272 SIEGE OF THE SOUTH POLE 
January 5th, No ships had ever before been able to make 
so determined an attack on the secret of the south pole. 
After about an hour’s hard thumping from the heavy 
ice of the pack edge the ships forced their way into a 
series of open holes connected by lanes of water. Most 
of the ice was of one year’s growth, but here and there 
were hummocky masses formed by pressure in much 
older ice, the whole however was far less formidable than 
the reports of earlier explorers had led Ross to expect. 
By noon in latitude 66° 55' S. and longitude 174 0 34' E. 
it was no longer possible to make out the open sea from 
the mast-head, nothing but ice could be seen on every 
side. The leads which opened before them enabled the 
ships to pick their way southward without great diffi- 
culty though collisions with the ice occasionally occurred 
so violent as to have been fatal to any ships less strongly 
fortified. A remarkable appearance of land was re- 
ported, the illusion being so perfect that many on board 
would not believe that it was merely a cloud of a firm 
and mountain-like outline until the ships had actually 
passed over the position it had appeared to occupy. 
Flocks of penguins followed the ship, attracted by the 
sailors’ imitation of their own cries, and though the birds 
floundered more slowly over the ice than the ships could 
sail along it, they soon caught up when they took to the 
water, playing round the vessels like porpoises. The 
dark sky indicative of open water now appeared in the 
southeast, but the pack grew closer and progress was 
very slow, the whole pack drifting steadily to the north- 
ward. By taking advantage of every opportunity of 
progress, at 5 a. m. on January 9th the ships ran out of 
the pack into the open sea to the south, reaching 69° 
15' 5 . in 176° 15' E at noon. An easterly gale sprang 
