i9xo] A DAMAGED RUDDER 29 



Monday, December 19. On the whole, in spite of many 

 bumps, we made good progress during the night, but the morn- 

 ing (present) outlook is the worst we've had. We seem to be 

 in the midst of a terribly heavy screwed pack; it stretches in 

 all directions as far as the eye can see, and the prospects are 

 alarming from all points of view. I have decided to push west 

 anything to get out of these terribly heavy floes. Great pa- 

 tience is the only panacea for our ill case. It is bad luck. 



We first got amongst the very thick floes at 1 A.M., and 

 jammed through some of the most monstrous I have ever seen. 

 The pressure ridges rose 24 feet above the surface the ice 

 must have extended at least 30 feet below. The blows given 

 us gave the impression of irresistible solidity. Later in the 

 night we passed out of this into long lanes of water and some 

 of thin brash ice, hence the progress made. I'm afraid we have 

 strained our rudder; it is stiff in one direction. We are in 

 difficult circumstances altogether. This morning we have bril- 

 liant sunshine and no wind. 



Noon 67 54-5' S., 178 28' W. Made good S. 34 W. 37'; 

 C. Crozier 606'. Fog has spread up from the south with a 

 very light southerly breeze. 



There has been another change of conditions, but I scarcely 

 know whether to call it for the better or the worse. There are 

 fewer heavy old floes; on the other hand, the one year's floes, 

 tremendously screwed and doubtless including old floes in their 

 mass, have now enormously increased in area. 



A floe which we have just passed must have been a mile 

 across this argues lack of swell and from that one might 

 judge the open water to be very far. We made progress in 

 a fairly good direction this morning, but the outlook is bad 

 again the ice seems to be closing. Again patience, we must 

 go on steadily working through. 



5.30. We passed two immense bergs in the afternoon 

 watch, the first of an irregular tabular form. The stratified 

 surface had clearly faulted. I suggest that an uneven bottom 

 to such a berg giving unequal buoyancy to parts causes this 

 faulting. The second berg was domed, having a twin peak. 

 These bergs are still a puzzle. I rather cling to my original 

 idea that they become domed when stranded and isolated. 



These two bergs had left long tracks of open water in the 



