Since leaving South Georgia in December 1915, the crew of the Endurance had just endured six days in open boats without adequate food, water or shelter and Elephant Island - though one of the starkest, most rugged and inhospitable islands in the South Atlantic - was a godsend. Immediately after the landing of all three boats soon after dawn, Charlie Green the cook prepared boiling hot milk for the men, followed by an orgy of penguin steaks. It was not until mid afternoon that they felt that they had eaten their fill.