coming ashore. Orde-Lees wrote: "We shall have to eat the one who dies first [...] there's many a true word said in jest".[104] Wild's thoughts were now seriously turning to the possibility of a boat trip to Deception Island—he planned to set out on 5 October, in the hope of meeting a whaling ship—[105] when, on 30 August 1916, the ordeal ended suddenly with the appearance of Shackleton and Yelcho.[106]