48 



MAEION EXPEDITION" TO DAVIS STRAIT AND BAFFIN BAY 



At noon on September 1 the barometer registered the low vaUie of 

 29.16 inches, after which it commenced to rise sloAvly. At 1.20 p. m. 

 the ship got under way and stood to sea and then southeastward 

 toward Cape Farewell. Mostly cloudy but moderate weather was 

 enjoyed throughout the 175-mile run to the southern point of Green- 

 land. There was some fog over the cold 39° water encountered south 

 of the sixtieth parallel. A few large bergs were seen but there was 

 no pack ice in the cold current coming around Cape Farewell from 

 East Greenland. 



From C p. m. to 6.24 p. m. on September 2, 1928, the Marion lay 

 stopped 6 miles oif the outer islets and 12 miles west of Cape Fare- 

 well, taking the first station of the 620-mile line of them that was to 

 end off the Strait of Belle Isle. Just after leaving this station, the 



WHERE GLACIAL ICE MEETS THE SEA IN SOUTH GREENLAND 



Figure 38. — The MaHon is at anchor off the gravel flat at the south side of the head of 

 Arsuk Fiord. Many small pieces of ice have been stranded by the receding tide. In 

 the deep water near the center of the flord, several large pieces of ice which have just 

 been calved from the active north side of the glacier are drifting westward toward 

 the open waters of Davis Strait. 



clouds broke away to the westward, causing the low sun to light up 

 brilliantly the mighty peaks of the southern tip of Greenland, the 

 Cape Horn of the north. The air was so clear that these peaks were 

 outlined with unearthly sharpness against the clark-gray eastern sky. 

 There were dozens of them visible, rising one above the other with 

 extreme wildness. Never before had we seen such sharp alpine horns 

 and pinnacles. The bright colors of the bare rock contrasted sharply 

 with the radiant whiteness of the snow fields and snow patches, as it 

 did with the gray shadows of the chasms and the still darker back- 

 ground of the steely sky. Off the coast in front of the mountains 

 was a line of black wave-washed rocks and islets, while between the 

 shore and us lay the uneasy surface of the cold, blue sea. 



Five and a half days were required to make the run to Cape 

 Bauld, the northern tip of Newfoundland. Twenty-eight stations 

 were occupied, and many deep soundings Avere taken with the 



