438 CONQUERING THE ARCTIC ICE 



believed, and we were consequently not so careful to take soundings as we 

 ought to have been. On April i, about thirty-two miles off land, we had 

 44 metres, and on April 7, thirty-one miles further to the north, we had 620 

 metres (the length of our sounding-wire) with no bottom. 



It was not until April 22, on 71 12' N. lat. and 148 24' W. long., that 

 we could again touch bottom with our sounding- wire, having at that spot 

 63 metres. We sounded due north from this point, and came again into 

 deep water, only two and a quarter miles to the north of the first sounding. 

 The following curve will show the increase of the depth right over the edge 

 of the Continental Shelf. 



The colour and condition of the bottom will likewise be seen on the 

 diagram. 



The set of the ice in Beaufort Sea is very puzzling, and we could not 

 arrive at a satisfactory explanation of it. With calm or an easterly wind the 

 ice would open up, long and broad lanes would appear, and the ice would 

 drift westward at a rate of almost ten miles in twenty-four hours. 



When the conditions were reversed and the wind was west we found that 

 all lanes closed up and that the ice was exposed to very severe pressure, 

 but the drift to the east was very small and generally //, even when a 

 west wind was blowing at a rate of twenty to twenty-five miles an hour. 



If there was a possibility of the existence of an island extending north 

 and south to the north of Alaska, much could be explained, but this 

 hypothetical land can probably not be found, as the Continental Shelf is too 

 narrow. The existence of such land would, to a certain extent, explain the 

 drilt of the ice under the influence of the wind, but in view of the facts 

 before us we must disregard the theory that land is to be found, and base 

 our explanation on observed facts. 



In the spring of the year there is a permanent and strong westerly set to 

 the north of Alaska, but all the whalers agree that in the summertime an 

 easterly set is predominant close to the land. 



Observations on the set of the ice in Lancaster Sound likewise show a 

 drift to the east, and to the north of Ellesmere Land the ice is also moving 

 fast in the same direction, according to Peary. 



That the current cannot set to the west all the year round seems to be 

 proved by the quantity of ice which is found in Beaufort Sea every year. 

 With a current such as that which we encountered the ice would drift away 

 from the west shores of Parry Archipelago, leaving a large body of open 

 water, as the supply from the east, the ice found between the Parry Islands, 

 could not fill up the large expanse thus laid open. However, this is not the 

 case ; only in very good ice years can the powerful steam whalers force their 

 way along the west shore of Banks Land. 



The explanation of Dr. Harris, relating to the heavy old floes in Beaufort 

 Sea, namely, that the ice must be kept there by the eastern set of the current 

 and by a stretch of land to the north, cannot be right. Our experience 

 plainly shows that the ice could not remain in Beaufort Sea for any length 

 of time, but would drift across the Polar sea and emerge on the east coast 

 of Greenland in the course of comparatively few years ; and we must thus 



