56 MAKIOX EXPEDITION TO DAVIS STRAIT AND BAFFIN BAY 



known. According to Huntsman (1930. p. 7) the frigid character 

 of the gulf is almost wholly due to the Davis Strait ice, either di- 

 rectly as it drifts in or indirectly as it cools the inflowing water. 

 The fact that the contributions from Davis Strait through Belle 

 Isle bestow an icy character on the Gulf of St. Law'rence is clearly 

 demonstrated by comparing the conditions there with those of Hud- 

 son Bay. Although the latter is much farther north it remains com- 

 paratively open except around it shores wdiile the Gulf of St. Law- 

 rence is ice congested. The Strait of Belle Isle is ordinarily open 

 to navigation from July to December. The summer route through 

 the strait is much traveled because it provides a short ocean journey 

 to Europe. The mileage from Montreal to Liverpool, including two 

 days on inland waters, is 2,785, against ;3.100 from New York. 



Some of the patches of pack ice reported earliest in the season in 

 the western North Atlantic, sighted on the northern part of the 

 Nova Scotian shelf, have drifted out of the St. Law-rence through 

 Cabot Strait. The main body of this pack moves out past Cape 

 North and Scatari Island, on the Cape Breton side, and spreads 

 southerly toward Sable Island. (See Huntsman, 1930, p. 7.) An- 

 other branch, consisting mostly of sludge moves southwesterly 

 along the Nova Scotia coast, even as far as Halifax. But since its 

 presence is mostly due to favorable winds, its existence is brief. 

 Glacons and sludge in very small quantities have been known to 

 drift at rare intervals southward past Cape Sable, but such ice is 

 rapidly melted and, according to Bigelow (1927, p. 698), never 

 drifts into the Gulf of Maine. Strings of the St. Law^rence pack 

 are often blown considerable distances offshore, sometimes reaching 

 the vicinity of Sable Island (as shown on fig. 27, p. 53), or even sur- 

 rounding the island, but very seldom is any of this ice considered a 

 menace to navigation. The ice patrol usually advises trans- 

 Atlantic ships for Halifax to select a course south of Sable 

 Island, whereby they will avoid all dangerous ice.*^ Not only 

 may the St. Lawrence pack be the first to drift out into the 

 Atlantic during spring, but in the face of approaching summer 

 it is usually the latest to disappear from the latitudes south of 

 Newfoundland. Its persistence is partly due to the temperature of 

 the waters of the Gulf of St. Lawrence and of the inflow from the 

 latter. The St. Lawrence pack may spread out from Cabot Strait 

 occasionally, over an arc from St. JPierre to the Cape Breton coast 

 in February to April, then gradually shrink to the mouth of Cabot 

 Strait during May. The position and extent of the St. Lawrence 

 pack attracts attention from the latter part of April until the middle 

 of May, due to the large number of steamships which are attempting 

 to force passage through it. The field may be described as follows : 

 (a) An outer zone consisting of loose sludge and gla(.'ons broken by 

 numerous leads of open water and bounded offshore by an arc from 

 Miquelon Island to Cape Canso; {h) an inshore zone of heavy pack 

 ice without leads, and with its outer edge following a convex curve 

 from Cape Ray to Scartari Island; (c) the innermost zone, consist- 

 ing of heavy rafted ice packed tightly in an effectual barrier. Cape 



" Small quantities of pack ice of local origin form in certain sheltered areas along the 

 eastern coast of the United States as far south as New York during unusually severe win- 

 ters ; e. g.. in Cape Cod Bay, in Vineyard Sound, and in Long island Sourd. But the 

 extent of these packs is very limited and their existence brief. 



