A crack about four miles long opened in the floe to the stern of the ship on the 3rd.  The narrow lane in front was still open, but the prevailing light breezes did not seem likely to produce any useful movement in the ice.  Early on the morning of the 5th a north-easterly gale sprang up, bringing overcast skies and thick snow.  Soon the pack was opening and closing without much loosening effect.  At noon the ship gave a sudden start and heeled over three degrees.  Immediately afterwards a crack ran from the bows to the lead ahead and another to the lead astern.  I thought it might be possible to reeve the ship through one of these leads towards open water, but we could see no water through the thick snow; and before steam was raised, and while the view was still obscured, the pack closed again.  The northerly gale had given place to light westerly breezes on the 6th.  The pack seemed to be more solid than ever.  It stretched almost unbroken to the horizon in every direction, and the situation was made worse by very low temperatures in succeeding days.  The temperature was down to zero on the night of the 7th and was two degrees below zero on the 8th.  This cold spell in midsummer was most unfortunate from our point of view, since it cemented the pack and tightened the grip of the ice upon the ship.  The slow drift to the south-west continued, and we caught occasional glimpses of distant uplands on the eastern horizon.  The position on the 7th was lat. 76° 57´ S., long. 35° 7´ W. Soundings on the 6th and 8th found glacial mud at 630 and 529 fathoms.

The ‘Endurance’ was lying in a pool covered by young ice on the 9th.  The solid floes had loosened their grip on the ship itself, but they were packed tightly all around.  The weather was foggy.  We felt a slight northerly swell coming through the pack, and the movement gave rise to hope that there was open water near to us.  At 11 a.m. a long crack developed in the pack, running east and west as far as we could see through the fog, and I ordered steam to be raised in the hope of being able to break away into this lead.  The effort failed.  We could break the young ice in the pool, but the pack defied us.  The attempt was renewed on the 11th, a fine clear day with blue sky.  The temperature was still low, -2° Fahr. at midnight.  After breaking through some young ice the ‘Endurance’ became jammed against soft floe.  The engines running full speed astern produced no effect until all hands joined in “sallying” ship.  The dog-kennels amidships made it necessary for the people to gather aft, where they rushed from side to side in a mass in the confined space around the wheel.  This was a ludicrous affair, the men falling over one another amid shouts of laughter without producing much effect on the ship.  She remained fast, while all hands jumped at the word of command, but finally slid off when the men were stamping hard at the double.  We were now in a position to take advantage of any opening that might appear.  The