74 SCOTT'S LAST EXPEDITION [December 
without rhyme or reason, and we found our screw churning 
the sea without any effect. 
'Thus the steaming days passed away in an ever 
changing environment and are remembered as an un- 
ceasing struggle. 
The ship behaved splendidly — no other ship, not 
even the Discovery, would have come through so well. 
Certainly the Nimrod would never have reached the south 
water had she been caught in such pack. As a result 
I have grown strangely attached to the Terra Nova. 
As she bumped the floes with mighty shocks, crushing 
and grinding a way through some, twisting and turning 
to avoid others, she seemed like a living thing fighting 
a great fight. If only she had more economical engines 
she would be suitable in all respects. 
4 Once or twice we got among floes which stood 7 or 
8 feet above water, with hummocks and pinnacles as 
high as 25 feet. The ship could have stood no chance 
had such floes pressed against her, and at first we were 
a little alarmed in such situations. But familiarity breeds 
contempt ; there never was any pressure in the heavy 
ice, and I'm inclined to think there never would be. 
'The weather changed frequently during our journey 
through the pack. The wind blew strong from the 
west and from the east ; the sky was often darkly 
overcast ; we had snowstorms, flaky snow, and even 
light rain. In all such circumstances we were better 
placed in the pack than outside of it. The foulest weather 
could do us little harm. During quite a large percentage 
of davs, however, we had bright sunshine, which, even 
