SCIEXTIFIC RESrLTS 49 



Til'' (lniina<re area of sea ice to Baffin Bay extends hundreds of 

 miles into tlv tributary sounds and straits of the American Archi- 

 ])elafr<>- Oiie <*f the largest streams of pack is discharged into Baffin 

 Bay through Barrow Strait and Lancaster Sound. The drift of the 

 two ice-beset ships Advance and Rescue of the U. S. (Iriuuell expe- 

 dition in 18oU (see tal)le on p. 47) shows the general direction of 

 their courses. Kane (1854, p. :\±1) states that the rate of drift of 

 these ships with the pack was approximately 2.5 miles per day during 

 October in the west end of Lancaster Sound. It increased to 8 miles 

 per day during December in the mouth of the sound and attained a 

 niaxinunn rate of 5 miles per day otf the northeast coast of Baffin 

 Land in January. The British ship Remlute beset in the same 

 waterway was carried halfway across the archipelago to Davis 

 Strait in one season. Mecking (IDOG, p. '27), after examining the 

 records of nuiny of the searchers for Franklin shows that nuich ice 

 must be carried through the archipelago into Baffin Bay and Davis 

 Strait, and Figure 24, page 50. shows the circulation of the water in 

 the Arctic Archipelago as deduced by Mecking. AVe conclude in 

 view of the foregoing data that not more than two-thirds of the pack 

 that drifts out of Baffin Ba}' is actually formed within the latter. 



HUDSON BAY PACK 



Ice begins to form in Hudson Bay during October and by the 

 end of the month most of the harbors are frozen. The bay itself 

 remains comi)aratively free from ice during winter except for a 

 5 to 6 mile wide fringe. According to Lowe (1906. p. 293) fast ice 

 continues to nuike even up to the 1st of June, but when it begins 

 to break up it does so rapidly, sometimes early in July. During 

 a boisterous winter the ice is liable to raft, in which condition its 

 melting time is much lengthened. Aerial observations of ice condi- 

 tions in Hudson Strait have been reported l)v McLean (1929, pp. 

 12-13). The appearance and disappearance of the ice is from west 

 to east. It arrives at the western end of the strait in November and 

 two Aveeks later is found at the ocean entrance. February records 

 only 15 per cent of open water, the congestion remaining until the 

 montli of ^Liy when a noticeal)le decrease is observed. The middle 

 of July normally records 90 per cent of open water and a navigable 

 Hudson Strait. Hudson Strait is deemed safe for navigation dur- 

 ing normal years froju the latter i)art of July or first of August 

 until the latter part of October. Navigation of this region is an 

 important connnercial problem for Canada, the principal difficulty 

 lying in the blocked condition of the eastern end of Hudson Strait 

 ; (see McLean, 1929). Congestion there during spring and early sum- 

 mer is caused by ice from Hudson Bay and Fox Channel mixing with 

 that from Davis Strait. Not only does the Davis Strait pack cross 

 the mouth of Hudson Strait, but it is also carried by the current in 

 along the north side for a distance of 120 miles or more before it 

 recurves to pass out parallel to the opposite shore. Lnder such 

 conditions it is very difficult to distinguish between the arctic ice 

 and the heavy floes of local derivation. The thickness of Hudson 

 Strait and Fox Channel glacons may vary from 7 to 19 feet. 



Hudson Bay and Fox Channel, with their wide shallow areas, 

 have often been described as ideal regions supplying the main 

 stream of pack ice which moves southward into the western Atlantic. 



