I9H] A SECURE BERTH 87 



It snowed hard all last night; there were about three or 

 four inches of soft snow over the camp this morning and Simpson 

 tells me some six inches out by the ship. The camp looks very 

 white. During the day it has been blowing very hard from the 

 south, with a great deal of drift. Here in this camp as usual 

 we do not feel it much, but we see the anemometer racing on 

 the hill and the snow clouds sweeping past the ship. The floe 

 is breaking between the point and the ship, though curiously 

 it remains fast on a direct route to the ship. Now the open 

 water runs parallel to our ship road and only a few hundred 

 yards south of it. Yesterday the whaler was rowed in close to 

 the camp, and if the ship had steam up she could steam round 

 to within a few hundred yards of us. The big wedge of ice to 

 which the ship is holding on the outskirts of the Bay can have 

 very little grip to keep it in and must inevitably go out very 

 soon. I hope this may result in the ship finding a more sheltered 

 and secure position close to us. 



A big iceberg sailed past the ship this afternoon. Atkinson 

 declares it was the end of the Cape Barne Glacier. I hope they 

 will know in the ship, as it would be interesting to witness the 

 birth of a glacier in this region. 



It is clearing to-night, but still blowing hard. The ponies 

 don't like the wind, but they are all standing the cold wonder- 

 fully and all their sores are healed up. 



Wednesday, January 18. The ship had a poor time last 

 night; steam was ordered, but the floe began breaking up fast 

 at 1 A.M., and the rest of the night was passed in struggling 

 with ice anchors; steam was reported ready just as the ship 

 broke adrift. In the morning she secured to the ice edge on 

 the same line as before but a few hundred yards nearer. After 

 getting things going at the hut, I walked over and suggested 

 that Pennell should come round the corner close in shore. The 

 ice anchors were tripped and we steamed slowly in, making 

 fast to the floe within 200 yards of the ice foot and 400 yards 

 of the hut. 



For the present the position is extraordinarily comfortable. 

 With a southerly blow she would simply bind on to the ice, 

 receiving great shelter from the end of the Cape. With a 

 northerly blow she might turn rather close to the shore, where 

 the soundings run to 3 fathoms, but behind such a stretch of 



