INTO THE WEDDELL SEA 
about an incli long, allied to those found in the whales at 
Grytviken. 
The conditions became harder on December 14. There 
was a misty haze, and occasional falls of snow. A few bergs 
were in sight. The pack was denser than it had been on 
the previous days. Older ice was intermingled with the 
young ice, and our progress became slower. The propeller 
received several blows in the early morning, but no damage 
was done. A platform was rigged under tlie jib-boom in 
order that Hurley might secure some kinematograph pictures 
of the ship breaking through the ice. The young ice did not 
present difficulties to the Endurance, which was able to smash 
a way through, but the lumps of older ice were more formidable 
obstacles, and conning the ship was a task requiring close 
attention. The most careful navigation could not prevent an 
occasional bump against ice too thick to be broken or pushed 
aside. The southerly breeze strengthened to a moderate south- 
westerly gale during the afternoon, and at 8 p.m. we hove to, 
stem against a floe, it being impossible to proceed without serious 
risk of damage to rudder or propeller. I was interested to 
notice that, although we had been steaming through the pack 
for three days, the north-westerly swell still held with us. It 
added to tlie difficulties of navigation in the lanes, since the 
ice was constantly in movement. 
The Endurance remained against the floe for the next 
twenty-four hours, when the gale moderated. The pack extended 
to the horizon in all directions and was broken by innumerable 
narrow lanes. Many bergs were in sight, and they appeared 
to be travelling through the pack in a south-westerly direction 
under the current influence. Probably the pack itself was 
moving north-east mth the gale. Clark put down a net in 
search of specimens, and at two fathoms it was carried south- 
west by the current and fouled the propeller. He lost the net, 
two leads, and a line. Ten bergs drove to the south through 
the pack during the twenty-four hours. The noon position was 
lat. 61° 31' S., long. 18° 12' W. The gale had moderated at 
8 p.m., and we made five miles to the south before midnight 
and then stopped at the end of a long lead, waitmg till the 
9 
