i 9 02] SELECTION OF WINTER QUARTERS 157 



the winter ; my determination to remain in this region was 

 much strengthened, and I wrote : 



' The small bay completes the shelter from pressure in all 

 directions from S.S.E. to W.N.W., and the remaining space 

 faces the main coastline, from which pressure cannot be 

 expected ; the water is shallow enough to prevent danger from 

 drifting icebergs ; little difficulty will be found in securing the 

 ship or in finding sheltered spots for the huts within easy 

 reach of the ship. . . . This afternoon the ship broke away 

 from her ice-anchors, leaving a number of officers and men on 

 shore, but before we had drifted far, steam was raised and we 

 secured to the sea-ice on the south side of the promontory. 

 It seems very difficult to get a good grip with our ice-anchors, 

 and we have now bedded them well, and have supplemented 

 them with the small kedge buried in the snow ; our position is 

 not altogether satisfactory, as there is a slight swell and the 

 ship bumps occasionally against the ice-foot. There is 

 apparently only a small rise and fall of tide, I think not more 

 than twelve or eighteen inches. After tea I went for a long 

 walk with Skelton ; we struck out over the sea-ice to round 

 the cape, starting on ski, but quickly abandoning them as the 

 snow was hard enough to walk on and too smooth for the ski 

 to grip properly. We found a curious water-hole off the cape, 

 surrounded for a long distance by thin ice which we only 

 discovered when it began to bend ominously under us and we 

 were obliged to separate very rapidly and retire in different 

 directions.' This thin sheet and the open water in the midst 

 of solid sea-ice puzzled us greatly, and it was not until the 

 following year that we discovered that thick winter-ice is 

 actually melted through in the summer where the current 

 flows over a shallow bank. ' We quickly left this doubtful 

 spot, and, skirting further round, headed for a strait which we 

 can now see surrounds Erebus and Terror, placing them on an 

 island. A clear, smooth snow plain can be seen to the further 

 ridge of Terror, the ridge which lies close to Cape Crozier, 

 where the barrier edge meets the land. The presence of an 

 inky-water sky confirms the sea beyond. From the ridge to 



