ARRIVAL IN McMURDO SOUND 



hoped to reach our new winter quarters without more 

 opposition from the ice. As we steamed down McMurdo 

 Sound we passed through occasional loose patches of 

 pack-ice, on which immense numbers of penguins were 

 congregated. 



There was a great deal more ice to the west, and a 

 strong ice blink gave indication that it must be heavily 

 packed right up to the western shore. Passing down the 

 sound, and keeping well to the east and close under the 

 land, we observed a long, low sandy beach, terminating 

 landwards in a steep slope, the whole place for an area 

 of about two square miles yellow and pink with penguin 

 guano. It was a large penguin rookery. 



We passed but little ice till about ten o'clock, but 

 within an hour after that we could see the fast ice ahead 

 of us, and by half -past eleven we were brought up against 

 it. It was now January 29, and some twenty miles 

 of frozen sea separated us from Hut Point, where we 

 hoped to make our winter quarters. The ice at the spot 

 at which we were first stopped by it was very much 

 decayed and covered with about a foot of snow. We 

 tried to break through it by ramming, but the 

 attempt was not a success, for the ship entered about 

 half her length into the sludgy mass, and then stuck, 

 without producing a crack in front. We backed out 

 again, and, when some little distance away, put on full 

 speed, ramming the ship up against the ice-edge. This 

 second attempt was equally futile, so the ice anchor was 

 made fast to the floe, while we considered some better plan 

 of action. 



The weather had cleared somewhat, and we were able 

 to see our surroundings. To the south lay the Delbridge 

 Islands, and beyond appeared the sharp peak of Observa- 

 tion Hill under which lay the winter quarters of the last 



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