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2.4 The International Ice Patrol
The presence of pack ice and drifting icebergs in the North Atlantic
Ocean, in the Grand Banks area southeast of Newfoundland, means
hazards for the shipping, and loss, perhaps, of life and property.
As a result of the loss of the TITANIC on April 14, 1912, in lati-
tude 41? 46' N., longitude 50? 14' W., with a toll of 1,517 lives,
an International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea in London
1913, established an International Ice Patrol of the area of the
North Atlantic most endangered during the ice season. The United
States was asked to undertake the management of this service.
The U.S. Coast Guard was charged with the duty of conducting the
Ice Patrol, and since 1913 this organization has carried out the
work with vigilance and success.
In the sixties and early seventies ice information by visual
reconnaissance and aerial photography was completed with the most
modern and effective surveillance systems based on remote sensing
techniques. As an example of dangerous icebergs drifting in the
cold Labrador Current southwards to the shipping routes southeast
of Newfoundland, a giant berg of valley type is shown in Figure 4.
About 7/8 of the total mass of the bergs are below the surface of
the water. The iceberg in Fig 4 with a height above water of about
90 metres, and a length at the waterline of 450 metres, has an
estimated displacement of about 1.5 million tons.
The average number of bergs south of the 48th parallel was for a
70-year -period (1900-70) about 400. The iceberg-season normally
lasted from the end of February to the middle of July with its
maximum in April - May.
In the years 1971-1972, Canada had exceptionally cold winters in
the North and the most severe ice conditions registered during
the last 20 years. The iceberg-season was unprecedented with not
far from 1,600 (entirely 1,587) bergs south of the 48th parallel
or 4 times more than normally. The season did not finish until the
4th of September.
