POSSESSION BAY 337 



Blue Whale Harbour (Chart 3) 



This was now the only useful harbour unsurveyed in the neighbourhood, and we 

 proceeded to it on February 26. It has not hitherto even been indicated on the charts; 

 in fact I had not heard about it except quite casually until we arrived at Prince Olaf 

 Station, from which, being across Possession Bay, it is not at a great distance. 



In general appearance, size and shape Blue Whale Harbour much resembles 

 Maiviken and a harbour called Elsehul, afterwards surveyed. It is quite a good little 

 harbour, but the entrance and centre are much fouled by kelp. There is little wind or 

 swell. 



Nothing of an unusual nature happened here, but owing to lack of sights, for the usual 

 reason — weather, we were compelled to erect a beacon in sight of Prince Olaf Harbour 

 Observation Spot. This part of the survey was completed on March 2. 



It had been decided that any further open-sea survey work undertaken should be 

 carried out in the 'William Scoresby'. We proceeded accordingly to Grytviken, taking 

 advantage of the docking there of the whale-catcher 'Southern Flower', which was 

 expected to take about four days, thus giving plenty of margin for possible delay in the 

 ' William Scoresby 's ' arrival. She arrived in Grytviken, in fact, a few hours after us, on 

 March 3. 



The details of our work in the ' William Scoresby ' were soon satisfactorily settled 

 and approved by the Committee and Dr Kemp. The ' Southern Flower' did not leave 

 until March 8, but our time was fully occupied in clearing up our stores and charts. 



On our return to Prince Olaf we completed the orientation of Blue Whale Harbour. 

 This necessitated the re-erection of a beacon there, and making the station, as no sights 

 had been, or could be, obtained. The true meridian was calculated by means of reciprocal 

 theodolite angles from the above main station and the station at the Observation Spot at 

 Prince Olaf, which had, of course, to be visible from each other. This appears to be a 

 ver^' satisfactory method if care is exercised. 



It was found that the engine in the 'Alert' did not develop full power during this 

 trip without knocking badly, and nearly two days were spent trying to find the cause 

 of the trouble. This was never quite decided, but probably the main reasons were an 

 overload through slight overtightening and the actual weight we were compelled to 

 carry. The knocking was never quite eliminated, but it was so much reduced that it was 

 not considered sufficient to warrant further delay. 



Here it may be remarked that although the 'Alert' averaged a speed of nearly 7I 

 knots during full-speed trials, she could only make about 6 when fully loaded with fuel, 

 provisions, instruments and camp equipment, as well as towing the pram with extra 

 drums of fuel. Any reduction of speed was therefore rather serious in a long passage 

 such as the next one to Elsehul. 



Elsehul (Chart 2) 

 The distance from Prince Olaf to Elsehul is a little under 35 nautical miles, and for 

 the greater part of the distance there is no refuge in the event of unfavourable weather 



