67 



to IMareh 1. The next berj^ was sighted on the 1st day of March in 

 43° 48' north, 49° 00' west, with two growlers to the eastAvard. It 

 was sighted again on March 4 in 43° 00' north, 49° 40' west, drift- 

 ing southward along the east side of the Bank at a rate of 0.5 knot 

 per hour, but it was not seen again after that date. (See chart D, 

 which shows this berg's drift.) 



On the 14th of the month two bergs were reported 6 miles east of 

 St. Johns, Newfoundland, but they were not seen again, unless a 

 large growler reported 28 miles southwest of Cape Race on the 2Tth 

 was the remaining sign of one of these. On March 12 a berg was 

 reported in 46° 11' north, 48° 43' west, and on two subsequent days, 

 the 13th and iTth, it was sighted again and also another berg in prac- 

 tically the same locality. This total of six bergs constitutes all the 

 glacial ice in the Atlantic south of Newfoundland, prior to April 1. 



Field ice was first sighted February 9 on the noi-theastern edge 

 of the Banks, near the forty-eighth parallel, and undoubtedly this 

 was the first of the Arctic fields, which were putting in an appearance 

 about on time. February 11 heavy field ice was reported on the 

 forty-seventh parallel just inshore of the 100-fathom contour of the 

 Bank, and the Arctic field was sighted several times thereafter during 

 February but not south of the forty-fifth parallel and never more 

 than 30 miles seaward of the continental edge. The presence of one 

 ice field may be traced in its drift down the eastern side of the Bank 

 by reports on March 1, 2, and 3, and, finally, on the 6th. (See sketch 

 No. 2 and " Table of Ice and Obstructions.") This field was carried 

 southward along the 100-fathom contour of the Bank and later, 

 under the influence of prevailing northwesterly winds, driven off- 

 shore to the southeast at the rate of 40 miles per day, attaining a 

 maximum distance of 120 miles into the Atlantic basin before finally 

 melting. With the disappearance of this patch March 6, no more 

 field ice was reported during the remainder of the month except a 

 small field of shore ice on the eastern coast of Newfoundland, be- 

 tween Cape Spear and Cape Ballard. The scarcity of field ice at a 

 time when it normally is spreading over the Grand Banks to a 

 maximum extent was very noticeable, but quite in agreement, how- 

 ever, with the small quantity of Arctic water south of Newfoundland, 

 and the abnormally high surface temperatures.^ 



One of the bergs sighted March 13-17 on the northeastern part of 

 the Bank was sighted by the patrol on the 26th in 45° 33' north, 



5 Geographical Journal, January, 1924, Vol. LXIII, No. 1. Capt. H. T. Munn, trader 

 and whaler, and annual visitor to the Baffin Bay region, reported that in September, 

 1923, he cruised northward on the west side of Baffin Bay (this region encompassing 

 the heart of the south flowing current which transports the arctic ice southward into 

 the Atlantic) from Cumberland Sound to Eclipse Sound and that he encountered little 

 or no ice. He had never seen these northern waters so free from ice in his 10 years' 

 experience. An Esquimo at Ponds Inlet, Eclipse Sound, states that the last ice left 

 there in July, which is a month earlier than normal. 



