74 WORST JOURNEY IN THE WORLD 
outlook. And strangely enough there was generally some 
change to note. A water lead would mysteriously open up 
a few miles away, or the place where it had been would as 
mysteriously close. Huge icebergs crept silently towards 
or past us, and continually we were observing these formid- 
able objects with range finder and compass to determine 
the relative movement, sometimes with misgivings as to 
our ability to clear them. Under steam the change of con- 
ditions was even more marked. Sometimes we would enter 
a lead of open water and proceed for a mile or two without 
hindrance; sometimes we would come to big sheets of 
thin ice which broke easily as our iron-shod prow struck 
them, and sometimes even a thin sheet would resist all our 
attempts to break it ; sometimes we would push big floes 
with comparative ease and sometimes a small floe would 
bar our passage with such obstinacy that one would almost 
believe it possessed of an evil spirit ; sometimes we passed 
through acres of sludgy sodden ice which hissed as it swept 
along the side, and sometimes the hissing ceased seemingly 
without rhyme or reason, and we found our screw churn- 
ing the sea without any effect. 
“Thus the steaming days passed away in an ever- 
changing environment and are remembered as an unceas- 
ing struggle. 
“The ship behaved splendidly—no other ship, not 
even the Discovery, would have come through so well. 
Certainly the Nimrod would never have reached the south 
water had she been caught in such pack. Asa result I have 
grown strangely attached to the Terra Nova. As she 
bumped the floes with mighty shocks, crushing and grind- 
ing a way through some, twisting and turning to avoid 
others, she seemed like a living thing fighting a great fight. 
If only she had more economical engines she would be suit- 
able in all respects. 
‘““Once or twice we got among floes which stood 7 or 
8 feet above water, with hummocks and pinnacles as high 
as 25 feet. The ship could have stood no chance had such 
floes pressed against her, and at first we were a little 
alarmed in such situations. But familiarity breeds con- 
