came.

The first ice was observed about 6 P.M. on the 10th. The water was still
deep--more than two thousand fathoms.

By noon on January 11 loose pack came into view, with a strong blink of
heavier pack to the south. The course was changed to south-west. At 7
P.M. the ship was steaming west in clear water, a few bergs being in
sight and a marked ice-blink to the south. Several whales appeared which
Captain James Davis reported were "blue whales" (finners or rorquals).

After we had been steering westward until almost midnight, the course
was altered to south-west in the hope of encountering the shelf-ice
barrier (met in 1912) well to the east of the Main Base station. On
the 12th we sailed over the position of the ice-tongue in 1912 without
seeing a trace of it, coming up with heavy broken floe at 10 A.M.

For four hours the 'Aurora' pushed through massive floes and "bergy
bits," issuing into open water with the blink of ice-covered land to the
south. At nine o'clock Adelie Land was plainly visible, and a course
was set for the Main Base. In squally weather we reached the Mackellar
Islets at midnight, and by 2 A.M. on the 13th dropped anchor in
Commonwealth Bay under the ice-cliffs in twenty fathoms.

At 6 A.M. Fletcher, the chief officer, reported that a heavy gust of
wind had struck the ship and caused the chain to carry away the lashing
of the heavy relieving-tackle. The chain then ran over the windlass,
and, before anything could be done, the pointer to which the end of
the chain was attached had been torn from the bolts, and our best
ground-tackle was lost overboard. It was an exasperating accident.

At seven o'clock the port anchor was dropped in ten fathoms, about eight
hundred yards west of the first anchorage, with ninety fathoms of chain.
The wind shifted suddenly to the north, and the 'Aurora' swung inshore
until her stern was within one hundred yards of the cliffs; but the
depth at this distance proved to be seventeen fathoms. After a few
northerly puffs, the wind shifted to the south-east and then died away.

At 2.30 P.M. the launch was hoisted over and the mail was taken ashore,
with sundry specimens of Australian fruit as "refreshment" for the
shore-party. The boat harbour was reached before any one ashore had seen
the 'Aurora'. At the landing-place we were greeted most warmly by nine
wild-looking men; some with beards bleached by the weather. They all
looked healthy and in very fair condition, af