and relocated 1!) May by SS Bellatrix (Ital.) near 41°42' N. 47°13' W. 

 This berg drifted northward and melted on 24 May near position 44°20' 

 N. 4(>°45' W. (see fig. 15). The wind had swept the southeastern slope 

 clear and it was not until the 22d that bergs, newly arriving, once again 

 crossed the 45th parallel. 



Icebergs persisted across the western slope of the Banks through 25 

 May and by then a more normal pattern had reestablished itself. At that 

 time the northern slope was rather well populated from Cape Pine east- 

 ward and bergs extended southward along the eastern slope as far as 

 latitude 43° X. Only a handfull was sprinkled over the remainder of the 

 Hanks. Interesting among these were two bergs sighted near St. Pierre 

 on 2") May by SS Cleopatra (Ger.). 



To give some indication of the hordes of icebergs now arriving at the 

 Newfoundland coast, 200 bergs were sighted within a 10-mile radius of 

 Cape Bonavista and more bergs were sighted in Trinity and Conception 

 Bays than at any time in the recollection of many local residents. 



The month's end found the southernmost berg at 42°50' X. 48'40' W. 

 although a report of a berg and growler on 30 May in position 41°15' X. 

 47°0i)' W. by SS Rhenania stayed unconfirmed after an air and ship 

 search on 31 May-1 June. Several bergs remained grounded in the area 

 near 45°45' X. 54° W. but most lay east of longitude 54°30' W. and 

 north of lat. 46° N. 



During May a total of about 180 bergs drifted south of latitude 48° N. 

 and of these 22 crossed the 43d parallel. 



JUNE 



The first week in June marked the (Mid of the field ice south of latitude 

 50° X. and in Xewfoundland coastal waters. A small field of rotting 

 brash ice sighted 3 June between Cape Bonavista and Cape Freels was 

 gone by the 5th. As previously stated, however, a large belt of pack ice 

 extended southward from off Labrador to about latitude 51°30' X". These 

 fields of 4-7 tenths ice cover were well offshore and out of visual range of 

 coastal reporting stations in northern Xewfoundland and along the Strait 

 of Belle Isle which remained henceforth ice free. This ice actually advanced 

 through the 13th of the month when, at its southernmost extent, it re- 

 sembled a southward pointing spike averaging 75 miles in width and the 

 extremity at 50°15' X T . 50° W. The inshore edge lay about 30 miles east 

 of Belle Isle. Active deterioration had reduced the concentration but 

 shipping which by now was attempting to use the Strait of Belle Isle was 

 sorely hampered until around 20 June when on that date sea ice was no 

 longer a factor for consideration by transatlantic shipping. 



Icebergs during June drifting southward along the eastern slope of the 

 Grand Banks achieved a near steady state pattern of conditions and 

 would invariably recurve to the northeast between latitudes 46° X. and 

 43° X. The southernmost occurrence was on 15 June in position 42°05' X. 



18 



