Very large floes of six-
months-old ice lay close together. Some of these floes presented a
square mile of unbroken surface, and among them were patches of thin
ice and several floes of heavy old ice. Many bergs were in sight, and
the course became devious. The ship was blocked at one point by a
wedge-shaped piece of floe, but we put the ice-anchor through it, towed
it astern, and proceeded through the gap. Steering under these
conditions required muscle as well as nerve. There was a clatter aft
during the afternoon, and Hussey, who was at the wheel, explained that
"The wheel spun round and threw me over the top of it!" The noon
position was lat. 62° 13? S., long. 18° 53? W., and the run for the
preceding twenty-four hours had been 32 miles in a south-westerly
direction. We saw three blue whales during the day and one emperor
penguin, a 58-lb. bird, which was added to the larder.
The morning of December 18 found the 'Endurance' proceeding amongst
large floes with thin ice between them. The leads were few. There was
a northerly breeze with occasional snow-flurries. We secured three
crab-eater seals--two cows and a bull. The bull was a fine specimen,
nearly white all over and 9 ft. 3 in. long; he weighed 600 lbs.
Shortly before noon further progress was barred by heavy pack, and we
put an ice-anchor on the floe and banked the fires.
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