FOREWORD 



This report covers the activity of the International Ice Patrol dur- 

 ing the 1949 season. Oceanographer Floyd M, Soule prepared the 

 oceanographic section. Lt. Leroy A. Cheney, USCG, prepared the 

 remainder of the Bulletin. 



International Ice Observation and Ice Patrol services have been 

 conducted by the U. S. Coast Guard as an international service since 

 1914. This service is carried on under the provisions of the Interna- 

 tional Convention for Safety of Life at Sea signed at London 31 May 

 1929. Several minor changes in these provisions were made in the con- 

 vention signed in London 10 June 1948 ; however, these provisions will 

 not be in effect until ratified by the contracting governments. The con- 

 duct of International Ice Patrol will not be much affected by these 

 changes which acknowledge the fact that aircraft are a useful tool in 

 searching for ice and allow the managing government to use as many 

 vessels as it deems necessary. The 1929 convention imposes on the con- 

 tracting governments the obligation of using their influence to induce 

 the owners of all vessels crossing the Atlantic to follow recognized 

 routes and to pass outside regions known or believed to be endangered 

 by ice. Expenses of the service are distributed among the variovs 

 maritime nations in the proportions specified in the 1929 convention. 

 "When the provisions of the 1948 convention become effective, expenses 

 will be apportioned according to the amount of each nation's tonnage 

 which passes through the ice patrol area in a given season. 



(vii) 



