Page:Science vol. 5.djvu/235

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��•Ight (rom Cite westward would pass out nf view of his staUoii to Hie eastward in from three to four tides, this indicatiag an easterly set of upwards of ten miles & day.

The icebergs seen from Uie Neptune In Hudson Strait in August and Seplember were not more uumerous, and would form no greoler barrier to nsTigatlon, tlian Llioae often met witL off tbe Strait of Belle Isle, where, and oH the Labrador coast nortb of it, a great number were enr^ountered on the outward voyage of [he Neptune.

Ordinary Beld-ice was met with off North Bluff, on the lltb of August, which, Ihongh it would harecom- jielled an ordinary iron steamer to go dead slow.gnve no trouble to the Neptune; the mate on watch run- ning the ship at full speed between the pans, rarely toocUirig one of them. Id Ashe Inlet the ice came in with the flood-tide, and set so fast that the Eskimo were able to walk off to the afaip, a distance of three- quarters of a mile. Similar ice was found on the MuLh shore, opposite, but none in the middle of the str^t so far easL In proceeding from this point to Salisbury Inland, long strings of ice were freiiuently •een: but,a« theirdirectlon was parallel loihe course, the vessel coasted round them. The Eskimo reported Uial they had never seen the ice hang to the shores BO latt! in the season, and that at all points there were unuiually great quantities. On the homeward Totiige none of this field-ice was seen.

Off Nottingham Island the Ice got so heavy and rtOBe,thatthe attempt to force the ship through it was giron up, after one blade of the propeller had been broken off, — an accident that entailed a delay of lliree days to fit In a new fan. In this ice, too, were seen four vessels, fast in the channel to the south- ir»nl; one of them being the outgoing Hudson -Bay company's vessel, and another an American whaling- scboooer. This Ice was of an altogether different type front that hitherto met. Some of it, left dry at low water, was over forty feet in thickness, — not Seld-iee, thickened by the piling ot pan on pan, but a salid bliiesheetorice, which had evidently been fronen jtiBi as it was found. The average thickness of the ioe pMKed through. In the neighborhood of Port De- Uoucherville, was upwards of fifteen feet.

J^rom the reports of the Hudson-Bay company's sliips, the evidence of Capl, Fisher's letter above quoted, and the expei-Ience of the Eskimo encoun- tered, the conclusion is reached that 1883 and 18S4 wnre eieepilonally severe seasons, and the nnviga- ll'tn more than ordinarily interrupted by ice; but the average of many years' observations at Fort Cbarchlll, the only known harbor on the west coast of the hay, shows that the middle of June and the iniddle of November would be the extreme limils of time during which approach to that coast would be poHible; and these limits agree closely with those of the open Beaton in Nachvak harbor, on the Atlantic

If the Neptune had been running direct from Cape Chudleigh to Churchill, instead of coasting, it is conBidered thai she would not have been delayed by ice more than forty-eight hours; but no ordinary

��iron steamship, bnllt as aitiodcm f^e^gh^boBt Is, could have got through the heavier Ice met, without incurring serious risk, if not actual disaster.

From the resident factor at Churchill it was learned that the tiay never freezes so far out but that clear water can l>e seen. From the greater heat of the water, the absence of icebergs at all seasons, and the absence of field-ice oji ihe voyage, even at Chesterfield Inlet, la the extreme north-west comer of the bay, it Is evident that the bay itself is nnviga- hle for a much longer period each season than the strait.

Some high tides and heavy currents were noticed. During two days In which the Neptune was lying-to off Cape Chudleigb, in fog, she was set forty miles to the southward, which Indicates llie necessity for caution in approaching the strait In thick weather. At Port Burwell the rise of spring tides is nineteen feet, with a current of about four knots in Grey Strait, which causes, when the wind Is adverse, an ugly sea. At Ashe's Inlet there is a rise of thirty- two feel, with a strong tide-race, and a current aomelimes reaciijng six knots within three miles of the shore. At Fort Chimo the rise of spring tides is thirty-eight feet and a half. At Stupart's Bay there Is a rise of twenty-eight feet; but the currents are not so swift OS on the opposite shore, probably be- cause the water is shallower.

Complete meteorological observations were taken on board Uie Neptune during the voyage, which when afterwards compared with those taken during the same period at Belle Isle, — a sUtlou of the meteoro- logical service in the regular summer trade route l)etween Quebec and Europe, — showed that dur- ing August and September the weather of Hudsably not give a fair average, the stations should be continued for a second year, and two or three of them even for a third year; (hal next year's expedition should leave Halifax by the middle of May, and relieve the sta- tions, or. If the Ice prevented this, the ship should push on and investigate once for all the condition of the ice in the strait and bay In (he early part of the season. If the stations could be relieveil, an effort should be made to reach Churchill by the open- ing of navigation there, — about the IStli of June; then a running survey should be made on the east coast, some deep-sea dredging and sounding done, and beacons erected on the low-lying shores of Mans- field and Southampton Islands. This would allow the ship to reach the strait again by the middle of August, when any spare time could be employed in surveying it more accurately; or as an alternative, Uie Sshing, especially the wiialing in Gowe's Wel- come, which is becoming of some importance, might he Investigated with a view to proper regulation of the trade. Wii. P. Andkrso.v.

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