INTO THE WEDDELL SEA 
the early part of the night, and the noon observation 
showed that our run for the twenty-four hours was the best 
since we entered the pack a fortnight earlier. We had made 
71 miles S. 4*^ W. The ice held us up till the evening, and 
then we were able to follow some leads for a couple of hours 
before the tightly packed floes and the iiicreasing wind com- 
pelled a stop. The celebration of Christmas was not forgotten. 
Grog was served at midnight to all on deck. There was grog 
again at breakfast, for the benefit of those Avho had been 
in their bunlvs at midnight. Lees had decorated the ward- 
room with flags and had a little Clnistmas present for each 
of us. Some of us had presents from home to open. Later 
there was a really splendid dinner, consisting of turtle soup, 
whitebait, jugged hare, Christmas pudding, mince-pies, dates, 
figs and crystallized fruits, with rum and stout as drmks. In 
the evening everybody joined in a'' sing-song." Hussey had 
made a one-stringed violin, on which, in the words of Worsley, 
he discoursed quite painlessly." The wind was increasing to 
a moderate south-easterly gale and no advance could be 
made, so we were able to settle down to the enjoyments of 
the evening. 
The weather was still bad on December 26 and 27, and the 
Endurance remained anchored to a floe. The noon position on 
the 26th was lat. 65° 43' S., long. 17° 36' W. We made another 
sounding on this day vAih the Lucas machine and found bottom 
at 2819 fathoms. The specimen brought up was a terrigenous 
blue mud (glacial deposit) with some radiohria. Every one 
took turns at the work of heaving in, two men working together 
in ten-minute spells. 
Sunday, December 27, was a quiet day aboard. The 
southerly gale was blowing the snow in clouds off the floe and 
the temperature had fallen to 23° Fakr. The dogs were having 
an uncomfortable time in their deck quarters. The wind had 
moderated by the following morning, but it was squally with 
snow-flurries, and I did not order a start till 11 p.m. The 
pack was still close, but the ice was softer and more easily 
broken. During the pause the carpenter had rigged a small 
stage over the stern. A man was stationed there to watch the 
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