356 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1909. 
Douglas Mawson, mineralogist and petrologist. 
James Murray, biologist. 
Raymond Priestley, geologist. 
William Roberts, cook. 
Frank Wild, in charge of provisions. 
Professor David, of Sydney University, joined the expedition at 
the last moment, and the services of such an experienced scientific 
man. were invaluable. Douglas Mawson was lecturer in mineralogy 
and petrology at the Adelaide University. James Murray had been 
biologist on the Scottish Lake survey, and had made a special study 
of microscopic zoology, a circumstance that led to most important 
discoveries in the frozen lakes of Ross Island. Joyce and Wild, 
like myself, had served on the National Antarctic Expedition. 
My original intention was to winter on King Edward VII Land, 
a part of the Antarctic Continent at present quite unknown. The 
Nimrod was towed to the Antarctic circle, a distance of 1,500 miles, 
in order that her small supply of coal might be conserved, and we 
were soon in the belt of ice that guards the approach to the Ross 
Sea. The navigation of the ice was not more than usually difficult, 
and on January 16 we entered the Ross Sea in 178° 58’ E. long. 
(approximate). Keeping a southwesterly course, we sighted the 
Great Ice Barrier on January 23, and proceeded to skirt the ice edge 
in an easterly direction toward Barrier Inlet (Balloon Bight), the 
spot selected by me as the site for the winter quarters. I knew that 
the inlet was practically the beginning of King Edward VII Land, 
and that it would be an easy matter for the ship, in the following 
summer, to reach us there, whereas the land sighted by the Discovery 
expedition might be unattainable if the season were adverse. In 
165° KE. long., near the point where Borchgrevink landed in 1900, 
we sighted beyond 6 or 7 miles of flat ice, steep-rounded cliffs, hav- 
ing the appearance of ice-covered land. We could not stop to in- 
vestigate. 
The plan proved impracticable, for we found that Barrier Inlet 
had disappeared. Many miles of the Barrier edge had calved away, 
and instead of the narrow bight there was a wide bay joining up 
with Borchgrevink’s Inlet, and forming a depression that we called 
the Bay of Whales. We accordingly made an attempt to reach King 
Edward VII Land, but here again we were unsuccessful. The way 
was barred by heavy consolidated pack, into which bergs were frozen, 
and this ice stretched for to the north. The season was advancing, 
the Nimrod was leaking, as a result of severe gales on the journey 
south, and I decided that we had better proceed direct to McMurdo 
Sound and establish the winter quarters there. The Nimrod en- 
tered the sound on January 29, and was brought up by fast ice 20 
miles from Hut Point, the spot at which the Discovery expedition 
