210 EJNAR MIKKELSEN. 
“Scotia”! drifted with a rate of 17 miles a day from 79° south- 
ward, but nothing is mentioned as to where the drift ended. 
Some sealing vessels drifted between 70°—68° N. Lat.? witha daily rate 
of 12 miles, and this corresponds very well with the above-mentioned drifts. 
Mention is made by С. Normann in Geografisk Tidskrift for 1878 
pag. 52, of some whaling vessels (four in all) which in 1769 drifted from 
76°—69°, or a distance of 480 miles in about 125 days. This gives а 
daily average of about 4 miles, which mean, however, is so much lower 
than the above-mentioned that it seems better to leave it out of the 
reckoning altogether, particularly as no mention is made concerning 
where the drift took place — that is, whether it was in the inner or outer 
half of the pack-ice. 
The average daily set of the ice in the outer half of the pack-ice 
is thus about 14 miles — much greater than the set under land. 
There are two more cases of ships drifting with the ice, which must 
be taken into account, namely that of “Sterkodder” (1895) and “Anna” 
(1899). These lines of drift go almost perpendicularly on the general 
set of the main polar current, and the daily average is 12 miles. 
In both cases the ships became beset in the early spring, and the 
drift of the two vessels ended in a place, where there is very often a 
tongue of ice, and where the ice-belt has a tendency to be at its broadest. 
If these drift-lines are laid out on a map together with the current, it 
will be seen that particularly the drift of the “Anna” corresponds entirely 
with the latest information regarding the arctic current, where a part 
of this current branches off from the main current between 73° and 74° 
N. Lat. and runs towards the northern end of Jan Mayen. The only 
way in which to explain the direction of the drift of “Stærkodder” and 
“Аппа” is to presume that these vessels have been in the grip of this 
branch of the main current. 
The different drift-velocities are thus: 
From the north to Angmagsalik 5,0 and 14,0 miles a day, 
— Angmagsalik to Cape Farvel 6,5 miles a day, 
which shows that the ice-drift under land takes place with about the 
same velocity from at least 75° N. Lat. to Cape Farvel. 
The unequal velocity of the ice-drift close under land and along the 
edge of the pack-ice helps to prove the theory advanced by Capt. С. С. 
Amprup‘, namely that the main arctic current does not reach the east 
coast of Greenland on its northermost part, and that the south-going 
current under land is a branch of the main current. This would cause 
1 Ice-observations 1907. 
2 Ice-observations 1899. 
& Ice-observations for the years in question. 
+ Medd. om Grønland. Vol. XXVII, pag. 141 and 142. 
