80 



in the latitude of the Tail and the next set of traffic lanes to the 



north. 



JUNE 



The severity of June, 1929, from an ice standpoint, can best be seen 

 when one compares the month's ice map with that for June, 1928. 

 (See United States Coast Guard Bulletin No. 17, fig. 10.) Though the 

 chart for the latter month shows a total number of bergs south of the 

 forty-eighth parallel somewhat in excess of normal, and one berg with 

 an extreme southerly drift, the total number of bergs in the ice-patrol 

 area during June, 1929, was several times as great and the situation 

 was considerably more dangerous. 



The surface waters north of the Banks, along the eastern edge, and 

 to the westward of the Tail continued to be abnormally cold. A 

 feature of the month was the recurrence of a great number of bergs 

 south of the Tail. These bergs extended from 43° 10' N., 53° 00' W., 

 to 42° 40' N., 48° 00' W., and along a 190-nautical-mile front the 

 foremost of them pushed farther south than did any bergs during 

 May. 



North of this group, except along the tracks of the few cooperating 

 vessels that crossed the eastern edge, there is a relative scarcity of 

 bergs plotted, but, as stated above in the discussion for May, the lack 

 of bergs plotted in certain areas can often be credited to lack of report- 

 ing vessels rather than to actual lack of bergs. In June the Canada- 

 Europe traffic was on the Cape Race tracks, still farther north than 

 it had been during the preceding month. Had the waters along the 

 eastern edge been well covered by the patrol ships or by reporting 

 vessels, doubtless a considerable number of bergs that remained 

 unreported would have been found. 



From along the Cape Race, or F tracks, great numbers of bergs 

 were reported. Even there, however, they noticeably thinned out in 

 numbers as the month progressed. During June shore stations 

 located along the Newfoundland coast between Cape Race and St. 

 Johns began to sight bergs for the first time in 1929. This was the 

 result of the bergs in the northern part of the ice-patrol area being 

 located on the average much farther westward in the ocean than 

 earlier in the year. The disappearance of the field ice with the ad- 

 vance of the season is regularly followed by a westward movement of 

 the average of the drift tracks of bergs north of the forty-seventh 

 parallel. A continuation of such a tendency finally results in a failure 

 of supply of bergs to the narrow cold stream that runs south along the 

 eastern edge. It is just as though the supply of grain to the hopper 

 of a mill were cut off by the slow deflection of the grain chute that 

 keeps it filled. Even though the bergs should keep coming down in 

 undiminished numbers across the forty-eighth parallel (which they 

 never do), the farther west they come down in the ocean the less is 



