20 



Luckily both of the small bergs that were left on the 9th were 

 found before darkness and fog closed in. They had diminished 

 greatly during the past two days. The southernmost one was in 

 41° 55' N., 50° 00' W., and was small enough to be visibh^ rolling to 

 the swell. It was believed that these bergs could not last over 

 three days more under the existing conditions. 



The 11th, 12th, 13th, and 14th were days of dense fog. The ship 

 lay drifting in the southerly airs and breezes, forced to await better 

 visibility before attempting to relocate the southernmost ice, or to 

 do any extensive station work. As soon as the fog blanket settled 

 over the cold water the reports of bergs dropped to onl)^ one or two a 

 day. These came from the ice-infested areas north of the forty- 

 seventh parallel. The reporting ships on the northern tracks must 

 have been close to disaster to have obtained them. Only extreme 

 slow speed and cautious groping, such as is not practiced generally 

 along the less thickly ice-strewn United States-Europe tracks, could 

 have prevented accidents along these northern lanes. 



On the 12th six vessels requested special information. One of 

 these, the Greek steamer Cape Corso, whose master was evidently a 

 stranger to the fogs of the ice area, requested aid and advice no less 

 than ten times during the day. 



On the 12th, also, hundreds of small whales, probably blackfish, 

 played in thickly grouped schools about the ship. The largest were 

 between 25 and 30 feet long. Tiny ones were seen svfimming close to 

 the side of some of the larger ones, probably their mothers. The 

 animals played about the ship aimlessly with slow and powerful 

 motions for hours. There was much puffing and blowing to be heard 

 from different directions as the groups came to the surface from time 

 to time to breathe. Sometimes one or two would raise their heads 

 straight up out of the water and keep them there for a moment, 

 looking like slimy black creosoted pUings floating upright. 



By the 14th the vessel had been blown by the steady winds some 

 70 miles against the Labrador Current up to the Tail of the Bank. 

 During the fog the wind seemed to blow with greater force through 

 the rigging aloft than it did down near the water. 



On the 14th four oceanographic stations were taken in the shoal 

 water about the Tail. Doctor Trask's bottom sampler was tried 

 again but without success. In spite of the sensitive flapper valves 

 at the top the deposit was too sandy to remain in the open-bottomed 

 cylindrical pipe that projected downward from the central portion of 

 the sinker. 



The loth was overcast, but good visibility prevailed once more. 

 For nearly 15 hours the search was carried on to the southeast 

 past where the large berg with the arch had been last reported. 

 Thence a southerly course was run to a point where the limit of 



