I9ii] 
EXCEPTIONAL GALES 
207 
As I write the wind is blowing up again and looks like 
returning to the south. The only comfort is that these 
strong cold winds with no sun must go far to cool the 
waters of the Sound. 
The continuous bad weather is trying to the spirits, 
but we are fairly comfortable in the hut and only suffer 
from lack of exercise to work off the heavy meals our 
appetites demand. 
T uesday, March 21. — The wind returned to the south at 
8 last night. It gradually increased in force until 2 a.m., 
when it was blowing from the S.S.W., force 9 to 10. The 
sea was breaking constantly and heavily on the ice foot. 
The spray carried right over the Point — covering all 
things and raining on the roof of the hut. Poor Vince's 
cross, some 30 feet above the water, was enveloped in it. 
Of course the dogs had a very poor time, and we went 
and released two or three, getting covered in spray during 
the operation — our wind clothes very wet. 
This is the third gale from the south since our arrival 
here. Any one of these would have rendered the Bay 
impossible for a ship, and therefore it is extraordinary 
that we should have entirely escaped such a blow when 
the Discovery was in it in 1902. 
The effects of this gale are evident and show that it is 
a most unusual occurrence. The rippled snow surface of 
the ice foot is furrowed in all directions and covered with 
briny deposit — a condition we have never seen before. 
The ice foot at the S.W. corner of the bay is broken down, 
bare rock appearing for the first time. 
The sledges, magnetic huts, and in fact every exposed 
