10 JAMES MURRAY 



molluscs and other animals. A storm early in May broke up the ice and our dredging 

 apparatus went out with it. 



On May 11 ice again formed in the Bay, and proved to be permanent, remaining 

 fast till February of the following year. As soon as the ice was strong enough 

 dredging was begun. The first dredging-line was put down while the Bay was open, 

 from the edge of a small area of fast ice which remained near the head of the Bay. 

 Afterwards we had to take advantage of tide-cracks in order to get lines put down. 

 It rarely happened that we found the cracks open and could get the line down with- 

 out labour. Usually they were filled with new ice to a depth of 6 inches or a foot, 

 and it was by hard labour with ice-pick and crowbar that we got a sufficient length 

 open to serve for dredging. Foot by foot as the crack was cleared the rope was forced 

 through, for with the low temperatures new ice quickly forms in the part we have 

 opened. When the rope was through for a sufficient length it was secured at the 

 two ends to bamboo poles, enough slack being paid out to allow the ends to hang 

 nearly vertically, thus avoiding the danger of the rope being frozen in. It was then 

 necessary to dig holes in the ice at the two ends of the rope, through which the 

 dredge could be lowered and drawn up. 



The holes were from fifty to one hundred yards apart, but the effective dredging 

 distance was less than that on the ice, as the dredge would always leave the bottom 

 some considerable time before arriving directly under the opening in the ice. Each time 

 that we wished to dredge the holes had to be reopened with pick and crowbar. They 

 would be frozen over with ice from a few inches to a foot or more in thickness, 

 according to the temperature and the length of time they had been left undisturbed. 

 In cold weather it was not well to leave them for more than a day, and Priestley 

 sometimes opened them, although there was no intention of dredging, in order to lessen 

 the labour next time. The Weddell seals were of assistance in keeping the holes 

 open. They found them useful as breathing-holes and visited them frequently, some- 

 times arriving in an apparently exhausted condition, to judge from their laboured 

 breathing. 



In order to avoid dredging too frequently over the same ground it was necessary 

 to cut trenches in the ice alongside the ends of the rope and at right angles to the 

 line joining the two ends. In these trenches the rope could be shifted a yard or so 

 at each time of dredging and so the dredge covered entirely fresh ground. Sometimes 

 the rope was left too long and got frozen in too solidly to be cut out in the usual way. 

 A new hole was then cut close by the old one, and the line was fished up by means of 

 a hook on the end of a long bamboo pole. 



The arrangement of the apparatus and method of using it are illustrated in 

 Fig. 3, in which the Bay where we dredged is shown in section. 



The dredge was fixed to the middle of the line so that it could be used in either 

 direction. It was found that it often caught nothing when travelling downhill, so it was. 

 usual to haul it downhill and then back again uphill before bringing it to the surface 



