Mention should be made of the field ice for April. The location 

 of the main ice field was not determined due to the fact that neither 

 steamers nor the patrol crossed to the northward over the Grand 

 Banks. But tliere is little doubt that the southern edge of the field 

 was near the 44th parallel on the Grand Banks, while to the westward it 

 ran just north of Sable Island. On April 3, a small piece of ice, 8 feet 

 in diameter, was sighted in hit. 40° 58', long. 49° 01', in water of a 

 temperature of 60°. Since there had been no bergs in this vicinity, 

 it was no doubt the last vestige of a field that had been blown offshore 

 by the prevailing northwesterly winds. And since it was probably 

 identical with a pan reported in lat. 42° 27', long. 50° 08', on March 

 30, it had drifted 80 miles in three days; approximately 1 knot per 

 hour. 



A comparison of April 1923 with 1922 shows that there were a few 

 more bergs in 1923. In 1922 there were two bergs south of the Tail; 

 in 1923, there were five. In 1922, however, the southernmost berg, 

 on April 10, was in lat. 42° 30', long. 49° 45', while the southernmost 

 berg in 1923, April 16, was in lat. 42° 42'. long. 50° 28'. During 

 April there were 33 per cent hours with fog and 51 per cent hours of 

 fog and low visibility, a trifle more than in 1922. The patrol ship 

 was in the vicinity of the Tail of the Grand Bank, lat. 43°, long. 50°, 

 most of the month. There was a decided change in direction of the 

 winds from the nortliM^est quadrant to the southern semicircle. The 

 force of the wind averaged less than 4, which was somewhat less than 

 during March. 



MAY. 



The accompanying sketch (sketch No. 1) shows all the bergs that 

 were south of the 43d parallel during the first half of the month. The 

 patrol ship was absent from the vicinity of the Tail of the Bank, 

 May 17 to 25, following berg No. 17 in its extrasoutherly drift. (See 

 charts "J" and "K. ") 



The sketch indicates that the currents around the Tail and along 

 the southwest slope of the Grand Bank which had been observed 

 during the latter half of April continued without slacking the first half 

 of May. In fact, the tendency of the bergs this year to set to the 

 northward and westward along the southwest slope of the Bank has 

 been the outstanding feature of the ice drift. 



The one notable exception to the above was the drift of berg 17 (see 

 chart "C"), which was first sighted May 17 in lat. 42° 28', long. 

 51° 29', and last seen May 25, in lat. 39° 08', long. 48° 30', when it 

 was no larger than a ship's boat. It drifted 287 miles in 8 days, or 

 34.0 miles per day, approximately 1.5 knots per hoiu*. For a few 

 hours it drifted at the rate of 3 knots per horn-. May 19 it calved a 

 small berg and May 22 it calved another berg. This gave the patrol 



