SUMMARY REPORT OF THE COMMANDER INTERNATIONAL 



ICE PATROL 



Capt. Cecil M. Gabbett 



Icebergs began to be reported off the eastern edge of the Grand 

 Banks at an imiisually early date in 1930. On February 7 a berg 

 was reported less than 60 miles northeast of the Tail, almost on the 

 westbound tracks then in effect between Europe and the United 

 States. Accordingly the Tampa was sent out from Boston, Mass., 

 on February 11 to make an ice-observation cruise. She found that 

 ice conditions were unusually far advanced for the date, and that an 

 immediate inauguration of the usual ice-patrol work was necessary. 



The Mojave relieved the Tampa of the ice-patrol duty on February 

 27, 1930. Thereafter, the Mojave and the Modoc alternately kept 

 up the patrol in the Grand Banks region, searching for ice, collecting 

 ice reports by radio, broadcasting ice information, and carrying out 

 all other activities in accordance with the practice of previous years. 



In 1930 the ice season about the Grand Banks ended just as it 

 began, extraordinarily early. On June 10 the International Ice 

 Patrol was discontinued in obedience to a despatch from Coast 

 Guard headquarters. Taken as a whole, however, the season was 

 longer than usual, for a continuous patrol in the ice regions was main- 

 tained for 117 days. 



The number of different icebergs to drift south of Newfoundland 

 between January 1 and August 1, 1930, is estimated at about 470. 

 While this figure is considerably greater than the normal number of 

 355 bergs, ice conditions were not nearly as severe in 1930 as they 

 were in 1929. 



There was a marked deficiency of ice south of the Tail of the 

 Grand Banks, as in 1927 and 1928. In 1930, only six different bergs 

 drifted south of the fortj^-third parallel, the latitude of the Tail. 

 This small number can be attributed partly to the unusually small 

 amount of field ice reported this year from southeast of Newfound- 

 land and partly to the narrowness of the southward-flowing cold 

 stream off the eastern edge of the Grand Banks. Both of the above 

 factors in turn doubtless depend upon the winds and the weather 

 conditions that prevailed north of Newfoundland and Labrador dur- 

 ing the preceding winter months. 



The six bergs that drifted south of the forty-third parallel in 1930 

 were watched as closely as possible. Some of them were followed by 

 the patrol vessels for many days at a time. Three of these bergs 



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