Coats Land
"Scotia" headed south-east, towards the eastern waters of the Weddell Sea, in calm weather. No pack ice was encountered before they were south of the Antarctic Circle, and they were able to proceed smoothly until, on 3 March, heavy pack ice stopped the ship at 72°18'S, 17°59'W. A sounding was taken, revealing a sea-depth of , compared to the which had been the general measurement up to that date. This suggested that they were approaching land. A few hours later, they reached an ice barrier, which blocked progress towards the south-east. Over the following days, they tracked the edge of this barrier southwards for some . A sounding from the barrier edge gave a depth of only , which strongly indicated the presence of land behind the barrier. The outlines of this land soon became faintly visible, and Bruce named it Coats Land after his chief sponsors. This was the first positive indicator of the eastern limits of the Weddell Sea at high latitude, and suggested that the sea might be considerably smaller than had been previously supposed. A projected visit to Coats Land by a sledging party was abandoned by Bruce because of the state of the sea ice.