NARRATIVE OF THE CRUISE 117 



confined to bed with a severe cold. It was the first time in his 

 hfe at sea that he had taken cold on shipboard. As none of the 

 others had suffered from it in Iceland, or in the eight days after 

 leaving, it was interesting to speculate on the source of the in- 

 fection. We were to be pestered with this common complaint 

 in many ports, but on only a few occasions while at sea. 



An unexpected stir was created at sunset on the 5th, when a 

 giant iceberg was sighted off our port bow. We changed course 

 to determine its size and position, so that the trans-Atlantic 

 shipping might be notified. It was very late in the season to 

 encounter a berg, especially so far south, and the ice-patrol had 

 already left its post. We sailed within a few hundred feet, meas- 

 ured its length and altitude, and sent the necessary information 

 by radio to the Hydrographic Office in Washington. It was over 

 a hundred feet high and four hundred feet long. Those who had 

 never seen an iceberg were thrilled with pleasure, but to those 

 who have navigated the Southern Ocean an iceberg is nevei* 

 beautiful. Once it drifts into the warm waters of the Gulf Stream 

 it will not last long. 



We crossed the Banks of Newfoundland on the 6th, and hove- 

 to for an oceanographic station on the following morning. We 

 were on the southern shelf, and there was a depth of only 130 

 meters below us. At 50 meters the water was 3° Fahrenheit 

 below the freezing-point of pure water, while it was 23° warmer 

 at the surface. 



This station was interesting for another reason. All around 

 us we could see whales spouting. Over in the east was a school 

 which must have numbered over twenty. In Barbados we were 

 to learn that whalers had pursued these same animals and had 

 made the greatest killing of the century. 



On August 8 we stepped suddenly from winter into summer. 

 Within a few hours the water-temperature jumped 20° Fahrenheit, 

 with the air following suit. The stove in the cabin was dismantled, 

 woolen caps and underclothes were discarded, and we went about 

 the deck squinting in the brilliant sunlight. We were in the Gulf 

 Stream, and out of the cold Labrador Current. 



For two weeks we logged an average of 140 miles a day, with 



