@ampman: Thanks for clarifying this. You seem to know heaps more about the subject than many a ppruner here. When you say:
The word "pretending" is accurate because Collins knew about white-out and knew that he would not have visual conditions below the cloud layer.
At that time of the year, what would you expect to see when looking straight down? Ice or water? Was there any chance that they could have distinguished the shoreline at Lewis Bay as they were approaching it or was it simply imperceptible?