Two sperm and two large blue whales were sighted, the first we had seen
for 260 miles. We saw also petrels, numerous adelies, emperors, crab-
eaters, and sea-leopards. The clearer weather of the morning showed us
that the pack was solid and impassable from the south-east to the south-
west, and at 10 a.m. on the 4th we again passed within five yards of
the small berg that we had passed twice on the previous day. We had
been steaming and dodging about over an area of twenty square miles for
fifty hours, trying to find an opening to the south, south-east, or
south-west, but all the leads ran north, north-east, or north-west. It
was as though the spirits of the Antarctic were pointing us to the
backward track--the track we were determined not to follow. Our desire
was to make easting as well as southing so as to reach the land, if
possible, east of Ross's farthest South and well east of Coats' Land.
This was more important as the prevailing winds appeared to be to
easterly, and every mile of easting would count. In the afternoon we
went west in some open water, and by 4 p.m. we were making west-south-
west with more water opening up ahead. The sun was shining brightly,
over three degrees high at midnight, and we were able to maintain this
direction in fine weather till the following noon.
Pages:
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58