James Wordie was the geologist and head of scientific staff. He continued his geological observations during the ice drift, including observations of the ice pack itself — its structure, its movement, its physical composition. Some of this data was preserved and contributed to the subsequent scientific literature.
Leonard Hussey, the meteorologist, kept meteorological records through the ice drift, contributing to the scientific understanding of Weddell Sea weather patterns. His data on temperature, wind, and atmospheric pressure during the expedition’s passive drift through the pack ice were genuinely useful to subsequent Antarctic research.
Reginald James, the physicist, made observations of terrestrial magnetism and atmospheric electricity. His records, kept through the drift, added to the geophysical dataset for the Antarctic region.
The scientific value of the expedition was, in the circumstances, significantly less than what had been intended. But it was not zero. The men continued to observe and record through a year of ice drift, in conditions that would have justified the abandonment of scientific work entirely, because observation and recording were what scientists did, and because the discipline of scientific work was itself a form of structure and purpose.
The instruments that survived were carried in the boats and preserved through the crossing to Elephant Island and beyond. The data was eventually published. It is a small footnote in the history of the expedition, but it reflects something real about the character of the men: they kept working, even when the work had been stripped of its original purpose.
## Ice, Ships, and the Limits of 1914 Technology