DISCOVERY 



261 



to the west of Graham Land ; by the Deuischland, in 

 the Weddell Sea ; by the Endurance of Sir Ernest 

 Shackleton's 1914 expedition, also in the Weddell Sea, 

 but on a course considerably to the west of that of the 

 Deuischland ; and by the Aurora of the same expedi- 

 tion in the Ross Sea. The ice circulation is thus 

 best known in the Weddell Sea, a great bight extending 

 to nearly 78° south latitude, south of the Atlantic. 



James Weddell, who discovered this sea, reached 

 a latitude of 74° 15' S. in February 1823 with no 

 ice in sight, but otherwise the reputation of the sea 

 for ice is bad. Bruce, who discovered land on the 



How the " Endurance " was Frozen in 



The Endurance left South Georgia in December 1914, 

 the intention being to form a base near the land dis- 

 covered by Filchner. Ice was encountered near the 

 South Sandwich Islands, about lat. 58° S., and the 

 course was set to the east to try to get round the ice, 

 but as it seemed to extend indefinitely in that direc- 

 tion, the ship's head was turned south a few days 

 later. For the next month the ship was forced through 

 the pack, which most of the time was fairly close, and 

 on January 10, 1915, Coats Land was sighted. The 



-THE ENDURANCE SET IX Tin: ICi;. 

 By courtesy of William Hcincmanti, 



eastern side of the sea in 1904, which he called Coats 

 Land, was prevented by ice from reaching a high 

 southern latitude, and attempts by Larsen and Nor- 

 denskjold to penetrate very far south on the western, 

 or Graham Land, side of the sea were much hampered 

 by heavy pack. In fact, in the south-west part of 

 the sea, land has not yet been sighted. The German 

 expedition under Filchner attained a latitude of 

 77° 40' and actually made a landing, but finding no 

 suitable place for winter-quarters, made their way 

 north again, and were caught by the ice in March 1913, 

 and after a drift of eight months, were released in 

 lat. 63° S. 



ice was thick and heavy off the land, but there was 

 open water along the coast and good progress was 

 made along new land until January 18, when the 

 junction with Filchner's Luitpold Land was nearly 

 reached. Here misfortune befel the Endurance. She 

 had to put out some thirty or forty miles from the 

 land in order to get round some heavy pack, and in 

 trying to force a way through a thick belt of ice she 

 was held up, and was unable to move either back- 

 wards or forwards. All might yet have been well had 

 not a persistent north-easterly wind set in, which 

 carried down quantities of drift-ice which lay to the 

 north, and packed it closely round the ship. The 



