74 



southwesterly current of 1 knot flowed through the gulley past Cape 

 Race. The continued presence of arctic water on the northern part 

 of tlie Bank and a leg down the east side was noted during the month. 

 Expansion of the Banks water to the northeastward displaced arctic 

 water in that locality the latter part of the month. The " cold wall " 

 receded offshore on the east side of the Grand Banks the latter part 

 of the month. A total of only 2 bergs were recorded south of New- 

 foundland, in the Atlantic, where the normal number for this month 

 is 90. 



MAY 



The 1st day of the month the patrol crossed at right angles to the 

 eastern side of the Grand Banks and observed a surface drift of 

 0.8 knot per hour which corresponds to the strength found in this 

 region the latter part of April. Cruising toward Cape Race, no 

 appreciable set was observed from positions of the ship as determined 

 by astronomical sights; even in the gulley between the Banks and 

 Cape Rac« no surface current was found where ordinarily a 1 knot 

 southerly set is to be expected. Next the patrol ship ran a line of 

 oceanographic stations from Cape Pine west-southwestward to the 

 edge of the Laurentian Channel and no definite current of ap- 

 preciable magnitude was found. We then cruised southeastward 

 along the western slope of the Grand Banks, observing a surface 

 drift 215° true one-half knot i^er hour. The following two days, 

 May 9 and 10, from latitude 43° 30' north to latitude 46° 00' north, 

 10 miles seaward of the eastern slope of the Banks, no current was 

 found ; even northward between 47° 00' west and 48° 45' west, on the 

 northwestern part of the Banks, no current existed. Normally, a 

 continuous movement to the southward has been found along the east 

 side of the Banks at this time of the year. Although variations in 

 its strength have often been noticed, we have never found a complete 

 cessation during spring. From the 20th to the 27th we cruised 

 northward as far as the Strait of Belle Isle, but no positions were 

 obtained which permitted us to detect any sizable current flow. The 

 27th to the 30th we skirted the Newfoundland coast, 10 to 20 miles 

 offsliore, from Cape Bauld to Funk Island, observing the ice con- 

 ditions, and spending the last few days of the month searching in 

 the vicinity of 48° 42' north 51° 32' west, for the southernmost ice- 

 berg at that time in the offshore Atlantic. 



Charts I and J portrav surface temperature conditions prevailing 

 in the ice regions during the month. The body of cold water which 

 flooded the nortliern part of the Bank and invaded southward in the 

 form of two salients, one along the east side of the Grand Bank and 

 the other in the trough south westward of Cape Race, is not so 

 prominently delineated on the charts for the month as it was on the 



