I9I0] STREAK OF BAD LUCK 35 



tlonally shy; they appear to be attracted to the ship by a fearful 

 curiosity/ 



A chain of bergs must form a great obstruction to a field 

 of pack ice, largely preventing its drift and forming lanes of 

 open water. Taken in conjunction with the effect of bergs in 

 forming pressure ridges, it follows that bergs have a great 

 influence on the movement as well as the nature of pack. 



Thursday, December 22. — Noon 68° 26' 2" S., 197° 8' 5" 

 W. Sit. N. 5 E. 8.5'. — No change. The wind still steady from 

 the S.W., with a clear sky and even barometer. It looks as 

 though it might last any time. This is sheer bad luck. We 

 have let the fires die out; there are bergs to leeward and we 

 must take our chance of clearing them — we cannot go on wasting 

 coal. 



There is not a vestige of swell, and with the wind in this 

 direction there certainly ought to be if the open water was 

 reasonably close. No, it looks as though we'd struck a streak 

 of real bad luck; that fortune has determined to put every 

 difliculty in our path. We have less than 300 tons of coal left 

 in a ship that simply eats coal. It's alarming — and then there 

 are the ponies going steadily down hill in condition. The only 

 encouragement is the persistence of open water to the east and 

 south-east to south; big lanes of open water can be seen in that 

 position, but we cannot get to them in this pressed up pack. 



Atkinson has discovered a new tapeworm in the intestines 

 of the Adelie penguin — a very tiny worm one-eighth of an inch 

 in length with a propeller-shaped head. 



A crumb of comfort comes on finding that we have not 

 drifted to the eastward appreciably. 



Friday, December 23. — The wind fell light at about ten last 

 night and the ship swung round. Sail was set on the fore, and 

 she pushed a few hundred yards to the north, but soon became 

 jammed again. This brought us dead to windward of and close 

 to a large berg with the wind steadily increasing. Not a very 

 pleasant position, but also not one that caused much alarm. 

 We set all sail, and with this help the ship slowly carried the 

 pack round, pivoting on the berg until, as the pressure relieved, 

 she slid out into the open water close to the berg. Here it was 

 possible to ' wear ship,' and we saw a fair prospect of getting 

 away to the east and afterwards south. Following the leads up 



