ICEBERG TRADITIONS.

Dunstan Times, Issue 3135, 18 September 1922, Page 2

ICEBERG TRADITIONS.

Following the disaster to the Titanic, the main shipping nations of the world came to an international agreement by which the United States was given the duty of scouring the North Atlantic to locate floating icebergs and warn all vessels by radio of the position of icehergs and their direction of movement. as well as the speed at which they are drifting. The cost of this patrolling of the sea is borne by the various nations entering into the agreement, in proportion to the amount of shipping each has on the North Atlantic. The work of the ice patrol (.MiFrederick J. Raskin writes in the Savannah Morning News) has served to shatter many old 1 traditions of the sea regarding icebergs. ft had long been a favorite belief of seafaring men that the presence of icebergs could lie detected because the floating ice invariably echoed distinctly any sound within a considerable distance of it. This has been found to be untrue, except in the case of icebergs presenting a. Hat wall to the sound waves, and even then the echo is discernible at such short distance that this warning is of little or no value. Another tradition that has been shattered is I hat ant iceberg chills the surrounding water and air. The facts do not bear out tins supposition. Once in a while, if the wind is blowing from an iceberg toward a ship, the air may seem slightly cooler, but the water does not appear to be affected! at all. except so close to the berg that no ship could reach the cooler water without practical certainty of destruction. Still another mariners' belief touching icebergs liabeen that birds. Hying about and roosting on thi' ice. disclose the presence of bergs by their cries, but the ice patrol has blown up this tradition along with tile rest. It has been found to lie without any foundation. .Many bergs h.>v.' been located without any birds about them at. all. Collision with icebergs is not the only danger to shipping. Another menace is from movement the great, mass of ice in the water. A- the bergs drifts farther south, the air ; ml water become increasingly warm, and the ice is melted in various ways. A current of warm water will melt away the under part of an iceberg so that the. disturbance of the centre of gravity will cause the whole thing to r<«i or turn over. When this occurs, as it Frequently docs, great waves arc sent out. An' ordinary ship, if close to aniceberg when this happened, would certainly run grave risk of being swamped. ' |