after collecting fresh news, I hope you will be able to moor the ship and
await developments for at least ten days.

The term of this stay must be left entirely to your judgment, observing
that whilst it is highly undesirable for you to miss the latest possible
news, it would be more undesirable for you to be caught in the ice and
forced to winter.

Concerning this matter I can only give you information as to what had
happened in previous years:

Last year the Bays froze permanently on March 24.
Last year the Sound froze permanently on May 7 or 8.

By the Bays I mean the water south of Hut Point, inside Turtle Back
Island, south of Glacier Tongue, inside the islands north of Glacier
Tongue, and, I think, the western shores of the Sound.

The following gives the ice movements in the Sound in more detail:

March 24.-25. Ice forming and opening with leads.
" 26. Sea clear.
" 27. Strait apparently freezing.
" 28 (early). Ice over whole Sound.
" 29. All Ice gone.
" 30. Freezing over.
April 1. Ice out, etc.

This sort of thing continued till May, with lengthening intervals, but
never more than three days of frozen sea.