89 



in the sea, but very few observations bearing on this subject have 

 ever been made. 



June 26, a berg was reported in hit. 41° .54', long. 49° 52', by an 

 unknown Norwegian steamer. Little information could be obtained 

 except the supposed position of the berg. The patrol searched for 

 but was unable to find it. For several reasons the report was con- 

 sidered erroneous. June 30, a berg was reported in lat. 41° 42', 

 long. 50° 32'. The patrol searched for this berg, but did not find it. 

 The report located it on the southern edge of the fog sheet, pieces 

 of which were found to be detaching in various forms and shapes 

 that were deceptive even to those on the patrol ship who were ac- 

 customed to the appearance of icebergs. The report was undoubt- 

 edly erroneous. 



June 22, while at anchor on the Grand Bank, in lat. 41° 40', 

 long. 51° 18', current observations were made by hourly readings of 

 the ship's head, and, in addition, a drift stick was thrown every 

 hour to determine the strength of the current. The wind at the 

 time was southeast; light airs; smooth sea; dense fog. 



The foregoing observations indicate ^at the surface current in 

 this place was of a rotary tidal character veering in a clockwise direc- 

 tion. This agrees with previous current observations obtained on 

 the Grand Banks. The strength of the current, as shown by the 

 drift stick, was 0.25 knot per hour. 



Discussing surface thermal conditions (see charts '^E," ''L" and 

 ''M"), the wedge of cold water observed in May had extended south- 

 eastward and increased in area to the maximum for the year. There 

 was more cold water south of the Grand Banks in 1923 than in 1922. 

 Subsurface observations also showed a great volume of Arctic wa|ier 

 around the Tail in 1923. 



An interesting feature was the development of a finger-shaped 

 body of cold water which curved back southwestward from the main 

 cold water mass around the Tail of the Bank, marked "A" on chart 

 "L." The presence of this tongue extending toward the southwest 

 throws a fight upon the oceanographic observations made in 1910 by 

 the steamer Michael Sars, which found a similar body of water in 

 this same locality, believed by Murray and Hjort^ to be a current of 



•1912 Murray and Hjort: "Depths of the Ocean," London, 1912. 



