i9i2j POSITION OF THE PACK 
391 
On December 26, in Lat. 63° S., we passed the first 
iceberg of the voyage, an old disrupted berg, and as we 
Dec 26 63° advanced southward all kinds of icebergs were 
43' s., 166° to be seen. The ice-log shows a greater number 
and variety of bergs on this than on the two 
preceding voyages. 
Dec. 29, The great belt of Antarctic pack ice was 
^s^y^ilb° 15' ^^^^ reached until December 29, when we had 
^- attained the 69th parallel. 
On comparison with the records of earlier voyages 
it will be seen that the northern limit of the pack this year 
lay two degrees farther south than found on voyages 
made in more western longitudes. 
The only other Expedition that has explored this part 
of the Ross Sea was that under Sir James Ross, who 
found a line of compact hummocky ice in the same position 
in 1842 ; this confirmation throws some light on the trend 
of the pack in this quadrant. 
We had expected to meet with pack ice on crossing 
the Antarctic Circle, and our expectations not being 
realised, the ship's company looked forward to an almost 
ice-free voyage to the Ross Sea. 
Our hopes were frustrated. The day after entering 
the pack we encountered heavy bay ice, which retarded 
us to such an extent that we could scarcely make more 
than one mile an hour on our course. We had a tremend- 
ous struggle this season to get into the Ross Sea at all, 
and not until we had fought our way for over 400 miles 
did we really get through the pack. 
The weather conditions this season were all that we could 
