SOUTH 
and smaller. The ice was grinding around the ship in the 
heavy swell, and I watched with some anxiety for any indica- 
tion of a change of wind to the east, since a breeze from that 
quarter would have driven us towards the land. Worsley and 
I were on deck all night, dodging the pack. At 3 a.m. we ran 
south, taking advantage of some openings that had appeared, 
but met heavy rafted pack-ice, evidently old ; some of it had 
been subjected to severe pressure. Then we steamed north- 
west and sawopen water to the north-east. I put the Endurance's 
head for the opening, and, steaming at full speed, we got clear. 
Then we went east in the hope of getting better ice, and five 
hours later, after some dodging, we roimded the pack and were 
able to set sail once more. Tliis initial tussle with the pack 
had been exciting at times. Pieces of ice and bergs of all sizes 
were heaving and jostling against each other in the heavy 
south-westerly swell. In spite of all our care the Endurance 
struck large lumps stem on, but the engines were stopped in 
time and no harm was done. The scene and sounds through- 
out the day were very fine. The swell was dashing against 
the sides of huge bergs and leaping right to the top of their icy 
clifis. Sanders Island lay to the south, "with a few rocky faces 
peering through the misty swirHng clouds that swathed it most 
of the time, the booming of the sea running into ice-caverns, 
the swishing break of the swell on the loose pack, and the 
graceful bowing and undulating of the inner pack to the 
steeply rolling swell, which here was robbed of its break by 
the masses of ice to windward. 
We sldrted the northern edge of the pack in clear weather 
with a light south-westerly breeze and an overcast sky. The 
bergs were numerous. Duriag the morning of December 9 an 
easterly breeze brought hazy weather with snow, and at 4.30 p.m. 
we encountered the edge of pack-ice in lat. 58° 27' S., long. 
22"^ 08' W. It was one-year-old ice interspersed with older 
pack, all heavily snow-covered and lying west-south-west to 
east-north-east. We entered the pack at 5 p.m., but could not 
make progress, and cleared it again at 7.40 p.m. Then we 
steered east-north-east and spent the rest of the night rounding 
the pack. Dming the day we had seen adelie and ringed pen- 
6 
