13 



times of the year when not engao;e(l on actual Ice Patrol. An ice 

 observation cruise during the latter part of each summer to learn the 

 relative amount and extent ol pack-ice and icebergs in Davis Strait 

 and Baffin Bay (when combined with collateral data) is believed will 

 furnish a better estimate than at present of the character of the ice 

 season the following spring of the Grand Banks. 



During the latter part of 1939, and at the April 1940 meeting of the 

 Commission of Snow and Glaciers, attention was called to the desira- 

 bility of taking an iceberg census three successive summers for the 

 value this information might have for ice studies in general and 

 particularly to the efficient operation of the International Ice Patrol, 

 Considerable interest was evinced at the time; another paper suggesting 

 methods to improve the Coast Guard's iceberg forecasting formula. 

 The subjert of an ice observation cruise was presented to the Inter- 

 departmental Board on Ice Observation, Ice Patrol, and Derelict 

 Destruction Service at its annual meeting in December 1939. The 

 board recommended that a survey of the present iceberg glacier fronts, 

 and also the waters of Baffin Bay and Davis Strait, be carried out for 

 tkree successive summers, beginning with 1940, provided the Coast 

 Guard could lurnish the necessary ship for the cruise. The Com- 

 mander, International Ice Patrol, recommended that the oceano- 

 graphic and ice observation cruise be performed by two separate 

 vessels, the General Greene continuing with her usual cruise to Cape 

 Farewell, and at the proper time during the summer, the iceberg 

 observation cruise to Baffin Bay and Davis Strait carried out with a 

 lake-type cutter. At the request of Headquarters, the Commander, 

 International Ice Patrol, submitted a final letter on the subject, recom- 

 mending that the ice observation cruise to Baffin Bay be performed by 

 the cutter Northland. No opportunity, however, appeared likely for 

 the summer of 1940 until the Northland received orders to East Green- 

 land duty, and later, in August, when the latter was curtailed, she 

 became available for the earlier discussed cruise to Baffin Bay and 

 Davis Strait. 



We sailed from Ivigtut, Greenland on September 5, proceeding to 

 Godhavn, where we stopped for a few hours, thence to Disko Bay and 

 via the Vaigat to Umanak Fiord and Karrats Fiord. Disko Bay, 

 Umanak, and Karrats Fiords are said to embrace iceberg-producing 

 glaciers which account for almost half the supply of bergs annually 

 calved from West Greenland glaciers. The Northland visited the 

 pruicipal glaciers of Great and Little Karajak; Rink and Umiamako 

 Glaciers. A few experienced local Danes were interviewed at various 

 settlements in this region regarding the amount of icebergs discharged 

 from the glaciers, and their general drift out of the fiords. The ship 

 then continued northward, visiting the settlements of Pr0ven and 

 Upernivik, At Upernivik several persons of reputed local knowledge 



