ICEBERG PERILS.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 774, 24 March 1910, Page 5

ICEBERG PERILS.

STEAMER'S EXCITING ADVEN- _ TUBE. . ( . , The following extraordinary , story of an adventure, through '-. which .-the steamer Portia passed in-. Notre Dame Bay (Newfoundland) is civen by , the Argonaut" :—ln-clear daylight an iceberg was sighted, and passengers and crew begged the captain to approach nearer in order that they might inspect and photograph it. The Portia, therefore, steered close to the towering sides of the mighty iceberg, whose highest pinnaclee , ' glistened several hundred feet above the sea: Then the unexpectd happned. There was an cxi plosion like the shock of a volcanic eruption, and the mighty, berg was riven asunder. One oftho pieces split apart, grew-top-heavy, and toppled over its base, far under water, catching the Portia and lifting her high and dry some ton or twelve feet above the sea: The mighty overturning of the berg created enormous swells, and . these huge waves were.the only thing that saved the ship from destruction. The weight of the.ship caught on its shelf of ice kept the berg from turning a complete somersault, and a huge swell picked up the vessel and launched her again, stern/first, in the sea. This sort of rough launching was not the kind a ship ■ expects, and the force carried her so far down into the sea that the captain and crew never expected her to come up again. But she battled bravely for her equilibrium - and finally righted herself and steamed ■ away from the dangerous spot. The whole mishap had taken only a few minutes, and before' crew and, passengers had time' more than to catch their breath they had been into the jaws of death and out again. : ■