12 



FOURTH CRUISE, "PONTCHARTRAIN," MAY 18 TO JUNE 2, 1932 



The Pontchartrain sailed from Halifax, Nova Scotia, 10.20 a. m. 

 May 16, and made contact with the Tampa in latitude 43° 03' N., 

 longitude 52° 36' W., at 9.45 a. m. May 18. Lieut. R. M. Hoyle and 

 Joel S. Wingate, chief quartermaster, reported aboaid and the 

 Pontchartrain relieved the Tampa as the ice-patrol vessel. 



At 12.13 p. m. the ice-patrol vessel proceeded to the eastward in a 

 dense fog until dark. This fog continued all the following day and 

 prevented all scouting operations. At daylight on May 20 a berg 

 was sighted only a few miles away in latitude 42° 30' N., longitude 

 51° 07' W. In all probability this is the same berg sighted by the 

 Tampa on May 13 in latitude 43° 03' N., longitude 49° 21' W. From 

 this berg the Pontchartrain scouted on course 297°. At 4 p. m. a berg 

 was located in latitude 42° 29' N., longitude 49° 49' W. This berg 

 is evidently the same one sighted by the Tampa in latitude 42° 20' N., 

 longitude 50° 18' W., on May 12. It was very much smaller than when 

 last sighted and appeared to be disintegrating rapidly, both from melt- 

 ing and from erosion. 



From this berg the Pontchartrain headed west untU dark. On the 

 following morning the first berg sighted the day before was revisited 

 and its drift determined. The Pontchartrain sighted a new berg in 

 latitude 42° 39' N., longitude 51° 05' W., at 10.25 a. m. Then the 

 ice-patrol vessel relocated the berg sighted in the afternoon of the day 

 before. On May 22 the area just east of the Banks as far north as 

 latitude 43° 30' N., was searched for ice and the three bergs south of 

 the tail of the Banks were visited. 



On the morning of the 23d the Pontchartrain visited the two 

 western bergs south of the tail of the Banks and then searched east- 

 northeastward until shoal water was reached. Then the eastern berg 

 south of the tail was visited. It was scarcely more than a large 

 growler, and the number of small growlers around it indicated that it 

 was disintegrating rapidly. The following morning the Pontchartrain 

 searched for this ice and could not locate it. Then the Pontchartrain 

 scouted to the westward and relocated the two western bergs. During 

 the night the Pontchartrain drifted near one of these bergs. 



The drifts of these two bergs were closely watched on May 25, as 

 they were drifting in opposite directions. The positions of these two 

 bergs were relocated early in the morning of May 26, and then the ice- 

 patrol vessel scouted to the eastward just south of the tail of the 

 Banks in the cold current. Then the Pontchartrain searched the area 

 along the eastern slope of the Banks between the 100 and the 1,000 

 fathom curves as far north as 43° 30' N. May 27 was spent drifting in 

 a fog which lifted in the late afternoon. 



May 28 the Pontchartrain located a berg in latitude 41° 54' N., 

 longitude 50° 28' W. May 29 and 30 were spent drifting in a dense 



