Cabot Strait and Fame Point, but west of Fame Point the river was 

 still closed to navigation except for local river shipping. The decrease 

 of the pack concentration in the St. Lawrence River in the last half 

 of March permitted a transatlantic ship to reach Montreal on the 

 30th. Throughout the last 3 weeks of March the area within 60 miles 

 of the east coast of Cape Breton Island was encumbered ]\v scattered 

 to heav}^ concentrations of field ice which had drifted out of the 

 Gulf of St. Lawrence through Cabot Strait. 



The distribution of ice reported in March is shown graphically in 

 figure 1 1 . 



APRIL 



By far, more bergs were carried into the Grand Banks area during 

 April than in any other month of 1954, and the berg limits advanced 

 somewhat to the south and southeast. In the first half of the month 

 numerous bergs entered the area bounded by the 48th and 49th 

 parallels, the coast of Newfoundland, and the 43d meridian. Ap- 

 proximately 165 bergs drifted south of the 48th parallel in this month. 

 By the last week in April the majority of tliese bergs were distributed 

 along the northeast slope of the Grand Banks between the 50- and 

 1,000-fathom curves and along the east slope of the Grand Banks 

 between the 46th and 48th meridians as far south as latitude 45°20' 

 N.; 4 bergs were found about 80 miles south of Flemish Cap, about 

 8 more lay in the sector within 60 miles and northwest to east-northeast 

 of Flemish Cap, and 4 were located quite close inshore near Cape 

 St. Francis, Newfoundland. On the 28th a berg was reported in 

 44°20' N., 48°18' W., the most southerly position attained by any 

 ice in the month. 



The field ice limits in the Grand Banks area advanced to the south 

 and east during the first week in April, and although they did not 

 reach the extreme southerly limits for the season established in 

 February in latitude 46°12' N. on the east slope of the Grand Banks, 

 they attained the extreme easterly limits for the season in longitude 

 45°30' W. at the 48tli parallel. From the latter point the field ice 

 limits on 5 April ran south-southwest to latitude 47°12' N., thence 

 roughly along a straight line to Cape Bonavista, Newfoundland. For 

 the rest of the month the field ice limits receded toward the north 

 and west. By the end of the month no field ice was present south of 

 latitude 47°25' N. or east of longitude 47°15' W., and the only field 

 ice remaining south of the 48th parallel was a light concentration on 

 the northeast slope of the Grand Banks. 



Scattered field ice encumbered the major shipping track in the 

 Gulf of St. Lawrence from Cabot Strait to Fame Point during the 

 first week in April, and the river route from Fame Point to Montreal 

 passed through light to moderate concentrations of pack ice which 

 were steadily reduced as the month wore on. On the 22d all the gulf 



