248 SCOTT'S LAST EXPEDITION [FEBRUARY 
be done till the morning, and so the night was spent trawling and 
swinging for variation. A sounding gave 178 fathoms. The 
trawl was particularly interesting and made ample amends for 
the delay. As soon as it was light enough to see, we tried to close 
the land as the pack did not look especially heavy. Clouds still 
hid all except the lower land. 
An hour and a half showed the futility of attempting to get 
through, and at 5 A.M. the attempt was given up, the ship being 
then 8000 yards from the end of a glacier tongue and in 134 
fathoms of water. This tongue appeared to run down from 
ee snow-covered rounded hills, while behind it a rugged 
eb. 23, p : 
rorr, 69° 29’ Tange of hills ran down to a point, apparently form- 
S., 162° 49' ing the eastern point of a large bay, as away to the 
Hh west could be seen high cliffs with outcroppings of 
rock, but everything in that direction was much obscured by mist 
or haze. The ship’s position, fixed by sun and moon, was 69° 
Heya pos) 17 E. 
Forty-seven icebergs could be counted from this spot, all 
being in the pack and probably mostly aground. This trend of 
the land to the northward would well account for the hang of 
the pack and icebergs north of North Cape. 
At 8 A.M. the ship started to skirt the pack to the westward, 
noting what details could be made out of the coast, which were 
not many. ‘The routine now was for Rennick to sound every 
forenoon and middle watch, and if in comparatively shallow 
water, as often as time could be spared. The sounding-machine 
was worked by hand, and on many nights was a cold and patience: 
trying job. 
As she worked westward the pack pressed the ship out from 
Paes the land, and in the afternoon a light fog and snow 
ror, 69° 4 came down again. In the middle watch it blew a 
S., 161° 19' strong wind from the S.E., with thick snow, and she 
a was hove to. 
The snow stopped about 8 a.Mm., but the day was dull and 
one could not see far. Course was shaped S.S.W. and by 2 
es the Terra Nova was stopped by pack with what ap- 
£0. 25, . ° 
rorr, 68° so’ peared to be a miniature archipelago close to the 
S.,159° 11' southward. ‘These turned out to be icebergs, prob- 
th ably aground, and some of large size, but when this 
was discovered the weather brightened and a cliffy coast-line was 
