Excerpt from Report of Ice and Ice Movements in the North Atlantic Ocean The subject of ice and ice movements is one to which the Hydrographic Office has given special attention, mainly through its branches at Boston and New York, where reports are regularly received and transmitted to the meteorological division of this Office; here the information is carefully tabulated, and appears on the monthly pilotchart of the North Atlantic Ocean, on which the ice for the previous month is plotted, and a course laid down to clear it. This course, though some 200 miles longer than the shortest possible route (close to Cape Eace), is the most ecomical one that can be followed, not only clearing the ice region, but also avoiding that greatest menace to navigation, fog. At first these precautionary measures were deemed excessive by many captains, but the number is notably decreasing annually, and their wisdom is becoming apparent in the gradual approximation to the pilot-chart routes by the trans-Atlantic steamer lines. As the season advances, the force of the Boston and New York branch offices is greatly occupied in furnishing information on this important subject to captains, for whom, on the eve of sailing, all the latest ice reports are plotted on the charts, and the managers of the steam-ship lines are supplied with copies of all ice reports received. The opening of navigation in the St. Lawrence River and Gulf is an important matter in the New York market, and the subsequent movement of the ice is a subject of great interest to those wishing to charter vessels for that trade. The Office has made every effort to collect the latest and most reliable data concerning the movement of ice in the vicinity of the Grand Banks, and the officer in charge of the Boston branch, in a previous report, states that the marked decrease in the supply of information on the subject was due to the fact of the steamer lines adopting the routes recommended by this Office. It is hardly necessary to dwell upon the importance of the ice problem, or the benefit to be derived from a thorough understanding of it; and, in order that the maritime community might better appreciate the danger, and be aided in intelligently studying the best means of avoiding it, at the request of the Hydrographer, Ensign Hugh Rodman, U.S. Navy of the division of marine meteorology of this Office, was detailed by the bureau, and orders issued by the honorable Secretary of the Navy to proceed to Halifax, Nova Scotia, and St. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.