The northerly breeze had freshened during the night
and had brought up a high following sea. The weather was hazy, and we
passed two bergs, several growlers, and numerous lumps of ice. Staff
and crew were settling down to the routine. Bird life was plentiful,
and we noticed Cape pigeons, whale-birds, terns, mollymauks, nellies,
sooty, and wandering albatrosses in the neighbourhood of the ship. The
course was laid for the passage between Sanders Island and Candlemas
Volcano. December 7 brought the first check. At six o'clock that
morning the sea, which had been green in colour all the previous day,
changed suddenly to a deep indigo. The ship was behaving well in a
rough sea, and some members of the scientific staff were transferring
to the bunkers the coal we had stowed on deck. Sanders Island and
Candlemas were sighted early in the afternoon, and the 'Endurance'
passed between them at 6 p.m. Worsley's observations indicated that
Sanders Island was, roughly, three miles east and five miles north of
the charted position. Large numbers of bergs, mostly tabular in form,
lay to the west of the islands, and we noticed that many of them were
yellow with diatoms. One berg had large patches of red-brown soil down
its sides. The presence of so many bergs was ominous, and immediately
after passing between the islands we encountered stream-ice.
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