44 ZMAiaOX EXPEDITION TO DAVIS STRAIT AXD BAFFIX BAY 



Sound, and from the fast ice formed locally around the shores of 

 Baffin Bay. The floes converge as they feed into the narrow neck of 

 Davis Strait, and passing out to the soutli. relieve the congestion in 

 the up]:)er waters. 



If large quantities of fas^t ice break up in ^Melville Bay. and if the 

 winds drive across additional masses, tlie navigation that particular 

 spring and summer will be greatly hampeied, and the only means of 

 proceeding northward in such a year is to hug the Greenland shore 

 to Cape York, hence to steer westward. There are records of ships 

 which required several weeks to nuike the passage under conditions 

 such as these, or even suffered the misfortune of becoming ni})i)e(l in 

 the jjack.-'* If little ice is formed or if the normal amount fails to 

 break out of ^Melville Bay. Smith Sound, and the Arctic Archipelago, 

 the pack will l)e of small extent and the so-called North AVater will 

 enlarge. In such years whale sliips have reported crossing Melville 

 Bay in the incredibly short time of '20 hours. The pack-ice covei 

 normally is believed to fill four-fifths of Baffin Bay. with an area about 

 165,000 square miles, and often it is so extensive that it reaches ove: 

 to the west coast of Greenland in some |)laces north of Davis Strait.-' 

 In occasional winters pack ice is said to fill Baffin Bay solidly from 

 shore to shore. •" 



The Baffin Bay pack has its greatest extent in March and its leas! 

 in August and September. In some Avinters tlie ice area may grow tf 

 a size that completely fills Baffin Bay. while in other years polynyib 

 are numerous and extensive: for example, off Smith Sound, Jones 

 Sound, and Lancaster Sound. Lancaster Sound is, however, occa 

 sionally frozen solidly from shore to shore,"^ but at such times ever 

 the natives deem any attempt to cross to North Devon an extremely 

 hazardous undertaking l)ecause a sudden shift of the winds o: 

 the currents may break the bridge. The neighborhood of Cape War 

 rander on Lancaster Sound is said to have more o])en water thai 

 any other locality in Baffin Bay. But only a short distance farthe 

 west Barrow Strait becomes covered as early as September. Baflii 

 Bay has never been crossed by sledge but many experienced ex 

 plorers have held the opinion that such a feat would be possible din- 

 ing an exceptionally icy winter. It is of interest to learn also tha 

 the ice cover of Baffin Bay is more or less comi)letely renewed ever^ 

 year. 



One of the most widely discussed featuies of Baffin Bay is tht 

 ice-free area at its head called North AVater. Coming suddeidy upoi 

 this opening after a week or more of strugiiling through the heav; 

 ■ middle pack, it is not surprising that North AA'ater has excited tin 

 curiosity and interest of explorers for two centuries. (See fig. IC 

 p. 19.) The earliest and still most common explanation which hasnov 

 become (juite firndy established in the minds of many connects Nortl 



28 The Canadian Government steamer Beothic strussled with ice for 20 days during th^ 

 summer of 1916 on its passage from Godhavn to Cape York, hut strangely enough muc | 

 open water was found farther north in Smith Sound. . • 



■"This is the " vestis " of the Danes. Its soutlieastern edge reaches over to Ilolsteirj 

 borg in severe winters. . ' 



3" Capt. E. Falk of the steamer Beothic. who has made several summer cruises int ; 

 Baflin Bav during recent years, states to me that Davis Strait never freezes all the wa . 

 across, Init Baffin Bay does in severely cold winters. Xorth of the seventy-tiftli parallel 

 except for North Water ;nid off the entrance to .Tones and Lancaster Sounds, the bai 

 freezes solidlv evcrv winter from llie heginiiiug of Deceml)er to the tirst of .Tune. | 



•" .\c(iPidiiiu t(i a' st.iti'uifiit '<{ C.ipl. K. I'alk. master Ciiiadian (iovcriinieiit steame| 

 Beotliir. I 



