Through the kindness of the Deputy Commissioner of the R.C.M.P. we are enabled to print a condensed account of the first voyage from West to East, making the second ship journey through the “North-West Passage”.

Arctic whaling from Dundee came to an end just before the last war, having outlasted the Peterhead ships by about twenty years. Men who took part in the whaling, particularly from Dundee, are still alive, but the number is rapidly becoming smaller, and two of the most notable have recently passed on, Dr Gray of Peterhead and Captain Adams of Dundee. Both belonged to well-known whaling families, and both were the authorities for their particular region, Captain Adams for North-East Baffin Island and Dr Gray for the Greenland Sea. They were always willing to impart all that they knew about whales and whaling, and much has now fortunately been recorded. I have had frequent help and advice from both those men, have continually found cause to appreciate the accuracy and minuteness of their Arctic whaling knowledge, and have always relied on them for the “ last word ” on many Arctic problems.

The impressive and all-pervading quietness following a fall of snow is a commonplace experience, though, so far as the writer is aware, only one set of measurements of the sound absorption of snow has been published. A cold spell in December 1938 provided a suitable opportunity to make such measurements in the reverberating chamber of the National Physical Laboratory at Teddington.

Anchor ice. All submerged ice attached to the bottom irrespective of the nature of its formation. Barrier ice, or Shelf ice. A form of land ice or land ice afloat, produced by an accumulation of horizontal layers of snow which has reached the intermediate opaque névé or firn stage before passing into true glacier ice. Portions of the barrier break off to form tabular bergs.