SOUTH 
May 7, 8 a.m.— Wind east-south-east. Moderate gale 
with thick drift. The ice around ship is packing up and forming 
ridges about two feet high. The ship is lying with head to the 
eastward, Cape Bird showing to north-east. When steam is 
raised T have hopes of getting back to the fast ice near the 
Glacier Tongue. Since we have been in winter quarters the 
ice has formed and, held by the islands and land at Cape Evans, 
has remained north of the Tongue. If we can return we should 
be able now to moor to the fast ice. The engineers are having 
great diffi.culty with the sea connexions, which are frozen. The 
main bow-down cock, from which the boiler is ' run up,' has 
been tapped and a screw plug put into it to allow of a hot iron 
rod being inserted to thaw out the ice between the cock and 
the ship's side — about two feet of hard ice. 4.30 p.m. — The hot 
iron has been successful. Donolly (second engineer) had the 
pleasure of stopping the first spurt of water through the pipe ; 
he got it in the eye. Fires were lit in furnaces, and water com- 
menced to blow in the boiler — ^the first blow in our defence 
against the terrific forces of Nature in the Antarctic. 8 p.m. — 
The gale has freshened, accompanied by thick drift." 
The Aurora drifted helplessly throughout May 7. On the 
morning of May 8 the weather cleared a little and the Western 
Mountains became indistinctly visible. Cape Bird could also 
be seen. The ship was moving northwards with the ice. The 
daylight was no more than a short twilight of about two hours' 
duration. The boiler was being filled with ice, which had to be 
lifted aboard, broken up, passed through a small porthole to 
a man inside, and then carried to the manhole on top of the 
boiler, Stenliouse had the wireless aerial rigged during the 
afternoon, and at 5 p.m. was informed that the watering of the 
boiler was complete. The wind freshened to a moderate 
southerly gale, with thick drift, in the night, and this gale 
continued during the following day, the 9th. The engineer 
reported at noon that he had 40 lb. pressure in the boiler and 
was conmiencing the thawing of the auxiliary sea-connexion 
pump by means of a steam-pipe. 
Cape Bird is the only land visible, bearing north-east true 
about eight miles distant," wrote Stenhouse on the afternoon 
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