description of the islands 353 



Winter season 1904 



R. C. Mossman, Director of the first Argentine meteorological staff on Laurie Island, April 30- 

 December 30, 1904. From about May 1 1 until the end of November the South Orkneys were heavily 

 beset, the pack for the greater part of this period being on the whole firm and compact. Mossman 

 believed the ice to extend for about 200 miles to the northward of the group (but see p. 348). The 

 first pack appeared in the south-east on April 30 following a hard south-easterly gale. The same day 

 it entered Scotia Bay, becoming consolidated there on May 11. Uruguay Cove became firmly covered 

 over at the beginning of July, but on October 27 the ice there broke and went out. On November 26 

 the ice left Wilton Bay. By the end of November much of the ice in the immediate vicinity of the 

 group appears to have become loosened, especially in the north. By the end of December, following 

 a succession of south and south-west winds, there was open water to the north of the islands, with 

 apparently some pack beyond. It is of interest to note that even in the depth of this hard winter the 

 ice in the north appears to have been much less compact than it was in the south, for Mossman 

 states that in July "the ice in Uruguay Cove and a considerable part of Jessie Bay was bearing 

 during most of the month, and swell was rarely observed". 



Season 1904-5 



' Uruguay', I. F. Galindez, December 30, igo^-January i, 1905. On December 30 the 'Uruguay' 

 encountered pack in 58° 40' 8, 50° 30' W, about 240 miles north-west of the islands. She seems to 

 have had little difiiculty in passing through it, for she anchored in Uruguay Cove the following 

 evening. To the north of the group for several miles there was open water with pack beyond. The 

 southern coasts, however, were still fairly heavily beset, Scotia Bay being firmly frozen over for a 

 distance of about two miles from the head of the bay. The 'Uruguay' sailed for the South Shetlands 

 late on January i sighting Cape Melville on the forenoon of January 7. 



Season 1905-6 



'Austral', L. Saborido, January ^o-February 23, 1906. The 'Austral' arrived in the vicinity of the 

 group on January 30, a landing being effected on February 2. She sailed on February 23. During her 

 visit the islands were ice-free. 



Season 1906-7 



' Uruguay', R. J. Hermelo, December 23, igob-January 2, 1907. When the group was sighted on 

 December 23 the whole of the north side of Laurie Island was blocked by pack as far as Saddle 

 Island. In order to reach Scotia Bay the 'Uruguay' was compelled to steam west about round 

 Coronation Island, which seems to have been less heavily beset than Laurie. The ice in Scotia Bay 

 still held, extending fully two miles from the anchorage. On December 31 the bay opened. The 

 'Uruguay' sailed on January 2. 



Season 1907-8 



' Uruguay', J. Yaloiir, February 6-13, 1908. The 'Uruguay' arrived in the vicinity of the group 

 on February 6, a landing being eff'ected on February 9. She left on February 13. The islands we.-e 

 ice-free. For the rest of the year 1908, as already noted, remarkably little ice was seen (see p. 347, 

 footnote 3). 



Season 1908-9 



'Uruguay', C. Somoza, February 7-11, 1909. The 'Uruguay' reached the South Orkneys on 

 February 7 and sailed on February 11. No pack-ice was seen. Although the early part of it was not 

 so ice-free the year 1909 on the whole may also be regarded as a fairly open one. On February 28 

 large quantities of heavy ice, some of it twenty feet in thickness, entered Uruguay Cove. During 

 March and April there was much ice in the neighbourhood of the islands, drifting in and out of the 



