FOREWORD 



Prior to the loss of the Titanfc, on April 14, 1912, as the result of 

 a collision with an iceberg in the North Atlantic, no patrol was 

 maintained in the region of the Grand Banks for the purpose of 

 safeguarding lives and property against the. iceberg peril, and no 

 systematic study had been made of physical and oceanographic con- 

 ditions pertaining to icebergs and their drift in the North Atlantic. 

 While a patrol of the ice zone was maintained during the seasons of 

 1912 and 1913 to meet an almost universal demand, arising from the 

 Titamc catastrophe, for protection against the iceberg menace, it 

 was not until the season of 1914 that the United States Government 

 undertook the management of the international service of study and 

 observation of ice conditions and of ice patrol, pursuant to the Inter- 

 national Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea signed on Janu- 

 ary 20, 1914. This was a new and important duty, inaugurating the 

 entry of the United States Coast Guard into an international service 

 of iceberg scouting and patrol, and into a field of scientific study and 

 research not previously developed nor sufficiently known. 



The early history of the International Service of Ice Observation 

 and Ice Patrol represented a pioneering service and purpose not 

 onh^ to maintain an efficient patrol worthy of the high standards 

 and traditions of the United States Coast Guard, but also to ac- 

 cumulate scientific data to afford an intelligent understanding of the 

 forces of nature having an effect on or a relationship to the iceberg 

 menace. With the growing importance of a knowledge of ocean 

 currents, and of the source, characteristics, and drifts of icebergs in 

 the conduct of this international service, ever}^ opportunity was 

 availed of and every effort directed, each ice season, toward assem- 

 bling data and making studies of oceanographic conditions in the 

 Grand Banks region. The data gathered during the ice seasons 

 Avere supplemented by observations made during special cruises at 

 other j^eriods of the year in order to study seasonal changes in ocean 

 currents and water temperatures. Each succeeding season brought 

 to light extensiA'e and important data in furtherance of our knowl- 

 edge of the elements entering into the study of ice conditions, and 

 strengthening and corroborating opinions held as a result of prior 

 scientific investigations. Reports of these observations were pub- 

 lished in the annual bulletins of the International Service of Ice 

 Observation and Ice Patrol. 



With the accumulation and studies made of scientific data since 

 the inauguration of the Ice Observation and Ice Patrol Service, it is 

 believed that sufficient information is now available to permit of 

 the publication of a treatise dealing with the subject of icebergs 

 and their distribution and drift in the North Atlantic Ocean, em- 



