SEA-ICE NOMENCLATURE By J. M. WORDIE, M.A. (Cantab.), Lieut.  R.F.A.

During the voyage of the ‘Endurance’ it was soon noticed that the terms being used to describe different forms of ice were not always in agreement with those given in Markham’s and Mill’s glossary in “The Antarctic Manual,” 1901.  It was the custom, of course, to follow implicitly the terminology used by those of the party whose experience of ice dated back to Captain Scott’s first voyage, so that the terms used may be said to be common to all Antarctic voyages of the present century.  The principal changes, therefore, in nomenclature must date from the last quarter of the nineteenth century, when there was no one to pass on the traditional usage from the last naval Arctic Expedition in 1875 to the Discovery Expedition of 1901.  On the latter ship Markham’s and Mill’s glossary was, of course, used, but apparently not slavishly; founded, as far as sea-ice went, on Scoresby’s, made in 1820, it might well have been adopted in its entirety, for no writer could have carried more weight than Scoresby the younger, combining as he did more than ten years’ whaling experience with high scientific attainments.  Above all others he could be accepted both by practical seamen and also by students of ice forms.

That the old terms of Scoresby did not all survive the period of indifference to Polar work, in spite of Markham and Mill, is an indication either that their usefulness has ceased or that the original usage has changed once and for all.  A restatement of terms is therefore now necessary.  Where possible the actual phrases of Scoresby and of his successors, Markham and Mill, are still used.  The principle adopted, however, is to give preference to the words actually used by the Polar seamen themselves.

The following authorities have been followed as closely as possible: 

W. Scoresby, Jun., “An Account of the Arctic Regions,” 1820, vol. i, pp. 225-233, 238-241.

C. R. Markham and H. R. Mill in “The Antarctic Manual,” 1901, pp. xiv-xvi.

J. Payer, “New Lands within the Arctic Circle,” 1876, vol. i, pp. 3-14.

W. S. Bruce, “Polar Exploration” in Home University Library, c. 1911, pp. 54-71.

Reference should also be made to the annual publication of the Danish Meteorological Institute showing the Arctic ice conditions of the previous summer.  This is published in both Danish and English, so that the terms used there are bound to have a very wide acceptance; it is hoped, therefore, that they may be the means of preventing the Antarctic terminology following a different line of evolution; for but seldom is a seaman found nowadays who knows both Polar regions.  On the Danish charts six different kinds of sea-ice are marked—­namely, unbroken polar ice; land-floe; great ice-fields; tight pack-ice; open ice; bay-ice and brash.  With the exception of bay-ice, which is more generally known as young ice, all these terms pass current in the Antarctic.