60 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD 
blizzards. But as we shall see, the ice which forms over this 
area is of infinite variety. As a rule great sheets spread 
over the seas which fringe the Antarctic continent in the 
autumn, grow thicker and thicker during the winter and 
spring, and break up when the temperatures of sea and air 
rise in summer. Such is the ice which forms in normal 
seasons round the shores of McMurdo Sound, and up the 
coast of the western mountains of Victoria Land. Tn shel- 
tered bays this ice will sometimes remain in for two years 
or even more, growing all the time, until some phenomenal 
break-up releases it. We found an example of this in the 
sea-ice which formed between Hut Point and the Barrier. 
But there are great waters which can never freeze for very 
long. Cape Crozier, for instance, where the Emperor pen- 
guins nest in winter, is one of the windiest places in the 
world. In July it was completely frozen over as far as we 
could see in the darkness from a height of goo feet. Within 
a few days a hurricane had blown it all away, and the sea 
was black. 
I believe, and we had experiences to prove me right, that 
there is a critical period early in the winter, and that if sea- 
ice has not frozen thick enough to remain fast by that time, 
it is probable that the sea will remain open for the rest of 
the year. But this does not mean that no ice will form. So 
great is the wish of the sea to freeze, and so cold is the air, 
that the wind has only to lull for one instant and the surface 
is covered with a thin film of ice, as though by magic. But 
the next blizzard tears it out by force or a spring tide 
coaxes it out by stealth, whether it be a foot thick or only a 
fraction of an inch. Such an example we had at our very 
doors during our last winter, and the untamed winds which 
blew as a result were atrocious. 
Thus it is that floes from a few inches to twenty feet 
thick go voyaging out to join the belt of ice which is known 
as the pack. Scott seems to have thought that the whole 
Ross Sea freezes over. I myself think this doubtful, and I 
am, I believe, the only person living who has seen the Ross 
Sea open in mid-winter. This was on the Winter Journey 
1 Scort’s Last Expedition, vol. i. p. 2. 
