THROUGH THE PACK 187 



procedure naturally had the effect of making the course 

 somewhat crooked, but to make up for this it had 

 always resulted in his finding open water. On this trip 

 we reached the edge of the pack-ice belt three days 

 after leaving the Barrier. The position of the belt 

 proved to be very nearly the same as on previous 

 passages. After we had held our course for some hours, 

 however, the ice became so thick that it looked badly for 

 our further progress. Now was the time to try Nilsen's 

 method: the wind, which, by the way, was quite light, 

 came about due west, and accordingly the helm was put 

 to starboard and the bow turned to the west. For a 

 good while we even steered true south, but it proved 

 that this fairly long turn had not been made in vain; 

 after we had worked our way to windward for a few 

 hours, we found openings in numbers. If we had held 

 our course as we began, it is not at all impossible that 

 we should have been delayed for a long time, with 

 a free passage a few miles away. 



After having accomplished this first long turn, we 

 escaped having to make any more in future. The ice 

 continued slack, and on February 6 the rapidly increas- 

 ing swell told us that we had done with the Antarctic 

 drift-ice for good. I doubt if we saw a single seal during 

 our passage through the ice-belt this time; and if we 

 had seen any, we should scarcely have allowed the time 

 for shooting them. There was plenty of good food both 

 for men and dogs this time, without our ha\ang recourse 



