A Grotto in an Iceberg

Photographed on January 8, 1911, shortly after the arrival of the Terra Nova at McMurdo Sound: 'In one of these bergs there was a grotto. This I decided, should be the object of my first excursions. It was about a mile from the ship, and though a lot of rough and broken ice surrounded it, I was able to get right up to it. A fringe of long icicles hung at the entrance of the grotto, and passing under these I was in the most wonderful place imaginable. From outside, the interior appeared quite white and colourless, but once inside, it was a lovely symphony of blue and green. I made many photographs in this remarkable place - than which I secured none more beautiful the entire time I was in the South. By almost incredible good luck the entrance to the cavern framed a fine new of the Terra Nova lying at the ice-foot, a mile away.' (H.G. Ponting, The Great White South, London, 1924, (6th ed.), p.67)