i i 



MAEIOX ' ' EXPEDITION TO DAVIS STRAIT AND BAFFIN BAY 49 



fathometer, some of the latter in the center of the basin exceeding 

 2,000 fathoms in depth. On three (Uiys the wind attained <>ale force, 

 showino- that the end of the sunnner was at hand. As on our other 

 southern crossino-s, however, air and surface water temperatures 

 observed in the center of Davis Strait were still around 50° F. 



The first icebergs sighted after leaving the cold water about Cape 

 Farewell were encountered on September 7, about 70 miles east of 

 Belle Isle. Almost all of the 7th w^as spent searching for an " ice 

 island '' several miles long, recently reported by different passing 

 steamers as being in that vicinity. Xo trace of such an unprecedently 

 large iceberg for North Atlantic waters was found. The largest 

 piece of ice that could be located was a tabular berg about 50 feet 

 high and, roughly, 800 feet square. 



Upon reaching Belle Isle on the evening of September 7 we decided 

 that it would be best, on account of the stormy w^eather, to return via 

 the east coast of Newfoundland, stopping at St. John's for supplies 

 and recreation. En route it was further decided to run two addi- 

 tional lines of stations off the eastern shelf of Newfoundland. 

 Although these stations were not called for in the original plans 

 of the expedition they were deemed useful for connecting the investi- 

 gations, of the Marion expedition with the previous oceanographic 

 work of the international ice patrol to the southward. The entire 

 work was completed on September 11 when we took the last station 5 

 miles off St. John's. 



The afternoon of September 8 was spent running southward along 

 the northeast coast of Newfoundland past the Gray Islands. "When 

 about 23 miles east of Horse Island a station was taken. This was 

 the first of the 225-mile line of them that was run to the eastward 

 over the 1,000-fathom curve. Excellent weather was experienced on 

 this run. 



The last line of stations, which ran in a southeasterly direction 

 toward St. John's, was started on September 10. A short and sharp 

 September gale held up the work somewhat, but St. John's was 

 reached safely at 3.15 p. m. on September 11, 1928. 



St. John's is a foreign port and nearly 1.000 miles from the Mario7i''s 

 base at New London, Conn., but the sight of it caused much rejoicing. 

 It marked the end of our present arduous labors for the cause of 

 science and a return to real civilization once more. 



There had been only four -days in the past nine weeks that the 

 Marion had not been underway at sea. The nature of the expedition 

 had demanded, of course, that we keep driving rather intensively 

 most of the time in order to complete the work laid out in the few 

 weeks before bad weather and danger from ice would make it im- 

 possible. The work of proceeding from station to station and there 

 repeating the same operations over and over again had begun to 

 tell on the spirit of the crew. The station work, coming as it does 

 night and day, gale and calm, rain and shine, is no child's play either 

 for those on deck or those at the motors. It requires alertness and 

 knowledge of a ship to hold her up at a station on a dark night with 

 the wind howling and 3,000 meters of wire out. Under such handi- 

 capping conditions as these, we had seen whole series of observations 

 down to 3,100 meters repeated three times, just because waves, or 

 other patience-trying accidents had caused the premature tripping of 



