were supplied with special ice information; two with track informa- 

 tion; 125 ice reports were received. A total of six small icebergs 

 was sighted. 



THE SECOND CRUISE, "MODOC," APRIL 9 TO 24, 1927 



The 9th and 10th instants were sufficient to complete the oceano- 

 graphic survey, and when the Modoc had arrived off the Tail of the 

 Banks the program was then turned to scouting along the eastern 

 side of the Bank for ice. About 4 o'clock the afternoon of the 11th 

 a berg was sighted in a position which proved to be 20 miles south of 

 the Bank and we stood by it for the remainder of the day. During the 

 next two days this berg drifted to the westward and then north- 

 westward and finally into shoal water on the Bank itself. When we 

 left it, on the 15th, it had not changed position for two consecutive 

 days, and this, coupled with the fact that it was very much reduced 

 in size, caused us to leave and begin searching northward for other 

 menaces. 



About 3 o'clock in the afternoon of the 16th the Modoc sighted the 

 largest berg that had been seen this season, and while lying near this 

 ice we received our first intimation that the warm, off-shore, counter- 

 current was pressing in toward the Bank this year unusually far. 

 In fact, this large berg beside which we had stopped, it was plain to 

 see, was in this countercurrent although its position was barely 40 

 miles outside the 100-fathom curve. It was extraordinarily calm 

 that evening and the demarkation between the two currents could 

 easily be seen stretched about 2 miles to the westward of us, and run- 

 ning in a direction more or less parallel to the trend of the slope. 

 Easter Sunday the wind increased to gale force and in the storm 

 we lost sight of our quarry but the fact that this ice was known 

 to be in the warm countercurrent was more or less reassuring of a 

 rapid disintegration. The large berg was reported for the last time 

 on the 20th about 30 miles to the northeastward of our position sur- 

 rounded by several growlers, showing that it was breaking up rapidly. 



Now the cruise was drawing near its close, so we followed a program 

 similar to the one used on the Tampa — taking oceanographic stations 

 on the slope and working around to the westward. The Tampa was 

 met on the morning of the 24th of April and the patrol duty turned 

 over to her. 



During this cruise we received several reports of field ice and ice- 

 bergs to the northward. The field ice on the northern edge of the Bank 

 was, of course, Arctic in origin, but the field which extended south- 

 ward to a point 25 miles north of Sable Island came from the St. 

 Lawrence. There were very few ships on the tracks which led across 

 the northern part of the Banks. The initial vessel bound for the Gulf 

 this year is believed to have been the steamship BolinghroJce, which 



