196 EJNAR MIKKELSEN. 
breadth of at least 2 miles, was quite unobstructed and connected the 
open water to the south of Shannon Island with a large area of open 
water south of Koldewey Island, which open water apparently came 
within a few miles off Haystack. Far away in the SE between the pack 
another large pond or chain of ponds could be seen, but the pack was 
otherwise heavy and was made up of very large floes — at least just 
off the shore. The weather had been fair and calm during the preceding 
days, so the open landwater and ponds were not the consequence of 
untoward breezes. 
On April 12th a heavy northerly gale temporarily closed the landwater. 
On April 16th from the highlands back of Cape Philip Broke we 
could see no pack-ice to the south of SSE. There was an open and rather 
broad stretch of landwater as far as Cape Pansch, and the land-ice itself 
was very narrow south of Cape Philip Broke. The open water south 
of Shannon Island reached a line connecting Cape Philip Broke with 
Cape David Gray, but it was covered with quite thin ice, cracked up 
in all directions. 
The state of the ice off Bass Rock was on April 28th nearly the 
same as during the winter, only still more open, and no pack-ice could 
be seen to the north of ENE. The landwater off Bass Rock had a breadth 
of at least 2 miles, and extended as far south as we could see. Much 
open water was seen further out to sea, just back of a narrow tongue 
of ice separating it from the open water, and the pack-ice seen from 
an elevation of about 300 metres seemed quite navigable, even with 
a sailing vessel. 
During the month of May the ice was subject to rather great changes, 
and the pack seemed to be in much greater motion than formerly. During 
the whole month there appeared almost permanently a very large opening 
in the ice to the east of Pendulum Island, and from the top of Bass 
Rock there was frequently no ice in sight in that direction. The land- 
water was not so pronounced as formerly, owing to the fact that large 
floes drifted into it, but the ice was on the whole extremely open, and 
the pack, when seen from an elevation of about 300 metres, would have 
offered no resistance whatsoever to a ship penetrating it. 
New ice was still forming during this month, but it never attained 
a thickness of more than 2 å 4 cm, before it was broken up by the waves 
or the general motion of the ice. The ice drifted more steadily to the 
south than formerly during the winter or the spring, and several large 
icebergs were drifting by at a rate of 4 à 6 miles a day. 
What is said about the state of the pack-ice in May can on the 
whole also be said of its state during the month of June, with the ex- 
ception that the landwater was again rather pronounced. In clear 
weather it was on a few occasions possible to see it extending beyond 
Cape Philip Broke, and the view seaward from the top of Bass Rock 
was that of a perfectly open sea, bordered in the far distance by a 
