It is not possible to
gauge the condition of a big mass of ice by surface appearance. The
ice may have a fault, and when the wind, current, and swell set up
strains and tensions, the line of weakness may reveal itself suddenly
and disastrously. No, I do not like the idea of drifting on a berg. We
must stay on our floe till conditions improve and then make another
attempt to advance towards the land."
At 6.30 p.m. a particularly heavy shock went through our floe. The
watchman and other members of the party made an immediate inspection
and found a crack right under the 'James Caird' and between the other
two boats and the main camp. Within five minutes the boats were over
the crack and close to the tents. The trouble was not caused by a blow
from another floe. We could see that the piece of ice we occupied had
slewed and now presented its long axis towards the oncoming swell. The
floe, therefore, was pitching in the manner of a ship, and it had
cracked across when the swell lifted the centre, leaving the two ends
comparatively unsupported. We were now on a triangular raft of ice, the
three sides measuring, roughly, 90, 100, and 120 yds. Night came down
dull and overcast, and before midnight the wind had freshened from the
west. We could see that the pack was opening under the influence of
wind, wave, and current, and I felt that the time for launching the
boats was near at hand.
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