1911] ROBERTSON BAY 69 
July 10.—The days are already a little lighter, and we are 
making ready our sledging equipment, for on the 28th of this 
month I propose making an expedition into Robertson Bay for 
a week to see what sort of surface to expect up the coast, the 
pressure all round our beach and Cape Adare being very bad. 
We have seen several Antarctic petrels, and it is hard to 
account for these birds down here in the middle of winter, unless 
there is open water a little north of us. 
July 29.—Priestley, Abbott, and I left the hut for our short 
expedition into Robertson Bay. 
Taking provisions for a fortnight, we left about 8 A.M., when 
it was beginning to get light. The surface was appalling, and in 
spite of our light sledge (400 lbs.) it took us three days to 
reach Duke of York Island, a distance of 22 miles by the route 
we took to avoid the bad pressure. ‘The salt-flecked smooth ice, 
being very sticky, was much heavier going even than the pres- 
sure ice. 
We spent a day at Duke of York Island collecting, and 
started back at daybreak, August 2. During the day the weather 
looked so threatening I made for the cliffs just south of Warn- 
ing Glacier to get some shelter in case of a blizzard. We got 
some heavy squalls and drift in the afternoon, which nearly made 
us camp, but keeping on we reached land about 5.30, camping 
between two high pressure ridges under the cliffs. The noise of 
the wind in the bay was terrific, and we were thankful to have got 
some shelter. After supper we turned in, and being tired after 
our hard pull were soon asleep. I was awakened about 9 P.M. 
by a tremendous din, and found the lee skirting of the tent had 
blown out from under the heavy ice blocks we had piled on it, 
and the tent poles were bending under the weight of wind. We 
just had time to roll out of our bags and hang on to the skirting 
or the tent would have gone. Taking advantage of a lull we got 
out and piled more ice on the skirting, but even that was not 
enough, and we spent a miserable night hanging on to the skirt- 
ing of the tent. The blizzard dropped by noon the next day, 
and by one o’clock we were off again, camping at 5.30, when 
it was too dark to go on. 
Starting again just before daybreak on the 4th, we reached 
the hut the same evening. The temperatures we experienced 
were not low, the lowest being — 26-8° F. 
