The percentage distribution of reporting vessels by nationality was 

 as follows: 



Country 



No. of 



reporting 



ships 



Poreentage 

 ot total 



Country 



No. of 



reporting 



ships 



Percentage 

 of total 



ITnitod Kingdom 

 United States... 



Germany 



Sweden 



Norway..- 



Netherlands 



Liberia 



Italy... .._. 



France 



(ireece 



Panama 



Isra(>l 



Denmark 



Ireland 



Japan 



Switzerland 



154 



85 



75 



46 



44 



30 



23 



20 



11 



10 



8 



5 



4 



4 



4 



4 



28.0 

 15.4 

 13.6 

 8.3 

 8.0 

 5.4 

 4.2 

 3.6 

 2.0 

 1.8 

 1.5 

 1.0 

 0.7 

 0.7 

 0.7 

 0.7 



Canada 



Finland 



Iceland 



Poland 



Belgium 



India.. 



Yugoslavia 



Argentina 



Portugal 



Spain 



Tanganyika 



U.S.S.R 



U.A.R 



29 Nations 



0.5 

 0.5 

 0.5 

 0.5 

 0.4 

 0.4 

 0.4 

 0.2 

 0.2 

 0.2 

 0.2 

 0.2 

 0.2 



100.0 



ICE CONDITIONS 1961 



JANUARY 



Dining the first week of January, no sea ice or icebergs were sighted 

 below 52° N. with the exception of a small amount of sea ice forming 

 in the Gulf of St. Law^rence. However, cold polar air flowing from the 

 northwest soon created much local winter ice. By the third week, 

 much of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, the Strait of Belle Isle and the 

 northeast coast of Newfoundland were covered by winter ice. By the 

 end of the month, the sea ice extended down to tlie northern slopes of 

 the Grand Banks and eastward to 50°30' W. Several icebergs were 

 reported to have drifted Ijelow 52° N. Through the month, there was 

 no ice hazard in the North Atlantic shipping routes, however, shipping 

 along the east coast of Newfoundland and in the Gulf of St. Lawrence 

 was extremely handicapped by the end of the month. 



FEBRUARY 



Contuiued cold nortlnvesteiiv winds caused a rapid expansion of 

 the sea ice so that by the end of the first week in February, the entire 

 Gulf of St. Lawrence was covered with sea ice. During the same 

 period, the ice had extended eastv/ard to 49°50' W. and southward 

 to Cape Race. Off the Cape Breton Islands, the ice extended out 

 from Cabot Strait to 59° W., south to 44°40' N. and west as far as 

 Halifax, Nova Scotia. By the end of the second week, the ice in the 

 Grand Banks region liad moved to 45 miles south of Cape Pine. The 

 first iceberg south of 48° N. was sighted off (^ipe Spear on 14 Febru- 

 ary. The sea ice limits remained fairly stable for the remainder of 

 the month, however, the concentration and thickness of the sea ice 

 continued to build. During this period, the port of St. Johns, New- 

 foundland, became blocked by the ice and from this time on until the 



