MACROBERTSON LAND AND KEMP LAND 173 



the MacKenzie Sea and due north of the station of the previous night. The following 

 morning a very dense area of grounded bergs was encountered off Cape Darnley, such 

 as the catcher 'Torlyn' met in February 1931. These were packed so closely that it was 

 necessary to run some way to the north to find a channel through them. Having cleared 

 this obstruction the ship returned to within sight of the coast and proceeded westwards, 

 passing through a large extent of pancake ice in the early stages of its formation. To the 

 east of Murray Monolith bare rock supporting an ice cliff was observed at sea level. 



At Scullin Monolith a landing was made and almost the whole ship's company went 

 ashore. Accounts of this and a second landing further west are given below (pp. 176-178). 

 Steaming through the night, from this point, a detour to the north was necessary to 

 avoid pack-ice off Cape Fletcher and the many off-lying islands and rocks present along 

 this coast. Clearly defined areas of closely packed bergs, believed to be grounded, were 

 encountered in the positions shown on the chart (Fig. 1) and soundings of 150 fathoms 

 and 75 fathoms made nearby. 



Land was again sighted to the southward early on the morning of 27 February, but 

 it was not until Sheehan Nunatak was visible and, when near enough to discount the 

 effects of mirage, seen to be wrongly represented on the chart, that course was altered 

 inshorewards. The ship now steamed southwards through an archipelago consisting of 

 many ice-free rocky islands and islets ranging up to 250 ft. in height and extending 

 northwards for about 13 miles from Sheehan Nunatak. Sheehan Nunatak was con- 

 sidered to be the most conspicuous of a group of larger islands closer inshore (Figs. 3 

 and 4). South and west of Sheehan Nunatak a bay was found running southwards for 

 about 5 miles to 67° 26' S in 59 40' E, where it was about 3! miles wide (Fig. 4). 

 Around this bay, William Scoresby Bay, were steep rock headlands and snow-free hills 

 up to about 700 ft. in height; between them the continental ice came down to the sea 

 in greater or smaller ice-cliffs. Soundings of 6h to 20 fathoms were obtained close in 

 shore and of 85 fathoms with a bottom of green mud, and 100 fathoms, no bottom, in 

 the middle of this bay. The number of rocks observed awash suggests that the bottom 

 is very irregular, and it is, no doubt, of a morainic character. In spite of this no suitable 

 anchorage was found, although the bay affords excellent shelter in any weather, and 

 many easy landing places. A landing was made on Bertha Island, which at the time 

 was thought to be the mainland. 



The west coast of the bay runs almost due north to Cape Wilkins (Cape Hearst in 

 Mawson's charts, Journ. Roy. Geog. Soc), and the following day, 28 February when 

 the ship proceeded, a similar bay was found to lie to the west of this point, but was 

 not entered: this was considered to be Mawson's Stefansson Bay. Continuing, the 

 coast was found to trend north-westwards to a cape in 67 05' S, 59 00' E, and from 

 this headland, which formed the eastern extremity of a shallow bight, the ' William 

 Scoresby', cruising along from 3 to 8 miles offshore, was able to observe the coast for a 

 distance of about 40 miles continuing the general east and west trend of MacRobertson 

 Land. Throughout this length it retained the same rocky character, with bold headlands 

 rising, dark and free of snow, to about 500 or 600 ft., between which were small pocket- 



