42 



MARION EXPEDITION TO DAVIS STRAIT AND BAFFIN BAY 



A small berg with peaks about 25 feet high was sighted at the 

 fiord entrance just inshore of the submarine ridge that runs along 

 the coast. It was approached by the Marlon for the purpose of 

 obtaining ice. The sea was smooth, except for a very slight swell, 

 so it was decided to run alongside the berg Avith the ship, instead of 

 sending out a boat to get the ice. 



The Marion got alongside a sheer wall of the berg about 15 feet 

 high, and one of the men on the spar deck began cutting at the ice 

 opposite his head with a fire ax. Whether the blows of the ax 

 or the jarring of the berg by the gentle rolling ship was the cause 

 can not be told, but in a very few seconds a loud crackling was 

 heard, and the berg calved off several growlers weighing a number 

 of tons each. There was a great scampering among the ice gatherers 

 as the heavy masses fell down and disappeared with a roar between 



THE PRESENT LOWER LIMIT OF THE ICE 



Figure 32. — Another view of the fiord between Aulalsivik Island and the highest peaks 

 of the Torngat Mountains just to the south. Three tiny lakelets filled with melt- 

 water from the glacier are visible in the middle distance. Taken on August 24, 1928. 



the ship and the berg. The Marion was pushed from the berg bodily 

 by the ice as it fell, and was pushed away farther as the new growlers 

 rose to the sea surface after their sudden plunge. 



Two stations were taken to the eastward of the fiord just south 

 of Aulalsivik Island on the afternoon of August 24. Then a course 

 southward was run to a point off Ramah, Labrador. Here, less than 

 7 miles northeast of Mount Blow-me-dowm, was started the western 

 end of a series of stations extending 450 miles to the Greenland coast 

 off Ivigtut. 



Nine bergs were sighted in the cold current between Aulalsivik 

 Island and 60 miles east of Ramah, Labrador. Undoubtedly several 

 more would have been seen if the greater part of this run liad not 

 been made at night. 



In general, good weather was experienced on the run east-north- 

 eastward across Davis Strait. The second day out was overcast with 



