pack to reach Lake Harbor about July 16, but this vessel is 

 strongly ice-protected and the master thoroughly familiar with 

 the region and ice navigation. 



By 29 July most of the pack had cleared out of Hudson Strait 

 from the eastern entrance to the vicinity of 76° W. Scattered ice 

 to four-tenths coverage extended from the outlet of Foxe Channel 

 across the western entrance to Hudson Strait to Digges Island and 

 to the limit of visibility towards Coats and Mansel Islands. This 

 scattered pack was the last barrier preventing ready access to 

 Hudson Bay. The ice appeared quite rotten indicating that much 

 of it would be melted within a week. The southern boundary of 

 heavy close packed ice at the outlet to Foxe Channel was near 

 64° N. extending from Mill Island to the Bell Penninsula of South- 

 ampton Island. Frobisher Bay was mostly clear and easily naviga- 

 ble at this time, but pack was still scattered over approximately 

 half the area of Ungava Bay. The heavy pack from Baffin Bay 

 had receded north of a line from Cape Murchison (63° 15' N., 

 63°50' W.) to 64°20' N., 58°20' W., and was no longer a threat 

 to the eastern entrance of Hudson Strait. 



Ungava Bay by 4 August had cleared to leave an average of 

 two-tenths cover restricted to less than one-third of the area of 

 the bay. This ratio of free surface to ice cover was such that 

 regardless of winds an open passage could always be found 

 through the bay. The last remnants of this ice were gone before 

 the middle of August. By 18 August the southern limit of the 

 pack in Foxe Channel had receded to 65° N., and the entire route 

 from the eastern entrance of Hudson Strait to Churchill was free 

 of pack ice. 



The Baffin Bay pack receded gradually during the season. In 

 the middle of August scattered floes were still present off the en- 

 trance to Cumberland Sound at 64°30' N. Heavy broken pack 

 from two-tenths to five-tenths cover extended to over 20 miles off 

 shore (visibility limit) between 66°30' N., and 67°30' N. By 9 

 September the main pack had receded into Baffin Bay and had been 

 reduced to a narrow core of compact ice about 2 miles wide and 

 lying 30 to 50 miles off shore extending northward from the vicin- 

 ity of Home Bay (68° N.) . A few scattered floes of less than one- 

 tenth coverage remained inshore from this ice but no fast ice 

 remained south of 70°20' N. ; scattered ice lay eastward from the 

 core of heavy ice. By 21 September the southern limit of the pack 

 in western Baffin Bay was at 71° N. 



Icebergs were quite numerous at all times along the eastern coast 

 of Baffin Island and the Labrador coast. Some penetrated Hudson 

 Strait past Big Island and a few past 73° W. These bergs mostly 

 were scattered from the Baffin Land coast to the center of the strait 

 but a few penetrated well down in Ungava Bay, one being sighted 



58 



