6 MARION EXPEDITIOIv^ TO DAVIS STRAIT AND BArFIN BAY 



the international ice patrol.^ This service was established as a 

 result of the f^reat number of sea disasters which occurred around 

 Newfoundland and culminated in the tragic loss of 1,500 lives and 

 Ihe steamer Titanic in 1912. Besides the practical work of locat- 

 ino- the ice and warning ships of its presence, the ice patix)l in 

 its'' 16 vears of service, especially since 1921, has assembled a 

 large amount of ice and oceanographical data. The area so fre- 

 quently surveyed includes the Grand Bank from the forty-eighth 

 parallel southward to 39° latitude and east and west between merid- 

 ians 45 and 55. As a result the behavior of the ice south of Xew- 

 foundland can now be treated in great detail.^ , ,■ i j 



Usino- the available data several researches have been published 

 on theliubiect of Arctic ice and its drift into the North Atlantic 

 Ocean Thus Rodman (1890) published a report on the ice and its 

 movement to the North Atlantic. Howard (1920) prepared an 

 article for the Monthlv Pilot Chart issued by the British Meteom- 

 locrical Office, and Hennessey (1929) has continued the work in the 

 Marine Observer. Mecking (190G-7), with the assistance of the 

 Deutsche Seewarte, made a special research of ice conditions in Davis 

 Strait and with especial reference to the effect of meteorological 

 conditions on distribution of the ice in the Atlantic. Bowditch |1 

 (19'>5) and the Newfoundland and Davis Strait and the Arctic 

 Pilots (U S Hvdrographic Office, 1884, 1909, 1921), all contain 

 chapters devoted to drift ice and icebergs for the information of sea- 

 men Smith (192Ta) for several vears published a paper devoted 

 to ice on the back of the Monthly Pilot Chart, United States 



Hydrographic Office. • i , v i i 



All of the foregoing accounts have been seriously handicapped b} 

 the lack of a sufficient knowledge of the cold currents north of New- 

 foundland and of the consequent behavior of the ice there. 



"MARION" EXPEDITION 



The need for ice and oceanographic observations, from Newfound- 

 land northward to Baffin Bay. had been felt by many s-cientists for a 

 number of years. Accordingly, in June, 1928, the United States 

 Coast Guard, in charge of the ice patrol, assigned the patml boat 

 Marlon for a northern expedition. The iMarwn sailed from Sytlne>^ 

 Cape Breton, on July 16. (See narrative account m Part 1 of 

 this bulletin.) A total of eight weeks was devoted to a detailed 

 ice and ocean-current survev of the waters from the latitude ot 

 St Johns, Newfoundland, to the mouth of Baffin Bay. and ex- 

 tendino- ail the wav east and west between North America and 

 Greenland. The success or failure of any mission to the wateis ot 

 Davis Strait and Baffin Bay depends upon the ice conditions pre- 

 vailinf*- in these waters during the brief warm period of the year, anc 

 the Mari07i expedition, the summer of 1928, was very much tavcrea 



from the liortb." .lolllisfon, i;il.>, p. ^l.) diik ruinaifi.v Ji-.t "".- .1 ... . •■ I yy 

 aftor proccciliii}; about liOO miles north of St. .Ii.lms. the .senrca cam.' into ue >o iicu*. 

 and berirs so numerous that it was daniierous to atttiiipt further proiires?-. 



