From Cape Fanshawe Martin the snow was deeper than ever, and this combined with fog and snow squalls, made the march not particularly pleasant. We came along fairly well, however, and with any luck at all, I felt that we should make Aldrich’s “Farthest” in two more comfortable marches. I did much more than my share of breaking a trail on this march, owing to the fact that my Eskimos could not keep a straight course in the fog. The glacier which we followed along, had a pronounced tidal crack delimiting its front, and outside of this the ice was pushed up in a great rounded ridge, a terminal moraine of ice in fact. It looked very much as if getting on to a coast with a different exposure (west instead of north) was going to result in quite different general characteristics.
We were now in Yelverton Bay, the last great indentation crossed by Aldrich, and the snow about our camp was so deep and heavy, that I decided to go straight out to the edge of the ice-foot, and follow it.
This promised several advantages—first, better going as the snow is almost always deeper in the bays than outside, and the tidal overflow at the edge gives patches of good going. Second, we would have something to follow in dense fog. Third, there was the chance of coming upon a bear, and fourth, the certainty of finding water, which would economise our fuel.
After travelling some four hours about due west, and not reaching the ice-foot, I got a little irritated and made up my mind to go to it no matter how far out it was.
We were all night (8½ hours) reaching it, and then found it no true ice-foot, only an irregular line between the ice of the bay and the broken ice outside, with no tidal joint whatever. A few hundred yards out was a lead of open water, and a sounding in this gave no bottom at 155 fathoms. Two hours from camp we opened up past Cape Albert Edward, what at first appeared to be an island, but later showed as distant connected land, and, might, I thought, be the northern part of Jesup Land.
In any event whether that or a continuation of the Grant Land coast, I was now looking into the unknown.
This Yelverton Bay is full of glaciers, and one presents the usual characteristics of the Whale Sound glaciers (vertical face and crevasses).
The glacial fringe here has a distinct glacier characteristic in that its surface is undulating, and there is a gradual descent in going away from the land.
A sandpiper flew over in this march and a seal was seen while we were making the sounding.
The night, while we marched, was clear, calm and warm, a striking contrast to previous ones.