302 SIEGE OF THE SOUTH POLE 
of penetrating it again in the expectation of getting 
farther to the east, so the only course was to follow the 
edge of the pack, keeping as close to it as possible and 
losing no opportunity of getting to the south. 
On February 8th in 70° 30' S. and 173 0 10' W. a huge 
iceberg was observed measuring about four miles in 
diameter, and identified by Ross with a berg which had 
been seen on February 13th, 1841, in 76° 11' S. and 172 0 
7' W. If the identification was correct this proved an 
average drift of nearly one mile per day for the year in 
a northerly direction. 
Strong winds, fog, and driving snow made it impossible 
to keep the course so that the ships were driven to 
the westward of the 180th meridian before reaching 
75 ° S. 
It was now past the middle of February and three days 
earlier in the previous year the formation of new ice had 
forced the expedition to turn back from following the 
great barrier towards its eastern termination. A fortu- 
nate shift of the wind to the northward enabled a good 
stretch to the southeast to be covered and at last, on Feb- 
ruary 19th, a strong ice-blink in the south proclaimed 
the vicinity of the great barrier. The depth of the sea 
was only 250 fathoms, but still the barrier was not in 
sight. The wind shifted to the southward and the air 
grew very cold, the thermometer dropping to 19 0 F. ; 
yet this was 7 0 warmer than the year before, and the 
ships were now in open water, thirty miles farther east 
than the pack had reached in 1841. The decks and rig- 
ging were encased in frozen spray, and the crews suf- 
fered severely in the endless work of breaking off the ice 
from the hull to ease the ship, and from the tackle to let 
the ropes run freely. 
