In the early morning of 24 January, a wide crack appeared in the ice ahead of the ship. Initially across, by mid-morning the break was over a quarter of a mile (0.4 km) wide, giving the men on the "Endurance" hope that the ice was breaking up. But the break never reached the ship itself, and despite three hours under full sail and full speed on the engine, the ship did not budge. Over the next days, the crew waited for the southerly gale to release the pressure on the ice, but while the wind backed to the hoped-for south/southwest direction, it remained light and erratic. Occasional breaks in the ice were spotted, but none reached the ship and all closed up within a few hours. Trials were made on January 27 with cutting and breaking the ice around the ship by manual labour but this proved futile.