proachable because of field ice and was dangerous of approacli during 

 February, March, and early April. Again take the seasons of 1926 

 and 1934 having annual totals of 345 and 576 bergs respectively. It 

 might be expected that these seasons would be somewhat similar in 

 their effect on shipping south of the Tail of the Banks; one being a 

 little over and the other just under the average. In 1926 forty-eight 

 bergs drifted south of latitude 43° N., while in 1934, with the greater 

 total number, only one drifted south of tliis parallel, with the exception 

 of a doubtful report of ice in latitude 30°50' N., longitude 45°06' W., 

 in May. Many other comparisons could be drawn to illustrate how 

 the varying distribution of the ice influences the character of the 

 season insofar as it tends to menace shipping in any particular area 

 or to leave that area unusually free. (See Bulletins No. 15, No. 

 24, and No. 25.) 



Much has been said during the last 24 years concerning the variation 

 in the annual amounts and distribution of field ice and bergs, but not 

 nearly enough. It cannot be too strongly impressed on shipmasters 

 running the North Atlantic routes and on the officers of the Ice Patrol 

 themselves that no one year is anything hke any other year. Nature 

 has infinite opportunities and resources for variety and uses them all 

 with customary lavishness. There are, of course, similarities and it 

 would be just as easy to draw likenesses as it has been to draw con- 

 trasts; but they would generally be misleading. The main point it is 

 desired to stress in this discussion is that a successful or safe course of 

 action in one year should not, in the absence of very recent and accurate 

 information, be used as a basis of action in any other year; and the 

 principle to be derived is that vessels should follow the United States 

 and Canadian seasonal tracks, using the route only between the dates 

 specified in the North Atlantic track agreement. These routes are 

 designed to take a vessel clear of field ice even in extreme ice years 

 and it is believed, without doubt, that in the end time and money 

 will be saved by adhering to these seasonal tracks. 



The Ice Patrol was terminated June 11, 1937. This was somewhat 

 earlier than the average bat nearly the same as 1936. At the end of 

 the last patrol the bergs in vicinity Cape Race and westward were 

 constantly diminishing in number and reports indicated that they 

 were breaking up rapidly in the continuously warming surface water. 

 The current chart completed June 7 showed a current situation on the 

 eastern edge of the Banks that made the southward drift of any more 

 bergs this season very unUkely. The Ice Patrol season for 1937 was, 

 therefore, definitely over both because of lack of ice and because of 

 no means to transport ice southward. 



Immediately following this section, under Ice Conditions, North 

 Atlantic Ocean, (p. 8) is a discussion of the ice season by months with 

 a general summary of ice conditions during this year. A detailed 



