We are only 24 miles from C. Crozier and the land is
showing up well, though Erebus is veiled in stratus cloud.
It looks finer to the south and we may run into sunshine soon, but
the wind is alarming and there is a slight swell which has little
effect on the ship, but makes all the difference to our landing.
For the moment it doesn't look hopeful. We have been continuing our
line of soundings. From the bank we crossed in latitude 71 deg. the water
has gradually got deeper, and we are now getting 310 to 350 fathoms
against 180 on the bank.
The _Discovery_ soundings give depths up to 450 fathoms East of
Ross Island.
6 P.M.--No good!! Alas! Cape Crozier with all its attractions is
denied us.
We came up to the Barrier five miles east of the Cape soon after
1 P.M. The swell from the E.N.E. continued to the end. The Barrier
was not more than 60 feet in height. From the crow's nest one could
see well over it, and noted that there was a gentle slope for at
least a mile towards the edge. The land of Black (or White?) Island
could be seen distinctly behind, topping the huge lines of pressure
ridges. We plotted the Barrier edge from the point at which we met it
to the Crozier cliffs; to the eye it seems scarcely to have changed
since _Discovery_ days, and Wilson thinks it meets the cliff in the
same place.
The Barrier takes a sharp turn back at 2 or 3 miles from the cliffs,
runs back for half a mile, then west again with a fairly regular
surface until within a few hundred yards of the cliffs; the interval is
occupied with a single high pressure ridge--the evidences of pressure
at the edge being less marked than I had expected.
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