tically non-existent. The first oceanographic survey by the U.S. 

 Coast Guard Cutter Evergreen verified the fact that the eastern 

 branch of the Labrador Current in the area surveyed was indeed well- 

 defined with velocities up to one and one-half knots in some sectors. 



Although many of the bergs had moved rapidly to the east during 

 the month, it was especially apparent after the flight of 20 April that 

 there was a very definite branch-off point of berg drift to the east. 

 The branching off of bergs into two groups was occurring at 49° N., 

 52° W. Bergs arriving at 52° W., north of 49° N. were catching a ride 

 to the east at about 25 miles per day on the east branch of the Labra- 

 dor Current. Those at 52° W. below 49° N. had very little noticeable 

 movement until the end of the month as they started to drift very 

 slowly south giving some indication that the west branch of the 

 Labrador Current was finally coming to life. Of the 162 bergs counted 

 20 April, the bergs were about evenly divided into the two groups. 

 The group of bergs, which remained near the coast in the vicinity of 

 52° W. between 48° N. and 49° N., was removed as any possible 

 threat to shipping at the tail of the Banks. The bergs moving east 

 although mostly smaller and medium type bergs were under close 

 surveillance. Persistent and strong south westerly surface flow pre- 

 vailed during the crucial period when the majority of the east-moving 

 bergs were arriving at the northeast slope of the Grand Banks where 

 the Labrador Current curves to the southeast and then south. In- 

 stead of remaining in the main branch of the current, most of the 

 bergs were driven by the wind to the east and east-southeast into the 

 warmer waters of about 40° F. near Flemish Cap where disintegration 

 was rapid. An indication of the disintegration taking place was given 

 by the flight on 27 April. The flight on 25 April had revealed 28 

 bergs east of 47° W. near 48° N. The flight on 27 April counted only 

 16 bergs. With an estimated five bergs moving across 47° W. from 

 the west in the 2 days, an estimated 17 of the 28 bergs had disinte- 

 grated in only 2 days. Where there were 69 bergs east of 51° W. on 

 the 27th, there were only 22 bergs, some of which were newcomers, 

 east of 51° W. on the 30th. 



The branching off of the available bergs into the 2 groups was most 

 obvious as a result of the flight on the 30th where there were 2 very 

 distinct concentrations of bergs, 1 of about 50 bergs within 80 miles to 

 the northeast and east of Cape Spear and the other about 20 bergs, the 

 remainder of the group which had moved east, between 47° N. and 

 48° N. and from 45° W. to 49° W. The former group of bergs, which 

 consisted of tlie larger bergs including 2 large tabular and 1 large dome 

 berg, had also undergone some disintegration and was down to a little 

 over 50 bergs from the estimated 85 at the middle of April. Of the 

 many bergs that moved east during the month, only a handful were 

 able to remain in the east branch of the Labrador Current south of 

 47°30' N., but none were able to drift below 47° N. by the end of the 



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