442 OBIlSEKVATIONS ON THE CUEEENTS. 



Eace, and the crew had to abandon her, so much was she damaged, being 

 rescued by a passing steamer. On the 22nd, the steamer Conscript cut 

 through more than 100 miles of Field Ice, between 1 and 2 feet thick, 

 when between Miquelon and Cape Breton Island, and stripped the 

 sheathing from her bows. 



(446.) Along the coast of Labrador, Field Ice begins to form at Cape 

 Chudleigh, on the South side of Hudson Strait, about the middle of 

 October ; at Belle Isle, about the beginning of November ; and by the 

 middle or end of November the whole coast is usually solidly frozen, the 

 Ice forming an impassable barrier, till about the end of April. The bays 

 frequently remain frozen over until June. 



The coasts of Newfoundland and the Gulf of St. Lawrence are usually 

 blocked with Ice by the middle of January. Navigation in the Biver 

 St. Lawrence closes about the middle of November, and does not re- 

 open till about May, though much Ice may be found in the Gulf up to 

 July. 



Commander Eobinson states that in December and January, Ice usually 

 forms for 20 to 40 miles, seldom farther, off the Eastern shores of New- 

 foundland, and fills up the deep indentations of the coast. In some seasons 

 very little Ice is seen on this coast, but in the summer months heavy 

 bodies of Arctic Ice drifting Southward form a constant obstruction 

 between Indian Tickle and the Fogo Islands. The French fishing vessels 

 bound to the harbours of Griguet, Croc, and Fleur de Lys, generally 

 endeavour to make the land about Cape Bauld, where the Ice is often 

 loose and broken about the middle of May. Large vessels should not 

 approach Notre Dame Bay before June 10th or 15th, and then only with 

 the aid of a pilot. 



From a record kept at Belle Isle lighthouse between the years 1872 and 

 1885, the earliest date of steamers being seen entering the Strait of Belle 

 Isle, varied from June 7th to July 16th, and the last outward-bound from 

 November 11th to 22nd. 



Off Cape Bace the mass of Ice sometimes extends 60 to 100 miles to the 

 South and S.W., and from 150 to 250 miles to the Eastward. In ordinary 

 seasons it seldom extends in a body South of lat. 46° N., and often remains 

 in the vicinity of Virgin Eocks until the end of April. Ordinary cargo 

 steamers have reached St. John's in March and April by passing through 

 the soft Ice, or rounding its Southern extremity and approaching Cape Eace 

 from the S.W. It is only during a continuance of Easterly winds that the 

 Ice forbids access to St. John's. 



In Cabot Strait the Ice usually begins to flow out early in January in 

 sheets ; small Bergs, 10 to 18 ft. high, are sometimes seen, but a large 

 Berg seldom. After leaving the strait, the Ice often drifts as far South- 

 ward as Sable Island. The strait may be regarded as closed for ordinary 

 navigation after January 9th ; it generally opens between April 2oth and 

 May 15th, but some seasons it is later. 



(447.) Icebergs are a much more interesting subject for discussion, and 

 their majestic proportions at once attract attention and invite enquiry as 

 to their formation ; consequently we find many reasons and speculations 

 have been advanced to account for them, and various localities noiuted 



