“November 23.—­At 3 a.m.  Young Island, Balleny Group, was seen bearing north 54° east (true).  The island, which showed up clearly on the horizon, under a heavy stratus-covered sky, appeared to be very far distant.  By latitude at noon we are in 66° 26´ S. As this is the charted latitude of Peak Foreman, Young Island, the bearing does not agree.  Land was seen at 8 a.m. bearing south 60° west (true).  This, which would appear to be Cape Hudson, loomed up through the mists in the form of a high, bold headland, with low undulating land stretching away to the south-south-east and to the westward of it.  The appearance of this headland has been foretold for the last two days, by masses of black fog, but it seems strange that land so high should not have been seen before, as there is little change in the atmospheric conditions.

“November 24.—­Overcast and hazy during forenoon.  Cloudy, clear, and fine in afternoon and evening.  Not a vestige of land can be seen, so Cape Hudson is really ‘Cape Flyaway.’  This is most weird.  All hands saw the headland to the south-west, and some of us sketched it.  Now (afternoon), although the sky is beautifully clear to the south-west, nothing can be seen.  We cannot have drifted far from yesterday’s position.  No wonder Wilkes reported land. 9 p.m.—­A low fringe of land appears on the horizon bearing south-west, but in no way resembles our Cape of yesterday.  This afternoon we took a cast of the lead through the crack 200 yds. west of the ship, but found no bottom at 700 fathoms.”

An interesting incident on November 26 was the discovery of an emperor penguin rookery.  Ninnis and Kavenagh took a long walk to the north-west, and found the deserted rookery.  The depressions in the ice, made by the birds, were about eighteen inches long and contained a greyish residue.  The rookery was in a hollow surrounded by pressure ridges six feet high.  Apparently about twenty birds had been there.  No pieces of egg-shell were seen, but the petrels and skuas had been there in force and probably would have taken all scraps of this kind.  The floes were becoming soft and “rotten,” and walking was increasingly difficult.  Deep pools of slush and water covered with thin snow made traps for the men.  Stenhouse thought that a stiff blizzard would break up the pack.  His anxiety was increasing with the advance of the season, and his log is a record of deep yearning to be free and active again.  But the grip of the pack was inexorable.  The hands had plenty of work on the ‘Aurora’, which was being made shipshape after the buffeting of the winter storms.  Seals and penguins were seen frequently, and the supply of fresh meat was maintained.  The jury-rudder was ready to be shipped when the ship was released, but in the meantime it was not being exposed to the attacks of the ice.