36 ' ' MARION ' ' EXPEDITION TO DAVIS STEAIT AND BAFFIN BAY 



wire are tightly wound on the dnnn. The same faihire happened to 

 the other hirge Avinch drum on the first long leg of the expedition, 

 and it also occurred once during the ice patrol of 1927. In the latter 

 instance repairs were not attempted until the season was over, but in 

 this case no such delay could be thought of, for we badly needed the 

 winch for use at the next station, which would be reached in three 

 hours' time. All hands were turned to reeling off the 2,800 meters of 

 /2-inch wire to the large wooden spool upon Avhich it had come. As 

 soon as the winch drum was empty the most resourceful of the motor 

 machinist's mates set to work repairing the damage by bolting on 

 pieces of 14 -inch scrap iron bent in the form of arms to strengthen 

 the drum and to hold on the wire. By 10 o'clock that night the wire 

 was back on the drum and the winch was in operation taking the next 

 set of observations. 



By 5 a. m. on August 20, the wind had died down to a gentle north- 

 west air, and the weather remained fine and sunny until 6 p. m. Sev- 

 eral bergs were sighted during the day. Around noon, Resolution 

 Island, the northern portal of Hudson Strait, was sighted ahead. 

 At 2.30 p. m. the last station of the line was taken 20 miles due east 

 of Cape Resolution. Man}' observations of the sun were made both 

 prior to and after the time this station was occupied and all of them 

 showed that the coast about Cape Resolution was apparently laid 

 down on our copy of B. A. Chart 235 about 12 miles east of its true 

 position. This seemed unbelievable, as we were now in fairly well- 

 known Avaters. Unfortunately, bad weather on the 22d, when avc 

 were again near Cape Resolution, made it impossible to verify this 

 possible discrepancy. Abnormal refraction may have thrown off all 

 our observations of the 20th by 12 minutes of arc. but if refraction 

 was normal on August 20, the land al)out Cape Resolution was cer- 

 tainly drawn in on the chart too far to the east. 



From the inshore station near Cape Resolution, the ship ran south 

 for 20 miles and then west about 25 miles to a point V/o miles south 

 of Hatton Headland, Resolution Island. At 8.45 p. m. a station was 

 taken off the latter point, the beginning of a line of stations run 

 southward across the eastern entrance of Hudson Strait. Through 

 the mist and drizzle at the station off Hatton Headland the land 

 appeared to be mountainous and rocky, but the Ioav clouds and the 

 bad visibility prevented our seeing very far back from the water's 

 edge. There Avere some small patches of snoAv in sheltered places, 

 even within one or two hundred feet of sea level. The dim tAvilight 

 and the mist prevented us from telling AA'hether or not there Avas 

 much vegetation on the shore. 



Out in Hudson Strait, a fcAv bergs Avere drifting about strangely, 

 not quietly and imperceptibly as they do normally, but AAdth notice- 

 able turnings and rapid relative motions AA'ith respect to each other 

 and to the drifting Marion. The agitation of the Avaters by strong 

 tidal currents Avas further evidenced by the peculiar Avaves that had 

 little relation to the force and direction of the Avind. These strange 

 waves or overfalls twice struck the Marion resounding bloAVS that 

 made spray dash up to the bridge AvindoAvs> something Avhich avouIcI 

 have never occurred in a gentle breeze Avhile drifting in any sort of 

 normal sAvell at sea. 



By 9 p. m, the station off Hatton Headland Avas completed, and 

 a course Avas set through the rain and darkness toAvarcl the Button 



