Report on the expedition. 129 
We reached the depot on Haystack Nov. 15th and headed over the 
packice for Shannon Island. The ice was very bad, rough and hilly 
and covered with deep snow, and our progress was consequently so poor 
that on Nov. 18th, after three days’ sledging, we had only advanced 
about 15 miles from Haystack. А succession of gales and cloudy, dark 
weather with a heavy snow-fall compelled us to remain in our tent from 
Nov. 19th to 23rd. We had eaten all our food on Nov. 23rd, when we 
were compelled to leave the tent and our outfit for the second time, 
but the weather fortunately became calmer so as to enable us to walk 
to Shannon Island. The night between Nov. 23rd and Nov. 24th we 
spent in a hole dug out in the snow, as it was too dark to walk, because 
the moon had hidden behind some heavy clouds. At midnight the 
weather cleared, and we continued our walk without any more 
stoppages, until on Nov. 25th at 5 a.m., 43 hours after we had left 
our tent on the ice, we reached the house built by our comrades in 
our old winter-harbour. The ship had sunk during our absence. 
On Shannon Island and Bass Rock 
from November 25th 1910—July 19th 1912. 
We remained in our winter-quarter on the north-eastern point of 
Shannon Island from the date of our arrival (Nov. 25th 1910) to 
March 17th 1911, in all a hundred and twelve days. 
Generally speaking the weather was very stormy during the 112 days. 
The wind was almost continually blowing from the north and as a 
rule with a great velocity, which, however, might be due to the exposed 
situation of our winter-quarter. 
The cold was not particularly severe, as the temperature did not 
fall below — 38° C, and in one case, on January 2nd, it rose to — 695. 
The wind was slight and blowing from the south, where there must 
have been a large area of open water in order to influence the tempera- 
ture to such a degree. The temperature fell from — 8°2 to — 18°5C. 
between 7 p.m. and 8 p. m., when the wind changed to the north after 
a short lull. 
It was remarkable to see the effect of the large rise of temperature 
on the rocks in our vicinity, which became glazed by a whitish ice, so 
that the whole rocky promontory, when seen at a short distance, seemed 
covered with a fine, powdery snow. Towards evening the glaze on the 
rocks had a thickness of 1№—2 mm, and traces of it were still to be 
found about a week later. 
Save for the foxes, of which we had about twenty during the winter, 
the animal life was remarkably poor. A wolf was seen and chased, 
but it escaped, and of bears we saw only one trace in the vicinity of 
our house. No traces were seen neither of hares nor ptarmigans on the 
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