RECORD AND REDUCTION OF THE TIDES. 



81 



FORM OF THE TIDE WAVE AT VAN RENSSELAER HARBOR. 



Respecting the effect of the wind and ice on the tides, it may be remarked that 

 the former can only be slight, since the sea is protected from the direct action of 

 the wind by its icy cover for the greater part of the year. When the sea is par- 

 tially open, the effect becomes sensible, as may be seen by the following note 

 extracted from the log-book : — 



"August 17, 1853. The above records show a heavy gale from the southward 

 gradually hauling to the eastward ; the eifect of this gale on the tides was very 

 marked ; our flood rose two feet above any previous register, overflowing the ground 

 ice, and our last ebb or outgoing tide was hardly perceptible." The ice crust can- 

 not sensibly aff"ect (by friction on its lower surface) the progress of the tide wave, 

 and will certainly not sensibly interfere (by friction on the ice foot and breakage 

 of the ice fields) with the rise and fall of the tide. 



Prop-ess of the Tide Wave. — The tide at Van Rensselaer Harbor may be taken 

 as a derived tide, and transmitted to it from the Atlantic Ocean, and in part modi- 

 fied by the small tide originating in the waters of Baffin's Bay ; Avhich latter tide, 

 however, must necessarily be small, particularly on account of the general direction 

 of the bay, which is very unfavorable for the production of a tide wave. That the 

 tide wave is travelling up along the western coast of Greenland, or, in other words, 

 reaches Van Rensselaer Harbor from the southward, may be seen from the follow- 

 ing observed establishments : — 



Holsteinhorg Harbor, latitude 66° 56', longitude 53° 42'. High water at F. & C. 

 6'^ 30'". Spring tides rise 10 feet. — Capt. Inglefield, 1853. 



Whalefish Islands (near Disco), latitude 68° 59', longitude 53° 13'. Time of 

 high water F. & C. 8'' 15'". Highest tide Ih feet. — Parry's 3d Voyage of Discovery. 



Godham (Disco), latitude 69° 12', longitude 53° 28'. Tidal hour 9". Rise and 

 fall "th feet. — See Map in Narrative of Kane's First Voyage. 



Vpernavik, latitude 72° 47', longitude 56° 03'. High water at F. & C. 11". 

 Rise 8 feet.— Capt. Inglefield, 1854. 



Wolstenholm Sound, latitude 76° 33', longitude 68° 56.' High water at F. & C. 



11'' 8'". Rise, both at sprhig and neaps, 7 to 7i feet. — (See Admiralty Chart of 



Baffin's Bay, sheet 1, 1853, corrected to 1859.) The observations themselves, taken 



by Captain Saunders of H. M. S. North Star, in 1849 and 1850, were kindly fur- 



11 



