Hope ran high; but our ancient enemy the pack was lying in wait, and within twenty miles of the island the trawler was stopped by an impenetrable barrier of ice.
The pack lay in the form of a crescent, with a horn to the west of the ship stretching north.

Steaming north-east, we reached another horn and saw that the pack, heavy and dense, then trended away to the east.

We made an attempt to push into the ice, but it was so heavy that the trawler was held up at once and began to grind in the small thick floes, so we cautiously backed out.

The propeller, going slowly, was not damaged, though any moment I feared we might strip the blades.

The island lay on our starboard quarter, but there was no possibility of approaching it.