The percentage of clear sky increased steadily up till June and July, these months showing respectively 42 per cent. and 45.7 per cent.  In August 40 per cent. of the observations were clear sky, while September showed a sudden drop to 27 per cent.  October weather was much the same, and November was practically overcast the whole time, clear sky showing at only 8 per cent. of the observations.  In December the sky was completely overcast for nearly 90 per cent. of the time.

Temperatures on the whole were fairly high, though a sudden unexpected drop in February, after a series of heavy north-easterly gales, caused the ship to be frozen in, and effectually put an end to any hopes of landing that year.  The lowest temperature experienced was in July, when -35° Fahr., i.e. 67° below freezing, was reached.  Fortunately, as the sea was one mass of consolidated pack, the air was dry, and many days of fine bright sunshine occurred.  Later on, as the pack drifted northwards and broke up, wide lanes of water were formed, causing fogs and mist and dull overcast weather generally.  In short, it may be said that in the Weddell Sea the best weather comes in winter.  Unfortunately during that season the sun also disappears, so that one cannot enjoy it as much as one would like.

As a rule, too, southerly winds brought fine clear weather, with marked fall in the temperature, and those from the north were accompanied by mist, fog, and overcast skies, with comparatively high temperatures.  In the Antarctic a temperature of 30°, i.e. 2° below freezing, is considered unbearably hot.

The greatest difficulty that was experienced was due to the accumulation of rime on the instruments.  In low temperatures everything became covered with ice-crystals, deposited from the air, which eventually grew into huge blocks.  Sometimes these blocks became dislodged and fell, making it dangerous to walk along the decks.  The rime collected on the thermometers, the glass bowl of the sunshine recorder, and the bearings of the anemometer, necessitating the frequent use of a brush to remove it, and sometimes effectively preventing the instruments from recording at all.

One of our worst blizzards occurred on August 1, 1915, which was, for the ship, the beginning of the end.  It lasted for four days, with cloudy and overcast weather for the three following days, and from that time onwards we enjoyed very little sun.

The weather that we experienced on Elephant Island can only be described as appalling.  Situated as we were at the mouth of a gully, down which a huge glacier was slowly moving, with the open sea in front and to the left, and towering, snow-covered mountains on our right, the air was hardly ever free from snowdrift, and the winds increased to terrific violence through being forced over the glacier and through the narrow gully.  Huge blocks of ice were hurled about like pebbles, and cases of clothing and cooking utensils