SOUTH 
the mast-liead the mirage is continually giving ns false alarms. 
Everything wears an aspect of unreahty. Icebergs hang upside 
down in the sky ; the land appears as layers of silvery or golden 
cloud. Cloud-banks look like land, icebergs masquerade as 
islands or nunataks, and the distant barrier to the south is 
thrown into view, although it really is outside our range of 
vision. Worst of all is the deceptive appearance of open water, 
caused by the refraction of distant water, or by the sun shining 
at an angle on a field of smooth snow or the face of ice-clifis 
below the horizon.'* 
The second half of February produced no important change 
in our situation. Early in the morning of the 14th I ordered 
a good head of steam on the engines and sent all hands on to 
the floe with ice-chisels, prickers, saw^s, and picks. We worked 
all day and throughout most of the next day in a strenuous effort 
to get the ship into the lead ahead. The men cut away the 
young ice before the bows and pulled it aside with great energy. 
After twenty-four hours' laboiu' we had got the ship a third of 
the way to the lead. But about 400 yds. of heavy ice, including 
old rafted pack, still separated the Endurance from the water, 
and reluctantly I had to admit that further effort was useless. 
Every opening we made froze up again quickly owmg to the 
unseasonably low temperature. The young ice was elastic and 
prevented the ship delivering a strong, splitting blow to the 
floe, while at the same time it held the older ice against any 
movement. The abandonment of the attack was a great 
disappointment to all hands. The men had worked long hours 
without thought of rest, and they deserved success. But the 
task was beyond our powers. I had not abandoned hope of 
getting clear, but was countmg now on the possibility of having 
to spend a winter in the inhospitable arms of the pack. The 
sun, which had been above the horizon for two months, set at 
midnight on the 17th, and, although it w^ould not disappear 
until April, its slanting rays warned us of the approach of 
winter. Pools and leads appeared occasionally, but they froze 
over very quickly. 
We continued to accumulate a supply of seal meat and 
blubber, and the excursions across the floes to shoot and bring 
34 
