After an hour of comparatively easy travel through the
snow we noticed the thin beginnings of crevasses. Soon they were
increasing in size and showing fractures, indicating that we were
travelling on a glacier. As the daylight brightened the fog
dissipated; the lake could be seen more clearly, but still we could not
discover its east shore. A little later the fog lifted completely, and
then we saw that our lake stretched to the horizon, and realized
suddenly that we were looking down upon the open sea on the east coast
of the island. The slight pulsation at the shore showed that the sea
was not even frozen; it was the bad light that had deceived us.
Evidently we were at the top of Possession Bay, and the island at that
point could not be more than five miles across from the head of King
Haakon Bay. Our rough chart was inaccurate. There was nothing for it
but to start up the glacier again. That was about seven o'clock in the
morning, and by nine o'clock we had more than recovered our lost
ground. We regained the ridge and then struck south-east, for the
chart showed that two more bays indented the coast before Stromness.
It was comforting to realize that we would have the eastern water in
sight during our journey, although we could see there was no way around
the shore line owing to steep cliffs and glaciers.
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