HISTORY OF DISCOVERY. 107 



further progress became impossible, and he was compelled 

 to steer to the south-west. The struggle with the ice, 

 which was constantly drifting north, continued till the 2nd 

 of February, 1842, when in latitude 67° 29' S. and longi- 

 tude 1 59° i' W. the vessels at length emerged into an 

 open sea. They had been compelled to make their way 

 step by step for forty-eight days in the face of appalling 

 difficulty and with ceaseless labour, and while thus en- 

 gaged in forcing a passage south they were constantly 

 carried northward by the pack. Several times, while in 

 the close pack-ice and surrounded by icebergs in addition, 

 they weathered violent gales, in one of which, on the 19th 

 of January, 1842, both ships suffered severely, especially 

 the Terror. Her rudder was completely destroyed, and 

 it was, therefore, necessary to fit a spare rudder with in- 

 calculable exertion while she lay in the midst of the ice. 



While the ships themselves had advanced only 375, 

 miles in the fifty-six days during which they were involved 

 in the pack-ice, Ross estimated the breadth of the belt of 

 pack-ice which had drifted past northwards at no less than 

 1 ,000 nautical miles. The greatest disadvantage connected 

 with the tedious crossing of this enormous belt of pack- 

 ice arose from the great loss of time, for while Ross in the 

 previous year had reached as far as the eastern extreme 

 of the great ice barrier by the 2nd of February, he had 

 this year not even reached the 68th degree of S. latitude, 

 and it therefore became imperative to press forward 

 south, lest the summer season should be altogether lost. 

 Meanwhile it was as yet impossible to keep to a due 

 southerly course, as the pack edge still trended south- 

 west. It was not till the 16th of February that the ex- 

 treme western point of the pack was rounded in latitude 

 75° 6' S. and longitude 172° 56' E., enabling the ships to 

 steer south-east, and on the 22nd of February, shortly 

 before midnight, the great ice barrier again came in sight. 

 No stay near it could, however, be made ; the young ice 



