THE " MARION " EXPEDITION TO DAVIS STRAIT AND 



BAFFIN BAY 



NOIJLE G. RiCKETTS 



Chapter I 



IXTRODUCTIOX 



In 1928 the United States Coast Guard sent the Marion expedition 

 north into Davis Strait and Baffin Bay to carr}^ out scientific investi- 

 ofations connected with the international ice patrol. The object of 

 the expedition Avas to obtain all the information possible regarding 

 ocean currents, depths, and ice conditions in the region to the north 

 of that usually covered by the ice-patrol vessels each spring and 

 summer. The leader of the Marion expedition. Lieut. Commander 

 Edward H. Smith. United States Coast Guard, has fully worked up 

 the scientific data that was obtained about oceanography and ice. 

 The reader is referred to United States Coast Guard Bulletin 19, 

 part 3, for the report relating to Arctic ice and its drift into the 

 Xorth Atlantic Ocean, and to United States Coast Guard Bulletin 

 19, part 2, for the re])ort relating to the oceanography of Baffin Bay 

 and Davis Strait. The former publication was printed in 1931 and 

 the latter will be distributed at an early date. The present paper, 

 constituting part 1 of the Bulletin 19 series dealing with the Marion 

 expedition, contains a narrative of the Marion's cruise; a report and 

 discussion of the sounding work accomplished; and a description 

 and discussion of the bottom samples obtained at some of the places 

 where wire soundings w^ere made. 



DESCRIPTION OF VESSEL AND APPARATUS 



The Marion is one of a number of similar vessels which the Coast 

 Guard had built in 1925 for offshore patrol duty. She is 125 feet 

 long, with a 23%-foot beam andean 8i/^-foot draft. Her normal dis- 

 placement is about 220 tons. Her twin screws, each driven by a 

 G-cylinder air-injection Diesel engine of 150 horsepoAver, could gi^^e 

 her a maximum speed of about 10i/> knots. When she departed for 

 the north she carried a total of 9,000 gallons of fuel oil, of wliich 

 7,000 Avere in her tanks and 2,000 in drums on deck. With this amount 

 of oil, her cruising radius Avas upAvard of G.OOO miles at a speed of 

 7% knots. Figure 4 sIioavs the Marion as slie looked just prior to her 

 departure for the north. 



The Marioii's highest compartment Avas the bridge, the afterpart 

 of Avhich Avas partitioned off shortly before the start of the exi^edi- 

 tion to form a radio room. Tlie large deckhouse on the next deck 



