51 



having as much mud as ice. Obviously such ice had formed either 

 in the shallow bays or along the muddy banks of large rivers, in which 

 of course, the Siberian coast abounds. The Kara Sea ice, as Novaya 

 Zemlya was neared, became cleaner and whiter, and free of mud. 

 A belt of open water 5 or 10 miles in width separated the pack from 

 the east coast of Novaya Zemlya, and as far south as our track 

 extended. 



The first mountainous country, and the only significent iceberg- 

 producing glaciers met during the voyage, were observed on reaching 

 Novaya Zemlya. The Graf Zeppelin arrived at the northern tip of 

 this large island at 0430 on July 29, and hence headed southward 

 along the longitudinal axis of the land. The northern end of Novaya 

 Zemlya displays a bare coastal margin 5 miles or more in width before 

 the edge of the highland ice is reached. Somewhat farther south on 

 the eastern coast, the glacial ice extends directly to the sea in the 

 form of the Nordenskiold Glaciers. Behind these rivers of ice the 

 terrain slopes gradually upwards to a high ridge along which only 

 scattered summits protrude here and there through the ice-sheet. 

 Fifty icebergs, it is estimated, were drifting in the offing of the 

 Nordenskiold Glaciers. 



Flying southward along the eastern coast, the Graf Zeppelin pro- 

 ceeded as far as Matoclildn Shar. Ten glaciers were observed in 

 this stretch of 200 miles, and a total of approximately 200 icebergs 

 were scattered in the coastal waters. They appeared small in size, 

 however, probably not over 50 to 60 feet in height, if they were that, 

 and most of them, considering their position to that of the glaciers, 

 appeared to be drifting southward, more or less parallel to the coast. 



Passing through Matochkin Shar (Matthew Strait), out into Bar- 

 ents Sea at 0930 on Julj- 29, marked the last of the ice observations. 

 The sea and the land to the southwestward of this point at the time 

 of this voyage were free of ice. The dirigible returned to its base at 

 Friedrichshafen Germany, via Archangel, Leningrad, and Berlin, 

 arriving at the destination early the morning of July 31, 1931. During 

 a period of 7 days she had cruised a total of approximately 8,000 miles; 



At the request of aeroarctic officials, the duties of navigation, 

 independent of the observations made by the ship's personnel, were 

 add ed to those of ice observation. Coast Guard Headquarters through 

 the Hydrographic Office, United States Navy, supplied appropriate 

 navigational books and charts, and Aeroarctic Society also provided 

 for use, an excellent bubble sextant, manufactured by C. Plath, 

 Hamburg, Germany. A total of 23 sun sights and one moon sight 

 were taken during the flight; the discussion of which, from the view- 

 point of polar navigation from a dirigible, will be pubfished in an 

 appropriate publication. 



