THE " MARION " EXPEDITION TO DAVIS STRAIT AND 



BAFFIN BAY 



Noble G. Ricketts 



Chapter I 



INTRODUCTION 



In 1928 the United States Coast Guard sent the Marion expedition 

 north into Davis Strait and Baffin Bay to carry out scientific investi- 

 o;ations connected with the international ice patrol. The object of 

 the expedition was to obtain all the information possible reo:arding 

 ocean currents, depths, and ice conditions in the re^rion to the north 

 of that usually covered by the ice-patrol vessels each spring- and 

 summer. The leader of the Marlon expedition. Lieut. Commander 

 p]dward H. Smith. United States Coast (luard. has fully worked up 

 the scientific data that was obtained about oceanograi)hy and ice. 

 The reader is referred to Ignited States Coast Guard Bulletin 19, 

 part 3. for the report relating to Arctic ice and its drift into the 

 North Atlantic Ocean, and to United States Coast Guard Bulletin 

 19, part 2, for the report relating to the oceanography of Baffin Bay 

 and Davis Strait. The former jjublication was printed in 1931 and 

 the latter will be distril)uted at an early date. The present paper, 

 constituting part 1 of the Bulletin 19 series dealing with tlie Slar'ion 

 expedition, contains a narrative of the Marion\ cruise; a report and 

 discussion of the sounding work accomplished ; and a description 

 and discussion of the bottom samples obtained at some of the places 

 where wire soundings were made. 



DESCRIPTION OF VESSEL AND APPARATUS 



The Marion is one of a number of similar vessels which the Coast 

 Guard had built in 1925 for offshore patrol duty. She is 125 feet 

 long, with a 23i/o-fo()t beam and an 8V2-foot draft. Her normal dis- 

 placement is about 220 tons. Her twin screws, each driven by a 

 6-cylinder air-injection Diesel engine of 150 horsepower, could give 

 her a maximum speed of about IOI/2 knots. When she departed for 

 the north she carried a total of 9.000 gallons of fuel oil. of which 

 7.000 were in her tanks and 2.000 in drums on deck. Witli this amount 

 of oil. her cruising radius was upward of 6.000 miles at a speed of 

 714 knots. Figure 4 shows the Marion as she looked just prior to her 

 de])arture for the north. 



The Marion^s highest compartment was the bridge, the afterpart 

 of which was partitioned off shortly before the start of the expedi- 

 tion to form a radio room. Tlie large deckhouse on the next deck 



