TO WARN LINERS OF ICE.

Dunstan Times, Issue 2676, 28 July 1913, Page 8

TO WARN LINERS OF ICE.

The break-up of the ice off the North Atlantic coast is to be watched th s spring by a vessel whose business it is to be to warn Atlantic liners of possible danger. Every steamship will knowhereafter just when there are bergs or ice-fields, and how and when they are moving. Last year two scoutcruisers acted as ice-patrols after the Titanic disaster, and this year the derelict destroyer Seneca and the revenue cutter Miami will patrol the steamship lanes. Another century will be ou duty. Says Science (New York): “We learn from the London Times that an arrangement has been made for .... stationing a vessel for ice observation to the north of the steamship routes across the North Atlantic. In accordance with tho advice of a special conference summoned by the Board o. Trade to consider the best means of giving effect to this recommendation, it is proposed that a vessel should be stationed off the east coast of North America to the north of the steamship routes during the coining spring to watch tlie break-up of the ice and to report its movement on the way to the routes. The Scotia, a whaler formerly employed in the Scott Antarctic Expedition, has been chartered to carry out this work, and it is anticipated that she will bo ready to leave Dundee, whe-o she is at present lying, about the end of this month. Tlie vessel is being fitted with a Marconi wirelss installation having a long range, so that she will bo able to keep in touch with the wireless stations in Newfoundland and Labrador. The cost of the expedition will bo shared between his Majesty’s Government and the principal Atlantic steamship lines. In order to make the necessary observations in connection with the movement of the ice. there will ho three scientific observers in the Scotia. As the vessel will from time to time be stationary, it is expected that these observers will be able to make oceanographical and meteorological observations as to currents, etc., which will he of general scientific interest as well as of direct value to the work in hand. The Scotia is a wooden barque of 357 tons, built at Drammen in 1872, and is fitted with an auxiliary steam-engine.