^'^L 



FOREWORD 



The section of this report deahng with oceanography was prepared 

 by Senior Physical Oceanographer Floyd M. Soule, United States 

 Coast Guard, and the other sections of the report by Lt. G. Van A. 

 Graves, United States Coast Guard, ice observation officer. 



The International Ice-Observation and Ice-Patrol service in the North 

 Atlantic is an international service created for the purpose of safeguard- 

 ing life and property along the trans-Atlantic shipping lanes in the 

 North Atlantic during the season of danger from drifting ice and to 

 make studies of ice conditions in the North Atlantic. This interna- 

 tional service, which was first assumed by the Coast Guard in 1914 and 

 carried on since then, is conducted under the provisions of the Inter- 

 national Convention on Safety of Life at Sea signed at London, May 

 31, 1929, which convention superseded the first covenant signed at 

 London on January 20, 1914. The convention also imposes upon 

 owners of vessels the obligation of having their vessels follow 

 the recognized North Atlantic lane routes when crossing the Atlantic, 

 bound to or from ports of the United States via the vicinity of 

 the Grand Banks. The expense of this international service is borne 

 by the various maritime nations in the proportions specified under the 

 terms of the existing convention. For the history of the ice patrol 

 and its methods of operation, the interested reader is referred to previ- 

 ous bulletins of this series, particularly the report of the 1935 season, 

 Bulletin No. 25, 1936. 



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