6 



the night of March 28 over all the cold water areas about the Banks, 

 a very unusual condition to persist for so long so early in the season. 



The ice-patrol vessel took advantage of the time while balked 

 from ice scouting by bad visibility to run two short lines of oceano- 

 graphic stations off from the Tail toward the east. It was found that a 

 considerable body of arctic water with temperatures as low as 

 — 1.2° C. was situated off the Bank, but it was calculated from the 

 formula in United States Coast Guard Bulletin 14, that this water was 

 all practically stationary. This suggested that farther north there 

 was some dynamic barrier to the free flow of the Labrador current 

 down the eastern edge of the Bank, hindering the southward extension 

 of cold water and ice. 



The t'me during this foggy weather that was not actuall}' consumed 

 by station work was spent drifting over the Bank a little north of 

 the Tail. This area was also north of the C tracks and so out of 

 the way of the greater part of the trans-Atlantic traffic. The inac- 

 tivity was useful in that it conserved fuel and insured that later on 

 in the cruise there would be no enforced drifting during good weather 

 due to lack of sufficient oil. 



Visibility of from three to four miles on the morning of the 29th 

 enabled the scoutijig for ice to be resumed. Throughout this day 

 the Mojave searched to the northward up the eastern edge of the 

 Grand Banks. The visibility improved as the day advanced, being 

 good from noon until dark, As might have been expected after the 

 lifting of the fog blanket, several reports of ice came in during the 

 day. 



The steamer M. Christensen approaching the Banks from the east- 

 ward well to the north of the patrol vessel, reported four bergs, 

 growlers, and field ice. It is believed that the only reason more 

 reports of ice were not received was because there were no other 

 ships crossing the Labrador current to the north of the Mojave. 

 That there was a large volume of traffic on the C tracks to the south 

 was evidenced by the water temperature reports pouring in from that 

 area, at the rate now of about 70 a day. If any ice had been near 

 the traffic lane it would have been reported along with the surface 

 temperatures. The total absence of ice reports from vessels to the 

 south led the patrol to conclude that the proper direction to search 

 was northward. 



Late on the afternoon of March 29 the patrol ship sighted her 

 first ice of the season, a growler in 44° 59' N., 48° 39' W. Shortly 

 afterward a growler and a berg were sighted in 45° 15' N., 48° 21' W., 

 and the Mojave was stopped to drift by the latter for the night. 



The 30th was a perfect day for ice scouting, clear and almost calm, 

 with springlike temperatures and a gentle rolling swell. On such a 

 day the white bergs show plainly against the dark blue water and the 



