1904] FINAL BREAK-UP OF THE ICE 257 



fancy another long wait for a swell, yet one has to remember 

 that appearances are very different from what they were two 

 nights ago.' 



^February 13. — Thick weather again to-day ; have seen 

 or heard nothing from the ice-edge. Very anxious for a 

 clearance.' 



^February 14. — So much has happened to-night that I 

 have some difficulty in remembering the events of the day. 

 This morning the wind was strong from the south-east and 

 carried a good deal of drift ; although one could see the relief 

 ships, one could not make out what was happening with 

 regard to the work, or whether the ice was breaking away. 

 The afternoon found us in very much the same condition, 

 and even by dinner-time we had no definite news. 



' It was not until we were quietly eating this meal that the 

 excitement first commenced, when we heard a shout on deck 

 and a voice sang out down the hatchway, "The ships are 

 coming, sir ! " 



' There was no more dinner, and in one minute we were 

 racing for Hut Point, where a glorious sight met our view. 

 The ice was breaking up right across the strait, and with a 

 rapidity which we had not thought possible. No sooner was 

 one great floe borne away than a dark streak cut its way into 

 the solid sheet that remained and carved out another, to feed 

 the broad stream of pack which was hurrying away to the 

 north-west. 



* I have never witnessed a more impressive sight -, the sun 

 was low behind us, the surface of the ice-sheet in front was 

 intensely white, and in contrast the distant sea and its forking 

 leads looked almost black. The wind had fallen to a calm, 

 and not a sound disturbed the stillness about us. 



' Yet in the midst of this peaceful silence was an awful 

 unseen agency rending that great ice-sheet as though it had 

 been naught but the thinnest paper. We knew well by this 

 time the nature of our prison bars ; we had not plodded again 

 and again over those long dreary miles of snow without 

 realising the formidable strength of the great barrier which 



VOL. II. s 



