as our iron-shod prow struck them, and sometimes even a thin sheet would resist all our attempts to break it; sometimes we would push big floes with comparative ease and sometimes a small floe would bar our passage with such obstinacy that one would almost believe it possessed of an evil spirit; sometimes we passed through acres of sludgy sodden ice which hissed as it swept along the side, and sometimes the hissing ceased seemingly without rhyme or reason, and we found our screw churning the sea without any effect.

’Thus the steaming days passed away in an ever changing environment and are remembered as an unceasing struggle.

’The ship behaved splendidly—­no other ship, not even the Discovery, would have come through so well.  Certainly the Nimrod would never have reached the south water had she been caught in such pack.  As a result I have grown strangely attached to the Terra Nova.  As she bumped the floes with mighty shocks, crushing and grinding a way through some, twisting and turning to avoid others, she seemed like a living thing fighting a great fight.  If only she had more economical engines she would be suitable in all respects.

’Once or twice we got among floes which stood 7 or 8 feet above water, with hummocks and pinnacles as high as 25 feet.  The ship could have stood no chance had such floes pressed against her, and at first we were a little alarmed in such situations.  But familiarity breeds contempt; there never was any pressure in the heavy ice, and I’m inclined to think there never would be.

’The weather changed frequently during our journey through the pack.  The wind blew strong from the west and from the east; the sky was often darkly overcast; we had snowstorms, flaky snow, and even light rain.  In all such circumstances we were better placed in the pack than outside of it.  The foulest weather could do us little harm.  During quite a large percentage of days, however, we had bright sunshine, which, even with the temperature well below freezing, made everything look bright and cheerful.  The sun also brought us wonderful cloud effects, marvellously delicate tints of sky, cloud, and ice, such effects as one might travel far to see.  In spite of our impatience we would not willingly have missed many of the beautiful scenes which our sojourn in the pack afforded us.  Ponting and Wilson have been busy catching these effects, but no art can reproduce such colours as the deep blue of the icebergs.

’Scientifically we have been able to do something.  We have managed to get a line of soundings on our route showing the raising of the bottom from the ocean depths to the shallow water on the continental shelf, and the nature of the bottom.  With these soundings we have obtained many interesting observations of the temperature of different layers of water in the sea.

’Then we have added a great deal to the knowledge of life in the pack from observation of the whales, seals, penguins, birds, and fishes as well as of the pelagic beasts which are caught in tow-nets.  Life in one form or another is very plentiful in the pack, and the struggle for existence here as elsewhere is a fascinating subject for study.