THE AURORA'S DRIFT 
breaking away in small floes, and we were apparently no nearer 
to anywhere than when the sledges left ; we were frustrated in 
every move. The ship broke away from the fast ice in blizzards, 
and then we went dodging about the Sound from the Eoss 
Island side to the western pack, avoiding and clearing floes 
and growlers in heavy drift when we could see nothing, our 
compasses unreliable and the ship short-handed. In that home- 
less time I kept watch and watch with the second officer, and 
was hard pressed to know what to do. Was ever ship in such 
predicament ? To the northward of Cape Royds was taboo, 
as also was the coast south of Glacier Tongue. In a small 
stretch of ice-bound coast we had to find winter quarters. The 
ice lingered on, and all this time we could find nowhere to drop 
anchor, but had to keep steam handy for emergencies. Once 
I tried the North Bay of Cape Evans, as it apparently was the 
only ice-free spot. I called all hands, and making up a boat's 
crew with one of the firemen sent the whaler away with the 
second ofiicer in charge to sound. No sooner had the boat 
left ship than the wind freshened from the northward, and 
large bergs and growlers, setting into the bay, made the place un- 
tenable. The anchorage I eventually selected seemed the best 
available— and here we are drifting, with all plans upset, when 
we ought to be lying in winter quarters." 
A heavy gale came up on March 12, and the Aurora, then 
moored off Cape Evans, dragged her anchor and drifted out 
of the bay. She went northward past Cape Barne and Cape 
Royds in a driving mist, with a heavy storm-sea running. This 
gale was a particularly heavy one. The ship and gear were 
covered wdth ice, owing to the freezing of spray, and Stenhouse 
had anxious hours amid the heavy, ice-encumbered waters 
before the gale moderated. The young ice, which was con- 
tinually forming in the very low temperature, helped to reduce 
the sea as soon as the gale moderated, and the Aurora got back 
to Cape Evans on the evening of the 13th. Ice was forming 
in the bay, and on the morning of the 14th Stenhouse took the 
ship into position for winter moorings. He got three steel 
hawsers out and made fast to the shore anchors. These hawsers 
were hove tight, and the Aurora rested then, with her stern to 
u 805 
