i9] ESCAPE FROM THE PACK 47 



12 P.M. Saw two sea leopards playing in the wake. 



Thursday, December 29. No sights. At last the change for 

 which I have been so eagerly looking has arrived and we are 

 steaming amongst floes of small area evidently broken by swell, 

 and with edges abraded by contact. The transition was almost 

 sudden. We made very good progress during the night with 

 one or two checks and one or two slices of luck in the way of 

 open water. In one pool we ran clear for an hour, capturing 

 6 good miles. 



This morning we were running through large continuous 

 sheets of ice from 6 inches to 1 foot in thickness, with occa- 

 sional water holes and groups of heavier floes. This forenoon 

 it is the same tale, except that the sheets of thin ice are broken 

 into comparatively regular figures, none more than 30 yards 

 across. It is the hopefullest sign of the approach to the open 

 sea that I have seen. 



The wind remains in the north helping us, the sky is over- 

 cast and slight sleety drizzle is falling; the sun has made one or 

 two attempts to break through but without success. 



Last night we had a good example of the phenomenon called 

 I Glazed Frost.' The ship everywhere, on every fibre of rope 

 as well as on her more solid parts, was covered with a thin 

 sheet of ice caused by a fall of light super-cooled rain. The 

 effect was pretty and interesting. 



Our passage through the pack has been comparatively unin- 

 teresting from the zoologist's point of view, as we have seen 

 so little of the rarer species of animals or of birds in exceptional 

 plumage. We passed dozens of crab-eaters, but have seen no 

 Ross seals nor have we been able to kill a sea leopard. To-day 

 we see very few penguins. I'm afraid there can be no observa- 

 tions to give us our position. 



Release after Twenty Days in the Pack 



Friday, December 30. Obs. 72 17' S. 177 9' E. Made 

 good in 48 hours, S. 19 W. 190'; C. Crozier S. 21 W. 334'. 

 We are out of the pack at length and at last; one breathes again 

 and hopes that it will be possible to carry out the main part of 

 our programme, but the coal will need tender nursing. 



Yesterday afternoon it became darkly overcast with falling 



