NIMROD GOES SOUTH AGAIN 



and encountered fine weather for the voyage south- 

 wards. On the evening of the 3rd, the wind being 

 favourable, the propeller was disconnected, and the 

 vessel proceeded under sail alone until the 20th, when 

 she was in latitude 66° 30' South, longitude 178° 28' 

 West. The " blink " of ice was seen ahead and the ship 

 was hove to until steam had been raised and the propeller 

 connected. Then Captain Evans set sail again, and 

 proceeded towards the pack. The vessel was soon in 

 brash ice, and after pushing through this for a couple 

 of hours reached the pack, and made her way slowly 

 through the lanes. Numerous seals were basking on 

 the floes, regarding the ship with their usual air of 

 mild astonishment. On the following day the pack 

 was more congested, and the progress southward was 

 slow, so much so that the crew found time to kill and 

 skin several crabeater seals. Open water was reached 

 again that evening, and at noon on the 22nd the Nimrod 

 was in latitude 68° 20' South, longitude 175° 23' East, 

 and proceeding under sail through the open water of 

 Ross Sea. The belt of pack-ice had been about sixty 

 miles wide. 



On December 26 the Nimrod reached latitude 70° 

 42' South, longitude 173° 4' West, the position, in which, 

 in 1843, Sir James Ross sighted " compact, hummocky 

 ice," but found only drift ice, with plenty of open 

 water. A sounding gave no bottom with 1575 fathoms 

 of wire, so that the theory that the ice seen by Ross was 

 resting on land was completely disproved. At noon on 

 the 27th the Nimrod, which was proceeding in a south- 

 east direction, was brought up by thick floes in latitude 

 72° 8' South, longitude 173° 1' West. Progress be- 

 came possible again later in the day, and at four 

 o'clock on the following morning the Nimrod was in 

 open water, with the blink of pack to the eastward. 



41 



