The extra miles would not have mattered to a ship with larger coal
capacity than the 'Endurance' possessed, but we could not afford to
sacrifice miles unnecessarily. The pack was loose and did not present
great difficulties at this stage. The foresail was set in order to
take advantage of the northerly breeze. The ship was in contact with
the ice occasionally and received some heavy blows. Once or twice she
was brought up all standing against solid pieces, but no harm was done.
The chief concern was to protect the propeller and rudder. If a
collision seemed to be inevitable the officer in charge would order
"slow" or "half speed" with the engines, and put the helm over so as to
strike floe a glancing blow. Then the helm would be put over towards
the ice with the object of throwing the propeller clear of it, and the
ship would forge ahead again. Worsley, Wild, and I, with three
officers, kept three watches while we were working through the pack, so
that we had two officers on deck all the time. The carpenter had
rigged a six-foot wooden semaphore on the bridge to enable the
navigating officer to give the seamen or scientists at the wheel the
direction and the exact amount of helm required. This device saved
time, as well as the effort of shouting. We were pushing through this
loose pack all day, and the view from the crow's-nest gave no promise
of improved conditions ahead. A Weddell seal and a crab-eater seal
were noticed on the floes, but we did not pause to secure fresh meat.
It was important that we should make progress towards our goal as
rapidly as possible, and there was reason to fear that we should have
plenty of time to spare later on if the ice conditions continued to
increase in severity.

On the morning of December 12 we were working through loose pack which
later became thick in places. The sky was overcast and light snow was
falling. I had all square sail set at 7 a.m. in order to take