268 SCOTT'S LAST EXPEDITION [DECEMBER 



Dec. 29, On comparison with the records of earlier voy- 



I / I2 i66i^' a es ^ W '^ seen t ^ iat ^ e nort h ern limit of the pack 

 W. this year lay two degrees farther south than found 



on voyages made in more western longitudes. 



The only other expedition that has explored this part of the 

 Ross Sea was that under Sir James Ross, who found a line of 

 compact hummocky ice in the same position in 1842; this con- 

 firmation throws some light on the trend of the pack in this 

 quadrant. 



We had expected to meet with pack ice on crossing the Ant- 

 arctic circle, and our expectations not being realised, the ship's 

 company looked forward to an almost ice free voyage to the 

 Ross Sea. 



Our hopes were frustrated. The day after entering the 

 pack we encountered heavy bay ice, which retarded us to such 

 an extent that we could scarcely make more than one mile 

 an hour on our course. We had a tremendous struggle this 

 season to get into the Ross Sea at all, and hot until we had 

 fought our way for over 400 miles did we really get through the 

 pack. 



The weather conditions this season were all that we could 

 wish for, and we had plenty of time at our disposal to carry 

 out our scientific programme. When our way was barred by tem- 

 porary congestion of the pack Pennell, Rennick, and Lillie would 

 all get ahead with magnetic, deep-sea sounding, and biological 

 work, mostly under favourable conditions. 



Occasionally the sea was so discoloured by diatoms that we 

 might have been steaming in the Thames estuary, and then again 

 the discoloured area would be succeeded by belts of beautiful 

 blue water wherein one could see crab-eater seals diving under 

 the ship. 



Quite the most fascinating sight in the pack ice was the ex- 

 hibition of swimming by two crab-eaters in the open water leads 

 on New Year's Day. They followed the ship and disported 

 themselves like dolphins; when we were forced to stop owing 

 to the closeness of the pack the two seals rubbed themselves 

 along the side of the ship. 



We were disappointed at seeing no Ross seals this year, for 

 we have secured no specimens of this animal at all. 



By January 5 we had worked through 168 miles of pack, 



