37 



at Battle Harbor courteously agreed to meet us with launch off 

 harbor at daj-break to-morrow to give ice information, his oppor- 

 tunities for observation from year to year liaving been unusually 

 good. 



Mr. Michael Thomas, lighthouse keeper, Belle Isle, stationed 

 there since 1915, gave the following ice information to the ocean- 

 ographer : That, as usual, the straits were blocked with ice the past 

 winter, having cleared May 19, about the usual season. But the 

 ocean side of the island had been clear of ice the entire winter, 

 which phenomenon he had never before observed. The amount of 

 drift ice this spring had not been as much as half what is usually 

 seen. This was also true as regards bergs. The arctic drift ice 

 appeared the first week in March, and that ice with a few bergs and 

 the accompanying breeding seal had set southward into White Bay. 

 While he keeps no special record, Mr. Thomas estimates that within 

 sight of Belle Isle approximately three bergs set into the str'aits 

 for every one that drifts southward into the Atlantic. During 

 early season practically all drift ice sets into the straits and later 

 practically all goes to the southward. Mr, Thomas gave the fol- 

 lowing dates for the first and last trans-Atlantic steamers entering 

 and leaving the straits for the past three years: June 6, June 10, 

 and July 1 and December 2, 12, and 15, respectively. As many as 

 10 trans- Atlantic steamers daily, mostly Scandinavian, use the straits 

 in the summer season. 



Received ice inform'ation from steamer VeerJiaven (small berg), 

 latitude 48° 29'. longitude 52° 23'. Received obstruction report 

 from Cape Race. 



May 28 : Begins fresli W. breeze, gradually falling to calm at 

 close. Mostly clear; excellent visibility. Drifting during hours of 

 darkness. At 3.45 under way and stood course 290° true toward 

 Battle Harbor. Field ice soon appeared ; attempted to skirt same to 

 the southward, but found that it extended to Belle Isle on the north, 

 and that the straits to the southward were blocked. Stood down the 

 coast skirting ice field and found that it extended almost to Gray 

 Island, a distance of approximately 40 miles south of the straits and 

 offshore to a distance of some 15 miles. The field was being carried 

 offshore under influence of westerly winds, and apparenth^ melting 

 rapidly. Continued cruise to southward, keeping some 20 miles 

 offshore, observing ice conditions, to Twillingate Harbor, which 

 we entered at 8 p. m. During day a total of some 67 icebergs and 

 hundreds of growlers were sighted, the greater number being 

 stretched along an arc within some 20 miles of shore. 



A few fulmar, gulls, and jaeger seen in vicinity of ice. 



The following ice information was received by radio from the 

 operator at Battle Harbor, Labrador : The arctic field ice struck that 

 10761—24 i 



