late spring breakup, shipping could not enter the harbor without 

 icebreaker assistance. The berg movement during this period was 

 along and over the northeast slopes of the Grand Banks. From the 

 berg movement it was obvious that the eastern branch of the Labrador 

 Current was much weaker than normal and that there was a general 

 flow of Labrador Current water over the Grand Banks. The area 

 withui the 30° isotherm shown in figure 1 is an excellent indication 

 of the severity of the winter and also approximates the limits of the 

 sea ice during that period. 



Figure 10 shows the limit of sea ice on 28 February and also sum- 

 marizes the iceberg and growlers reported or sighted during the month 



south of 49° N. 



MARCH 



Steady northwesterly whids continued to build up the sea ice m all 

 areas. By the end of the first week in March, strings and patches of 

 ice extended out to 47°25' W. and as far south as 45°30' N. in the 

 Grand Banks region. The ice in the Gulf of St. Lawrence generally 

 remained unchanged except for increasing thickness, however, south 

 of Cape Breton, the ice moved to within 30 miles of Sable Island. A 

 gentle iceberg flow occurred generally from the vicinity of Cape 

 Bonavista do^Mi in a southeasterly direction, directly onto and over 

 the Grand Banks. 



During the second and third weeks of March, the ice reached its 

 most southern position oft' the Grand Banks. A narrow belt of ice 

 extended down along the eastern slopes of the Banks to a latitude of 

 44°32' X. Tow^ard the end of the period, the sea ice extended out 

 from the coast to 47° W., along the 47th parallel of latitude. This 

 was to be the most eastward extension of the sea ice. The bergs 

 continued the southeasterly flow with an mcreasing number trav- 

 eling down the eastern coast of the Avalon Peninsula and around 

 Cape Race westward to 55° W. It thus became obvious that the 

 western brancli of the Labrador Current was building rapidly and in 

 fact was having a nuicli gi-eater effect on berg movement than the 

 eastern branch. Nevertheless, on 20 March, one berg reached a 

 position of 47°15' X., 47°o5' W. and was the easternmost berg south 

 of 48° N. whose position was confirmed. 



The last week of March brought startling changes to the positions. 

 The wind pattern switched and heavy easterly and northeasterly 

 winds soon compacted the ice towards the shore. In less than 9 

 days, the leading ice edge moved 150 miles to the westward. South 

 of the Avalon Penmsula, the ice also moved westward and extended 

 as far as 57° W. In the Gulf of St. LawTence there were open water 

 leads along the western shore of X^ewfoundland and the southern 

 coast of Anticosti Island. However, a great deal of ice was forced 

 out around the Cape Breton Islands and encumbered the passage 

 betw^een Sable Island and the coast of X'^ova Scotia. In the St. 



