THE AURORA'S DRIFT 
where it can be lashed securely when we are released from the 
ice. I can see leads of open water from the masthead, but we 
are still held firmly. How long ? 
" October 7.— As time wears on the possibihty of getting 
back to the Barrier to land a party deserves consideration ; if 
we do not get clear until late in the season we will have to turn 
south first, although we have no anchors and httle moorings, 
no rudder and a short supply of coal. To leave a party on the 
Barrier would make us very short-handed ; still, it can be done, 
and anything is preferable to the delay in assisting the people 
at Cape Evans. At 5 a.m. a beautiful parhehon formed around 
the sun. The sight so unpressed the bos'n that he roused me 
out to see it." 
During the month of October the Aurora drifted unevent- 
fully. Stenhouse mentions that there was often an appearance 
of open water on the northern and eastern horizon. But anxious 
eyes were strained in vain for indications that the day of the 
ship's release was near at hand. Hooke had the mreless plant 
running again and was trying daily to get into touch with 
Macquarie Island, now about eight hundred and fifty miles 
distant. The request for a rehef ship was to be renewed if 
communication could be established, for by this time, if all had 
gone well with the Endurance, the overland party from the 
Weddell Sea would have been starting. There was consider- 
able movement of the ice towards the end of the month, lanes 
opening and closing, but the floe, some acres in area, into which 
the Aurora was frozen, remained firm until the early days of 
November. The cracks appeared close to the ship, due appa- 
rently to heavy drift causing the floe to sink. The temperatures 
were higher now, under the influence of the sun, and the ice 
was softer. Thawing was causing discomfort in the quarters 
aboard. The position on November 12 was reckoned to be 
lat. ee"" 49' S., long. 155° 17' 45" E. Stenhouse made a sounding 
on November 17, in lat. 66'' 40' S., long. 154° 45' E., and found 
bottom at 194 fathoms. The bottom sample was mud and a 
few small stones. The sounding-line showed a fairly strong 
undercurrent to the north-west. " We panned out some of 
the mud," says Stenhouse, " and in the remaining grit found 
325 
