Owing to the
drift we were actually eleven miles farther north than we had been on
December 25. But we made fairly good progress on the 30th in fine,
clear weather. The ship followed a long lead to the south-east during
the afternoon and evening, and at 11 p.m. we crossed the Antarctic
Circle. An examination of the horizon disclosed considerable breaks in
the vast circle of pack-ice, interspersed with bergs of different
sizes. Leads could be traced in various directions, but I looked in
vain for an indication of open water. The sun did not set that night,
and as it was concealed behind a bank of clouds we had a glow of
crimson and gold to the southward, with delicate pale green reflections
in the water of the lanes to the south-east.
The ship had a serious encounter with the ice on the morning of
December 31. We were stopped first by floes closing around us, and
then about noon the 'Endurance' got jammed between two floes heading
east-north-east. The pressure heeled the ship over six degrees while
we were getting an ice-anchor on to the floe in order to heave astern
and thus assist the engines, which were running at full speed. The
effort was successful. Immediately afterwards, at the spot where the
'Endurance' had been held, slabs of ice 50 ft. by 15 ft. and 4 ft. thick
were forced ten or twelve feet up on the lee floe at an angle of 45°.
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