The morning of December 18 found the 'Endurance' proceeding amongst
large floes with thin ice between them. The leads were few. There was
a northerly breeze with occasional snow-flurries. We secured three
crab-eater seals--two cows and a bull. The bull was a fine specimen,
nearly white all over and 9 ft. 3 in. long; he weighed 600 lbs.
Shortly before noon further progress was barred by heavy pack, and we
put an ice-anchor on the floe and banked the fires. I had been prepared
for evil conditions in the Weddell Sea, but had hoped that in December
and January, at any rate, the pack would be loose, even if no open
water was to be found. What we were actually encountering was fairly
dense pack of a very obstinate character. Pack-ice might be described
as a gigantic and interminable jigsaw-puzzle devised by nature. The
parts of the puzzle in loose pack have floated slightly apart and
become disarranged; at numerous places they have pressed together
again; as the pack gets closer the congested areas grow larger and the
parts are jammed harder till finally it becomes "close pack," when the
whole of the jigsaw-puzzle becomes jammed to such an extent that with
care and labour it can be traversed in every direction on foot. Where
the parts do not fit closely there is, of course, open water, which
freezes over, in a few hours after giving off volumes of "frost-smoke."
In obedience to renewed pressure this young ice "rafts," so forming
double thicknesses of a toffee-like consistency. Again the opposing
edges of heavy floes rear up in slow and almost silent conflict, till
high "hedgerows" are formed round each part of the puzzle. At the
junction of several floes chaotic areas of piled-up blocks and masses
of ice are formed. Sometimes 5-ft. to 6-ft. piles of evenly shaped
blocks of ice are seen so neatly laid that it seems impossible for them
to be Nature's work. Again, a winding canyon may be traversed between
icy walls 6 ft. to 10 ft. high, or a dome may be formed that under