At the end of March, Shackleton calculated that the ship had travelled a mere 95 miles (153 km) since 19 January.[45] However, as winter set in the speed of the drift increased, and the condition of the surrounding ice changed. On 14 April, Shackleton recorded the nearby pack "piling and rafting against the masses of ice"—if the ship was caught in this disturbance "she would be crushed like an eggshell".[45] In May, as the sun set for the winter months, the ship was at 75° 23′S, 42° 14′W, still drifting northwards. It would be at least four months before spring brought the chance of an opening of the ice, and there was no certainty that Endurance would break free in time to attempt a return to the Vahsel Bay area.[46] Shackleton now considered the possibility of finding an alternative landing ground on the western shores of the Weddell Sea, if that coast could be reached.