166 FROM MADEIRA TO THE BARRIER 



For the first twenty-four hours after we entered the 

 ice it was so loose that we were able to hold our course 

 and keep up our speed for practically the whole time. 

 On the two following days things did not go quite so 

 smoothly; at times the lines of floes were fairly close, 

 and occasionally we had to go round. We did not 

 meet with any considerable obstruction, however; there 

 were always openings enough to enable us to keep 

 going. In the course of January 6 a change took place, 

 the floes became narrower and the leads broader. By 

 6 p.m. there was open sea on eveiy side as far as the eye 

 could reach. The day's observations gave our position 

 as lat. 70 S., long. 180 E. 



Our passage through the pack had been a four days' 

 pleasure trip, and I have a suspicion that several among 

 us looked back with secret regret to the cruise in smooth 

 water through the ice-floes when the swell of the open 

 Ross Sea gave the Fram another chance of showing 

 her rolling capabilities. 



But this last part of the voyage was also to be 

 favoured by fortune. These comparatively little-known 

 waters had no terrors to oppose to us. The weather 

 continued surprisingly fine; it could not have been 

 better on a summer trip in the North Sea. Of icebergs 

 there was practically none; a few quite small floebergs 

 were all we met with in the four days we took to cross 

 Ross Sea. 



About midday on January 11 a marked brightening 



