therefore drift southward, wide offshore, in the Atlantic and are 

 caught up in the northeasterly moving Atlantic waters, where they 

 rapidly disintegrate. Many bergs, on the other hand, are found 

 lodged in the ice fields themselves, and as long as the fields are 

 heavy and tightly packed, the bergs will be moved in the direction 

 in which the field moves, the latter being mostly under control of 

 prevailing winds. 



Now, in a spring in which there is a great scarcity of field ice, the 

 icebergs are practically unaffected b}' the ice field influence and are 

 thus free to drift in the currents, which is the same as saying that 

 they will tend to set onshore and ground. In such years, it can 

 be appreciated, the coast line affects the behavior of icebergs to a 

 maximum extent and deters them from drifting southward through- 

 out the entire year instead of during only a part of the 3'ear. In a 

 season, therefore, characterized by an absence of field ice the great in- 

 dentation in the coast line of Newfoundland, between Belle Isle and 

 Cape Bonavista, assumes a tremendous significance and acts as a huge 

 traj) in which the bergs accumulate. The entrance to the Strait of 

 Belle Isle is also another important point where bergs are liable to 

 be trapped. Sketch No. 3 shows the distribution of ice as the patrol 

 found it in this region the latter pait of May. The remarkable ab- 

 sence of icebergs south of Newfoundland this year is attributable 

 mainly to the facts as described in the foregoing. 



Tlie 30th we returned to the vicinity of the southernmost iceberg 

 in the Atlantic, last seen by the patrol May 26 east of Cape Bona- 

 vista, in 48° 42' north, 51° 32' west. Fog and low visibility handi- 

 capi^ed the search to a great degree, but the berg was finally located 

 June 3 only 16 miles 140° tiiie from its former position, which in- 

 dicates a weakness at this time in the strengtli of the arctic current in 

 this region of the northern part of the Grand Bank. xVnother berg in- 

 shore 40 miles to the westward exhibited a similarly small drift of 

 3 miles per day in the same general direction. No ice was authenti- 

 cally located south of this latitude in the Atlantic during May, a 

 month in which bergs are normally at a maximum. 



The winds for the first part of tlie montli Avere well diversified 

 around the compass and were much lighter than those of the preced- 

 ing two weeks. The second half of the month the winds were some- 

 what stronger and blew mostly from the southern semicircle, the 

 latter fact being reflected in the fog scale near the end of the month. 

 The average force for the first 15 days was 2.5, while the second lialf 

 averaged 3. There were two gales Avith a force of 6.5 or greater, but 

 no gales with a force of 8. We experienced 16 per cent houi"S of fog 

 and 19 per cent hours of fog and low visibility. This is below the 

 average which we have experienced during the previous three years, 

 which averaged 22 per cent hours of fog and 33 per cent hours of fog 



