Now we were beyond the point reached by the 'Scotia', and the land
underlying the ice-sheet we were skirting was new. The northerly trend
was unexpected, and I began to suspect that we were really rounding a
huge ice-tongue attached to the true barrier-edge and extending
northward. Events confirmed this suspicion. We skirted the pack all
night, steering north-west; then went west by north till 4 a.m. and
round to south-west. The course at 8 a.m. on the 13th was south-south-
west. The barrier at midnight was low and distant, and at 8 a.m. there
was merely a narrow ice-foot about two hundred yards across separating
it from the open water. By noon there was only an occasional shelf of
ice-foot. The barrier in one place came with an easy sweep to the sea.
We could have landed stores there without difficulty. We made a
sounding 400 ft. off the barrier but got no bottom at 676 fathoms. At
4 p.m., still following the barrier to the south-west, we reached a
corner and found it receding abruptly to the south-east. Our way was
blocked by very heavy pack, and after spending two hours in a vain
search for an opening, we moored the 'Endurance' to a floe and banked
fires. During that day we passed two schools of seals, swimming fast
to the north-west and north-north-east. The animals swam in close
order, rising and blowing like porpoises, and we wondered if there was
any significance in their journey northward at that time of the year.
Several young emperor penguins had been captured and brought aboard on
the previous day. Two of them were still alive when the 'Endurance' was
brought alongside the floe. They promptly hopped on to the ice, turned
round, bowed gracefully three times, and retired to the far side of the
floe. There is something curiously human about the manners and
movements of these birds. I was concerned about the dogs. They were
losing condition and some of them appeared to be ailing. One dog had
to be shot on the 12th. We did not move the ship on the 14th. A
breeze came from the east in the evening, and under its influence the