288 THE VOYAGE OF THE 'DISCOVERY' [Aug. 



^August 19.— From the hills to-day I was astonished to see 

 that there was open water within nine or ten miles of us. It 

 cuts round close to the islets in Erebus Bay, and sweeps in a 

 curve across the strait ; and although young ice is again form- 

 ing, not a scrap of the old can be seen beyond this line. I do 

 not think that a ship was ever frozen in in polar regions with 

 the sea so constantly and completely clearing within view ; and 

 wholly ignorant as we were of these conditions on our arrival, 

 it is certainly providential that we should have fallen on such 

 a secure spot for our winter quarters. Except, perhaps, for 

 New Harbour on the opposite side of the strait, I doubt if 

 there is a place for many miles where we could have lain with- 

 out being subject to appalling dangers and difficulties. During 

 the gales our over-bold members have had difficulty in finding 

 their way back to the ship over the solid firm floe : what would 

 have been their case if these same gales had broken up the floe 

 and swept it away to the north ? 



' Shackleton has invented a new sledge, or rather a vehicle 

 to answer the same purpose, much to the amusement of his 

 messmates, who scoff unmercifully. The manufacture of this 

 strange machine has been kept the profoundest secret between 

 the inventor and the maker, our excellent carpenter. It was to 

 burst suddenly on our awestruck world, to carry immediate 

 conviction as it trundled easily over the floe, to revolutionise 

 all ideas of polar travelling, and once and for all to wipe the 

 obsolete sledge from off the surface of the snow. An inventor 

 in our community can make certain of receiving critical atten- 

 tion and outspoken advice, and in this case there was no 

 reticence at all. Advice was most freely given, but it was 

 generally to the effect that it would be kind to remove such an 

 eyesore by immediate burial and oblivion. But the inventor 

 refused to be drawn, and rolled his machine with difficulty, but 

 with the light of enthusiasm still burning in his eye. It was 

 the queerest sort of arrangement, consisting of two rum-barrels 

 placed one in front of the other and acting as wheels to a 

 framework on which the load was intended to be placed ; the 

 manner in which the whole machine wobbled as it was pushed 





