the motor starter of the sonic depth finder had broken. New parts 

 for both these defective ones were the subject of dispatches sent to 

 Washington that night. 



An eventful day was March 31 when at 1.55 p. m. we received an 

 SOS flashed from the steamer Laleham, without lifeboats and foun- 

 dering in latitude 39° 06', longitude 56° 42'. We immediatel}^ headed 

 toward the spot and increased speed but other ships (including the 

 Mauratania) much nearer responded to the call. At 9 a. m. the steam- 

 ship Shirvan reported having completed the rescue of the crew, so we 

 headed back toward the Tail of the Bank. On account of the SOS 

 call no evening ice broadcast was sent, this being the first time in the 

 history of the ice patrol that such a situation has arisen. 



Easter Sunday dawned bright and clear, decidedly the best day 

 experienced so far on the cruise. We started early in the morning 

 searching northward along the eastern side of the Banks, 10 miles 

 seaward of the 100-fathom contour, in a zone which has come to be 

 recognized as the heart of the cold current which bears the freight of 

 ice southward. And so it proved this day, for at 2.45 o'clock in the 

 afternoon- the patrol sighted the first ice of the season in the form of 

 broken Arctic fields. The position of this southern tongue waS 

 recorded as latitude 43° 59', longitude 48° 55'. The next morning 

 we ran up to the edge of the ice and from sights found that it had 

 drifted southward during the night at the rate of 1 knot per hour. 

 We steamed about 30 miles northward inshore of the ice skirting its 

 Avestern limits, and returned before nightfall to a position southward 

 of the southern edge. This ice had a \ev\ short survival for on the 

 8th we searched this same area and nothing of it could be seen. 



The first and only bergs sighted on the first cruise were raised by 

 the masthead lookout about 2 p. m. on April 9. There were three 

 small bergs in latitude 44° 10', longitude 47° 51', which were drifting 

 northeastward at the rate of 0.7 knots per hour. The fact that this 

 ice of small size was floating in water with a temperature of 51° F. 

 (the northern edge of the Gulf Stream), coupled with the report that 

 the Modoc was standing eastward to relieve, caused us to head west- 

 ward this same night and the following day. 



The Tampa was relieved of the patrol duty the morning of April 

 11 just to the westward of the Tail. During the cruise we received 

 eight reports of ice from passing vessels; furnished ice information 

 to four ships and received a total of 617 reports of sea-water temper- 

 atures. 



THE SECOND CRUISE, "MODOC," APRIL 11 TO 25, 1926 



After relieving the Tampa the Modoc was anchored temporarily in 

 on the Grand Bank, but the wind began to freshen on April 12 and 

 before daylight it was found more comfortable to get under way and 



