130 POLAR PROBLEMS 



and Bennett Island and in the part of the Fram drift from its begin- 

 ning to the meridian of Cape Chelyuskin, beyond which point the 

 Fram's course took a more northerly direction.^ Lieutenant Cagni's 

 explorations in 1900 to the north of Crown Prince Rudolf Island con- 

 firm the general western character of the motion of the ice cover. 



Observations of the motion of the pack north of Spitsbergen also 

 indicate a western direction, with a tendency to deviate to the south. 



North of the coast of Greenland the motion of the pack has a very 

 complicated character. Peary's explorations indicate that the south- 

 ward-flowing East Greenland Current exerts a great influence. We 

 have still fewer data about the motion of the pack west of Grant Land 

 (75° W.). The same may be said of Beaufort Sea and the region north 

 of the Alaskan coast. ^ The tracks of Franklin's, Collinson's, and 

 McClure's vessels lie in a narrow zone near the shore and give no def- 

 inite information as to the motion of the ice. There is evidence that 

 the bark Young Phoenix, set adrift after she had been abandoned by 

 her crew near Cape Barrow, was carried first to the east almost to 

 the meridian of Return Reef [149° W.], then backwards to the west to 

 Cape Smith [157° W.] near her starting point, and then disappeared 

 in a northwest direction.® But the drift of this bark was also limited 

 to the zone near shore. 



All existing data give us the right to suppose that the motion of the 

 Arctic Pack between the meridians of Herald and Bennett Islands is 

 directed approximately to the west-by-north and west-northwest and 

 between the meridians of Bennett Island and Franz Josef Land to the 

 west-northwest and that it maintains its western direction still farther 

 west. To state positively what are the causes of this motion, whether 

 permanent currents or winds or both together, is as yet impossible. 

 We have data only about the littoral currents, which generally have 

 the character of tidal currents or are due to the masses of fresh water 

 carried to sea by the rivers. 



Two currents seem to proceed out of Bering Strait. One goes 

 along the Siberian coast to Cape Serdtse Kamen and farther to the 

 northwest toward Herald Island. The other is directed along the 

 American coast, and farther on it takes a northwestern direction. The 

 two currents push away the edge of the pack toward the north. The 

 edge projects far to the south between them, making a meeting place 

 for whaling ships cruising near the margin of the pack called Post 

 Office Point.^ 



The powerful flow of the East Greenland Current and the current 



^ Now that our knowledge of Northern Land seems to make it probable that the edge of the Arctic 

 Pack swings backward farther than Kolchak thought (see map in preceding article, Fig. i,) this parallel- 

 ism would seem to hold for the whole drift of the Fram. — Transl. [N. A. T.'s] Note. 



^ Since this was written, the drifts of the Karluk, of Storkerson, and of Wilkins (1927) have thrown 

 light on the currents in this area. — Transl. Note. 



^ Simpson, op. cil., p. 19. 



' ibid., pp. 12, 14. 



