SOUTH 
midnight slie broke into a lead of open sea along a barrier-edge. 
A sounding within one cable's length of the barrier-edge gave 
no bottom with 210 fathoms of line. The barrier was 70 ft. 
high, with clifEs of about 40 ft. The Scotia must have passed 
this point when pushing to Bruce's farthest south on March 6, 
1904, and I knew from the narrative of that voyage, as well as 
from our own observation, that the coast trended aAvay to the 
south-west. The lead of open water continued along the barrier- 
edge, and we pushed forward mthout delay. 
An easterly breeze brought cloud and falls of snow during 
the morning of January 11. The barrier trended south-west by 
south, and we skirted it for fifty miles until 11 a.m. The cliffs 
in the morning were 20 ft. high, and by noon they had increased 
to 110 and 115 ft. The brow apparently rose 20 to 30 ft. 
higher. We were forced away from the barrier once for three 
hours by a line of very heavy pack-ice. Otherwise there 
was open water along the edge, with high loose pack to the west 
and north-west. We noticed a seal bobbing up and down in 
an apparent effort to swallow a long silvery fish that projected 
at least eighteen inches from its mouth. The noon position was 
lat. 73" 13' S., long. 20° 43' W., and a sounding then gave 
155 fatlioms at a distance of a mile from the barrier. The 
bottom consisted of large igneous pebbles. The weather then 
became thick, and I held away to the westward, where the 
sky had given indications of open water, until 7 p.m., when we 
laid the ship alongside a floe in loose pack. Heavy snow was 
falling, and I was anxious lest the westerly wind should bring 
the pack hard against tlie coast and jam the ship. The Nimrod 
had a narrow escape from a misadventure of this kind in the 
Eoss Sea early in 1908. 
We made a start again at 5 a.m. the next morning (January 
12) in overcast weather with mist and snow-showers, and four 
hours later broke through loose pack-ice into open water. The 
view was obscured, but we proceeded to the south-east and had 
gained 24 miles by noon, Avhen three soundings in lat. 74° 4' S., 
long. 22° 48' W, gave 95, 128, and 103 fathoms, with a bottom 
of sand, pebbles, and mud. Clark got a good haul of biological 
specimens in the dredge. The Endurance was now close to 
24 
