Sources
For the 18th and 19th centuries the primary sources were shipping newspapers and journals such as Lloyd List, first published 1734, which later combined with the Shipping and Mercantile Gazette, and the New York Maritime Journal (1869-1948) supplemented by many other newspapers, articles and books which can be found listed in the reference section. The New York Maritime Journal (NYMR) was quite prolific at times with their Ice Reports so that in the listings of ice records on this website they are from the NYMR unless otherwise referenced. Also of value in the period 1875 – 1895 was the Monthly Weather Review published at the time by the U.S. Army Signal Corps.
With the increasing volume of trans-Atlantic traffic together with increasing speed and size of the ships towards the end of the 19th century the U.S. Hydrographic Office launched its weekly single page Hydrographic Bulletin highlighting the dangers to navigation. It was published from 1889 until 1947. (Unfortunately, we were not able to find a source for the Hydrographic Bulletin until this particular part of our ice projects was over but the bulletins were used extensively for the Gulf of St. Lawrence and Scotian Shelf ice extent and the Iceberg Sightings database.) The 1912 Titanic tragedy was an accident waiting to happen and it was the final straw in finally establishing an Atlantic patrol in the form of the International Ice Patrol (IIP) in 1914 as part of the U.S. Coast Guard. The IIP published an annual bulleting summarizing its patrols and ice conditions but it was not till 1923 when it began publishing the collated ice data in a systematic form. It was not for a further ten years before it became the main published source of North Atlantic ice information. Thus we have excellent historical ice formation from approximately 1860 to 1958 and the start of the modern era.
After 1958 the IIP went digital no longer publishing the lengthy ice reports in their annual bulletins and somehow the 1959 data got lost but they continued to publish the monthly ice charts when ice was present. The Atmospheric Environment Service of Environment Canada started producing ice charts in 1958 and was subsequently replaced by the Canadian Ice Service (CIS) in 1988 which has been producing ice charts, ice information and sharing with the IIP ever since.
Methodology
The ice information for the years 1810 to 1958 was plotted using Versamap software. There was insufficient data prior to 1810 to create meaningful ice charts on an annual basis, and after 1958 charts were readily available from other sources. For the period 1810 to 1859 the amount of data collected was still limited and insufficient to create monthly ice charts for each year but was improving almost on an annual basis so that from 1860 there was generally enough data to create charts for each of the winter months March and April with often January and February combined. The sea ice season often peaks in March and rapidly dissipates during May. While sea ice extent was the focus of this study and has different characteristics from icebergs, icebergs were not ignored and were similarly plotted.
Separate data files of the geographical coordinates of the sea ice and icebergs were prepared for each month and plotted using red for sea ice and green for icebergs. The data files include a flag identifier preceding each of the coordinates with a “1” identifying a single sighting of sea ice or an iceberg (or a group of bergs) as the case may be, or a “0” indicating that this sighting was connected to the previous location. In the case of sea ice this could be a transit through an ice field or along its visible edge, or in the case of icebergs a number of bergs were seen along the way.
Once all the ice information had been plotted a estimated boundary line was drawn defining the limit of the sea ice and a Matlab routine was developed to calculate the area of ice extent. The monthly values are given in the data table along with the calculated average. The boundary line was also digitized for each month and is included with the ice data, the initial coordinate being preceded by a “1” and the remaining values with a “0”.
For the years subsequent to 1958 the ice charts prepared by the IIP, and from 1965 those from the Atmospheric Environment Service of Canada (AES) which became the Canadian Ice Service in 1988 the sea ice area was calculated from copies of the charts on the computer digitizing table. For a period of time during the 2000s a staff member at CIS performed the calculations for me but since his retirement and mine in 2009 I have been using the open source ImageJ software on the archived ice charts available on the CIS website. The AES and CIS charts were normally issued weekly, so the average was calculated for the monthly sea ice extent.
References and Abbreviations used in the Ice Reports
AH – Andrew Horwood. Newfoundland ships and men. Macy’s Pub., St. John’s, Nfld., 1971
AG – Allen Geare. Ebeneezer, or a Monument of Thankfulness, a voyage from Plymouth to Newfoundland. London, 1708
BA2 – British American Navigator: A sailing directory for the Island and Banks of Newfoundland etc. 2nd Edition 1847.
BA76 – Report of the British Association for the Advancement of Science p.146; Osborne Reynolds “On the Steering of Screw-Steamers”.
BL – Basil Lubbock. The Arctic Whalers. Brown, son and Ferguson, Glasgow. 1937
CGH – Clifford Grant Head. Eighteenth Century Newfoundland. McClelland and Stewart, Toronto, 1976
CSCB – Carbonear Star and Conception Bay Journal continued by the Star and Conception Bay Journal. Carbonear, Nfld., 1833.
DML – David Moore Lindsay. A Voyage to the Arctic in the Whaler Aurora. Estes & company, Boston, 1911.
DN – Daily News, St. John’s, Nfld., 1894.
DWP – Daniel Woodley Prowse. A History of Newfoundland from the English, Colonial and Foreign Records. Eyre and Spottiswoode, London, 1896.
EW – E.Wilson: With the Harmony to Labrador. (essentially from the Periodical Accounts of the Moravian Church and a revision of the 1877 Brief Accounts of the Missionary Ships employed in the Service of the Mission In Labrador). 1975
FDR – Dr.Harry D.Roberts. The Newfoundland Fish Boxes, a chronicle of the fishery. Brunswick Press, Fredericton, N.B., 1982.
Fgmm – Frank Galgay & Michael McCarthy. Shipwrecks of Newfoundland and Labrador, Vol 1. Harry Cuff, St. John’s, Nfld, 1987.
FGMM – Frank Galgay & Michael McCarthy. Shipwrecks of Newfoundland and Labrador, Vol 2. Creative Publishers, St. John’s, Nfld, 1990.
FS – Frank Saunders. Sailing Vessels and Crews of Carbonear. Robinson-Blackmore, St. John’s, Nfld., 1981.
GF – Garfield Fizzard. Unto the sea: a history of Grand Bank. Grand Bank Heritage Society, Grand Bank, Nfld., 1987
GR – George Robinson. A report on the movements of the ice, currents and tidal streams of the coast of Newfoundland and in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Hydrographic Office, London, 1889.
GW – George Whiteley. Northern seas, hardy sailors. Norton, New York, 1982
HGS – Harbour Grace Standard. Harbour Grace, Nfld., 1859.
IIP59 – International Ice Patrol Bulletin #59, Season of 1973, Appendix A IIP’82 International Ice Patrol Bulletin, Season of 1982.
JEC – James E. Candow. Of men and seals: a history of the Newfoundland seal hunt. Environment Canada, Ottawa, 1989.
JF – John Feltham: Northeast from Baccalieu. H. Cuff, St. John’s, Nfld., 1990.
JH – J. Hennessy, Marine Observer, Vol. 9, 1932, pp 76-80
JH1 – J. Hennessy, Marine Observer, Vol. 12, 1934, pp 71-73
JMB – John Malcolm Brinnin, 1971: The Sway of the grand saloon; a social history of the North Atlantic. Delacorte Press, New York, 1971.
JPA – J.P.Andrieux – Marine disasters of Newfoundland and Labrador. O.T.C. Press, St. John’s, Nfld., 1986.
JPN – John P. Newell. The climate of the Labrador Sea in the spring and summer of 1816, and comparisons with modern analogues. International workshop on the Year without a Summer. Climate in 1816. Ottawa, 1988.
JY – The Journal of James Yonge, 1647-1721, Plymouth Surgeon, ed. by F.N.L. Poynter, Longmans, London, 1963.
LL – Lloyd’s List, London, 1741.
LM – Lord (John Charles Bigham) Mersey. Loss of the SS “Titanic”; report of a formal investigation. H.M.S.O., London, 1912.
M – Meinardus, W. Ãœber Schwankungen der nordatlantischen Zirkulation und damit zusammenhängende Erscheinungen. Meteorol. 22, 398-412, 1905.
M9 – John Purdy. Memoir, descriptive and explanatory to accompany the charts of the Northern Atlantic Ocean.. 9th ed., London, 1845
M11 – John Purdy. Memoir, descriptive and explanatory, of the Northern Atlantic Ocean, 11th ed., London, 1861
MMR – Mitchell’s Maritime Register. London, 1856.
MPSG – Morning Post and Shipping Gazette, St. John’s, Nfld., 1843.
MWR – Monthly Weather Review. United States War Office, 1872.
Newf – Newfoundlander. St. John’s, Nfld., 1827.
NMJ – Newfoundland Mercantile Journal, St. John’s, Nfld., 1814.
NW – Naboth Winsor. Stalwart Men and Strong Ships. Economy Printing Ltd., Gander, Nfld., 1985.
NYMR – New York Maritime Register. New York, 1869.
PL – Public Ledger and Newfoundland General Advertiser continued by Public Ledger, St. John’s, Nfld., 1823.
PR – Polar Record, Vol. 19, No 121, 1979, p 343-362. “Shipping Losses caused by ice, 1890 ” 1977.
RDB – Robert D. Ballard. The Discovery of the Titanic. Warner Books, New York, 1987.
RG – Royal Gazette and Newfoundland Advertiser. St. John’s, Nfld., 1807.
SCL – Shipping and Commercial List continued by New York Shipping and Commercial List continued by Turner’s New York Shipping and Commercial List. New York, 1815.
SMG – Shipping and Mercantile Gazette. London, 1838.
SR – Shannon Ryan. Seals and sealers: a pictorial history of the Newfoundland seal fishery. Breakwater Books, St. John’s, 1987.
TGCG – Times and General Commercial Gazette. St. John’s, Nfld., 1832.
WCW – Wyn Craig Wade: The Titanic: end of a dream. Rawson Wade, New York, 1979.
WCR – W.C. Redfield. Ice in the North Atlantic. Memoir of the dangers and ice of the North Atlantic Ocean. Dept. of Navy, p. 12-19, Washington, D.C., 1868
WCRM – W.C. Redfield. On the drift ice and currents of the North Atlantic. The American Journal of Science and Arts. 48, 1845 pp 373-388.
#93 – H. Rodman. Report of ice and ice movements in the North Atlantic Ocean. U.S. Hydrographic Office Publ. #93, 26p., 1890.
The following refer to manuscripts and papers held by the Provincial Archives of Newfoundland and Labrador:
#229 MG229 Moss Diary, Battle Harbour, Labrador. A diary from February 9 to September 7, 1832.
#231 MG231 Edward Burd, Edinburgh Merchant. Journal of a voyage from Leith, Scotland to Newfoundland.
#236 MG236 Slade-Kelson Diary, Trinity, Newfoundland. A diary from December 1831 to January 1839.
#253 MG253 Sir Joseph Banks. Journal of voyage to Newfoundland and Labrador, April – November, 1766.
#400 MG400 H.V.Stabb, St. John’s, Newfoundland. Diary re: account of schooner “Mary” along the N.E. coast and Labrador, 1881.
#475 MG475 William Sweetland, magistrate, Bonavista, Newfoundland. Diary 1838 – 1839
#478 MG478 Thomas Gaylor, Bonavista, Newfoundland. Occurrence book 1827 – 1829.
#488 MG488 S.S. “Greenland”. Log book, sealing voyages, 1898 – 1899, 1906.
#489 MG489 S.S. “Labrador”. Seal fishery logbook, March 10, 1906.
#491 MG491 Ashbourne @ Co., Twillingate, Newfoundland.
#492 MG492 Twillingate Diary, Newfoundland, ca 1859 – 1862, 1863 – 1865, 1864 – 1866, 1866 – 1868, 1873 – 1876.
#494 MG494 Schooner “Lila D. Young”. Logbook – voyage St. John’s to Labrador, 1916.
#509 MG509 Twillingate Diary, Newfoundland, ca 1880 – 1886.
#511 MG511 Harbour Grace, Newfoundland. Sealing and shipping records, 1831 – 1918.
#548 MG548 R.M.S. “Nerissa”, Red Cross Line. Deck log of voyages, etc., St. John’s Newfoundland, Halifax Nova Scotia, and New York, January – August 1928.
#564 MG564 S.S. “Thorsberg”. Log book, voyages to Europe, USA and Newfoundland, 1920 – 1921.
#575 MG575 Allan Line. Logbook, sailing voyages between Scotland and Quebec, 1829 -1847.
#704 MG704 George W Mews, St. John’s, Newfoundland. Diary and shipping news, 1865 – 1870.
#805 MG805 S.S. “Imogene”. Log book, sealing voyages, March 8 – June 9, 1930; March – April 24, 1931.
#806 MG806 M.V. “Western Explorer”. Log book, voyage on South Coast of Newfoundland, April 21 – May 18, 1953.
#837 MG837 Brig “Lizzie”. Logbook, 1872; Sailing Directions, pub. 1873.
#866 MG866 Mac Lee Collection. Assorted material Harbour Grace and Conception Bay, Newfoundland, ca 1770 – 1965.
GB1 GB1 Government Docs. Admiralty logs, 1766 – 1847.
CO194 Colonial Office 194 Vol.59 1817.