Details the work of the U.S. Coast Guard in the international sea lanes of the Northern Pacific, where icebergs are a constant threat to passenger and cargo ships. USCG patrol vessels track ice formations, assisted by B-17 aircraft. Features footage of the famed liner Queen Mary and USCGC Mendota (WHEC-69), an Owasco class high endurance cutter. Mendota was scrapped in 1974.
Produced by the Department of State and the United States Information Service in 1949, “International Ice Patrol” vividly shows the U.S. Coast Guard and its role in keeping the sea lanes of the North Atlantic open. The film also features footage shot aboard an ocean liner, probably RMS Queen Mary (2:30 mark).
The International Ice Patrol is an organization with the purpose of monitoring the presence of icebergs in the Atlantic and Arctic Oceans and reporting their movements for safety purposes. It is operated by United States Coast Guard but is funded by the 13 nations interested in trans-Atlantic navigation. As of 2011 the governments contributing to the International Ice Patrol include Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Panama, Poland, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom, and the United States of America.
The organization was established in 1914 in response to the sinking of the RMS Titanic. The primary mission of the Ice Patrol is to alert any seacraft traveling the great circle shipping lanes between Europe and the major ports of the United States and Canada of the presence of any icebergs there.
From the earliest journeys into the North Atlantic, icebergs have threatened vessels. A review of the history of navigation prior to the turn of the 20th century shows an impressive number of casualties occurred in the vicinity of the Grand Banks of Newfoundland. For example, Lady of the Lake sank in 1833 with a loss of 215 people. Between 1882 and 1890, 14 vessels were lost and 40 seriously damaged due to ice. This does not include the large number of whaling and fishing vessels lost or damaged by ice. It took one of the greatest marine disasters of all time to arouse public demand for international cooperative action to deal with this marine hazard. This disaster, the sinking of the RMS Titanic on 15 April 1912, was the prime impetus for the establishment of the International Ice Patrol.
From its inception until the beginning of World War II, the Ice Patrol was conducted from two surface patrol cutters alternating surveillance patrols of the southern ice limits. In 1931 and thereafter a third ship was assigned to Ice Patrol to perform oceanographic observations in the vicinity of the Grand Banks. After World War II, aerial surveillance became the primary ice reconnaissance method with surface patrols phased out except during unusually heavy ice years or extended periods of reduced visibility. Use of the oceanographic vessel continued until 1982, when the Coast Guard’s sole remaining oceanographic ship, USCGC Evergreen, was converted to a medium endurance cutter. The aircraft has distinct advantages for ice reconnaissance providing much greater coverage in a relatively short period of time.
From 1946 until 1966, the Ice Patrol offices, operations center and reconnaissance aircraft were based at the Coast Guard Air Detachment Argentia, Newfoundland during the ice season.
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