Captain Davis took the ship northward on January 17.  The ice conditions were unfavourable and pack barred the way.  We stood over to the western coast towards Dunlop Island and followed it to Granite Harbour.  No mark or depot of any kind was seen.  The ‘Aurora’ reached the main pack, about sixty miles from Cape Adare, on January 22.  The ice was closed ahead, and Davis went south in open water to wait for better conditions.  A north-west gale on January 28 enabled the ship to pass between the pack and the land off Cape Adare, and we crossed the Antarctic Circle on the last day of the month.  On February 4 Davis sent a formal report to the New Zealand Government by wireless, and on February 9 the ‘Aurora’ was berthed at Wellington.  We were welcomed like returned brothers by the New Zealand people.

CHAPTER XVIII

THE FINAL PHASE

The foregoing chapters of this book represent the general narrative of our Expedition.  That we failed in accomplishing the object we set out for was due, I venture to assert, not to any neglect or lack of organization, but to the overwhelming natural obstacles, especially the unprecedentedly severe summer conditions on the Weddell Sea side.  But though the Expedition was a failure in one respect, I think it was successful in many others.  A large amount of important scientific work was carried out.  The meteorological observations in particular have an economic bearing.  The hydrographical work in the Weddell Sea has done much to clear up the mystery of this, the least known of all the seas.  I have appended a short scientific memorandum to this volume, but the more detailed scientific results must wait until a more suitable time arrives, when more stable conditions prevail.  Then results will be worked out.

To the credit side of the Expedition one can safely say that the comradeship and resource of the members of the Expedition was worthy of the highest traditions of Polar service; and it was a privilege to me to have had under my command men who, through dark days and the stress and strain of continuous danger, kept up their spirits and carried out their work regardless of themselves and heedless of the limelight.  The same energy and endurance that they showed in the Antarctic they brought to the greater war in the Old World.  And having followed our fortunes in the South you may be interested to know that practically every member of the Expedition was employed in one or other branches of the active fighting forces during the war.  Several are still abroad, and for this very reason it has been impossible for me to obtain certain details for this book.