77 



fully plotted and studied to see what bearing they may have upon 

 ice, current, and weather conditions now obtaining or that may 

 soon obtain wathin the area that is most intimately under the cogni- 

 zance of the patrol. 



JANUARY 



There were no reports of ice from the region of the Grand Banks. 

 Some field ice, however, was carried seaward from the Gulf of St. 

 Lawrence by the Cape Breton Current and was reported during the 

 latter part of the month from 60 miles southeast of Cape Breton. 



FEBRUARY 



Considerable field ice from the Gulf of St. Lawrence was reported 

 from areas about midway between Sable Island and Cape Breton, 

 Further east the first field ice of the season began to drift south into 

 the international ice-patrol area proper, where it was reported fre- 

 quently from the region just north of the Grand Banks. By the end 

 of the month the southernmost limits of this latter ice had pushed 

 south of the forty-seventh parallel along the line between Cape Race 

 and the northeastern shoulder of the Grand Banks, and on the 28th 

 there was a report of field ice and growlers extending south in the 

 main branch of the Labrador Current along the eastern edge of the 

 Grand Banks to 46° 25' N., 47° 40' W. So far as is known during 

 this month no bergs drifted south of the forty-eighth parallel in 

 company wdth the field ice from the north. The ice map for February, 

 1929, is almost identical with that for February, 1928. 



MARCH 



The ice map for this month also bears a remarkable resemblance to 

 that for the corresponding period of the preceding year. The ice of 

 March, 1929, being apparently somewhat heavier and of greater 

 extent, however, gave the first hint that an unusually heavy ice season 

 was about to develop. Vessels passing north of Sable Island reported 

 large patches of loose field ice from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to be 

 extending to about 120 miles southeast of Cape Breton. Some of 

 these patches over the northeastern limits of Banquerau Bank were 

 described as heavy. 



Ten degrees to the eastward, along the eastern edge of the Grand 

 Banks, the first bergs of the season began to be reported wherever 

 the trans-Atlantic traffic sighted the southward moving field ice. 

 Indeed, throughout most of the area northwest of the line from Cape 

 Race to Flemish Cap and on both sides of the line from Flemish Cap 

 to 44° 30' N., 49° 00' W., field ice and bergs were frequently reported 

 together. 



