I9IO] A CALM 



49 



under-estimated and so it has proved. We ought to be off C. 

 Crozier on New Year's Day. 



8 P.M. — Our calm soon came to an end, the breeze at 3 p.m. 

 coming strong from the S.S.W., dead in our teeth — a regular 

 southern blizzard. We are creeping along a bare 2 knots. I 

 begin to wonder if fortune will ever turn her wheel. On every 

 possible occasion she seems to have decided against us. Of 

 course, the ponies are feeling the motion as we pitch in a short, 

 sharp sea — it's damnable for them and disgusting for us. 



Summary of the Pack 



We may be said to have entered the pack at 4 P.M. on the 

 9th in latitude 6^y2 S. We left it at i A.M. on 30th in latitude 

 71^5. We have taken twenty days and some odd hours to get 

 through, and covered in a direct line over 370 miles — an average 

 of 18 miles a day. We entered the pack with 342 tons of coal 

 and left with 281 tons; we have, therefore, expended 61 tons 

 in forcing our way through — an average of 6 miles to the ton. 



These are not pleasant figures to contemplate, but consider- 

 ing the exceptional conditions experienced I suppose one must 

 conclude that things might have been worse. 



9th. Loose streams, steaming. 19th. Noon, heavy pack and 

 loth. Close pack. leads, steaming. 



These columns show that we were steaming for nine out of 

 twenty days. We had two long stops, one of five days and one 

 of four and a half days. On three other occasions we stopped 

 for short intervals without drawing fires. 



VOL. I — ^4 



