SOUTH 
useful result. The conditions did not change materially during 
the rest of that week. The position on Sunday, October 10, 
was lat. 69^ 21' S., long, 50° 34' W. A thaw made things 
uncomfortable for us that day. The temperature had risen 
from -10° Fahr. to +29'8° Fahr., the highest we had ex- 
perienced since January, and the ship got dripping wet 
between-decks. The upper deck Avas clear of ice and snow 
and the cabins became impleasantly messy. The dogs, who 
hated wet, had a most unhappy air. Undoubtedly one grows 
to like familiar conditions. We had lived long in temperatures 
that would have seemed distressingly low in civiUzed Hfe, and 
now we were made uncomfortable by a degree of warmth that 
would have left the unaccustomed human being still shivering. 
The thaw was an indication that winter was over, and we began 
preparations for reoccupying the cabins on the main deck. 
I had the shelter-house round the stern pulled down on the 
11th and made other preparations for working the ship as 
soon as she got clear. The carpenter had built a wheel-house 
over the M^heel aft as shelter in cold and heavy weather. The 
ice was still loosening and no land was visible for twenty miles. 
The temperature remained relatively high for several days. 
All hands moved to their summer quarters in the upper cabins 
on the 12th, to the accompaniment of much noise and laughter. 
Spring was in the air, and if there were no green growing things 
to gladden our eyes, there were at least many seals, penguins, 
and even whales disporting themselves in the leads. The time 
for renewed action was coming, and though our situation was 
grave enough, we were facing the future hopefully. The dogs 
were kept in a state of uproar by the sight of so much game. 
They became almost frenzied when a solemn-looking emperor 
penguin inspected them gravely from some point of vantage 
on the floe and gave utterance to an apparently derisive 
Knark ! " At 7 p.m. on the 13th the ship broke free of the 
floe on which she had rested to starboard sufficiently to come 
upright. The rudder freed itself, but the propeller was found 
to be athwartship, having been forced into that position by 
the floe some time after August 1. The water was very clear 
and we could see the rudder, which appeared to have suffered 
H8 
