55 



to the southward, more or less parallel with the general trend of the 

 Bank. It was noticed that the ice consisted of small bergs, which 

 plainly showed the effects of last summer's disintegration in high 

 latitudes; and, also, this is a characteristic form for the early season. 

 An interesting incident was the case of a large berg which remained 

 grounded about 7 miles southwest of Cape Race, in plain sight 

 of the station, from the 6th day throughout the remainder of the 

 month. It is estimated that there was a total of 26 bergs in the 

 North Atlantic, south of Newfoundland, for the month. A normal 

 March records 36 bergs south of the forty-eighth parallel and 4 south 

 of the Tail, but this year none of the ice succeeded in drifting as far 

 south as the Tail. 



APRIL 



The small berg which we had been standing by the last few days 

 of March grounded on the 2nd instant in latitude 43° 31', longi- 

 tude 49° 28', at a point where the contour of the Grand Bank projects 

 abruptly out to the eastward. The drift covering March 29 to 

 April 2 is shown on Figure 22. The neighboring berg, which on 

 Alarch 29 had been 10 miles farther offshore, drifted south faster in 

 the current and was by this time no longer in sight, nor did we see 

 it again in spite of a search covering the day of April 3. Its drift 

 must have been offshore to the eastward as well as to the southward, 

 where undoubtedly it was caught in the warm counter current. A 

 small growler was reported on the afternoon of the 2d instant about 

 50 miles due south of the Tail. This was the southernmost position 

 that ice had attained thus far this year, and we believe it to have 

 been the same growler as one sighted by the patrol on March 30, 

 30 miles north of the Tail. 



The patrol found a small berg and growler on the 4th about 35 

 miles almost due east of the Tail. We remained drifting'near this 

 ice the remainder of that day. It was moving southward at the 

 rate of 1 to 1.5 knots per hour. A strong wind blew from the north 

 during the night, and although we had been able to keep in sight of 

 the growler, at daylight, the 5th, the berg was nowhere to be seen. 

 Search was carried on for the entire day without success and we 

 were forced to conclude that the berg had been set southeast, or east, 

 into the warm offshore current. Since no ice was reported later to 

 the southward, this behavior was somewhat substantiated. 



Two small bergs were sighted April 7, the smaller in on the Bank 

 and the larger about 10 miles east on the 100-fathom contour and 

 about 25 miles north of the Tail. Fog shut in for the next two days, 

 and when the patrol was next able to search, the larger of the two 

 bergs was found southeast of the Tail, drifting in the heart of the 

 current to the westward. We followed it as it swung to the north- 

 west and later to the north, at about 0.9 knot per hour. Finally, 



