WAR ON ICEBERGS

New Zealand Times, Volume LIII, Issue 12425, 20 April 1926, Page 3

WAR ON ICEBERGS

DANGERS OF THE DEEP TRACKING THE MONSTERS PATROL’S EXCITING WORII Right through the spring and early summer months vessels of the American Navy regularly hunt for icebergs in the North Atlantic. The object is to prevent a recurrence of the terrible disaster which happened to the Titanic, which was sunk on April 14th, 1912. through striking an iceberg. By an international agreement between the Powers, it was arranged that the North Atlantic should bo patrolled, and the presence of ice and icebergs reported. The United States Government undertook the task, and the Hydrographic Department of the United States Navy furnished a special service, known as the Ice Patrol. Hence, when spring approaches, and the icebergs come floating down from the great glaciers of Greenland, a number of vessels of the American Coastguard' Service go out in search of them. It is work that calls for nerve,, hardihood, and expert seamanship. Storms, fogs, and cold weather are of constant occurrence off the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, and even in late spring ice in vast quantities and dangerous shape is frequently encounterer. and is a serious menace to passing ships. The patrol search out this ice and wireless its presence to the vessels of ail nations in the immediate neighbourhood. ICEBERGS AND ECHOES It is a little to the south of Newfoundland where ships crossing the Atlantic sight icebergs. The fascination about them lies in their curious shapes and their beautiful colouring. Some look like Arab tents as they glide along, while others resemble yachts and castles, and perhaps a well known animal. Their colours are almost beyond description, ranging from a pure white to a dark blue, caused by the reflection of light from the submerged portion of the ice. Some of the information gathered by the ioe patrol is exceedingly interesting. It is a tradition among mariners that an iceberg will give off an echo, hut this is not the experience of the officers of the patrol. The other winter the coastguard cutter Androscoggin encountered eleven large bergs in rapid succession. Although she sounded her whistle on each occasion no sound was given off, and from this and other experiences came the conclusion that air echoes are erratic and not. to he relied upon. The only bergs from which echoes have been obtained have a perpendicular or nearly perpendicular face. Echoes from such bergs have been heard at ns greaa a distance as 1000 yards, but the majority were inaudible at distances greater than 400 yards.

DANGERS THROUGH COLLAPSE Another tradition of the sea in reference to icebergs which the patrol has smashed is that, contrary to the belief of most mariners, there is no appreciable change otf temperature, in the air or water when approaching a berg. If a fresh wind is blowing and a snip gets within a hundred yards or so to leeward the crew experience a sensation of cold, but the thermometer may not register any drop. Birds, as Some sailors affirm, do not indicate the presence of , ioe. . They are more numerous around vessels where they can find something to eat. Again, there is no ioe blink over a berg. In brief, in hunting icebergs the mariner must to a very great extent depend on his eyesight alone. In the late spring and early summer the bergs become very unstable, owing to the corrosive action of the sea on their submerged (portions and the action of the sun upon their upper parts. Large chunks of ioe are continually falling off them, while frequently the entire bergs roll over and over again, and are thus constantly changing formation. When the bergs roll over they creak and groan like an old wooden ship labouring in a heavy sea. The collapse of an iceberg is dangerous on account of the sudden huge waves it sets up. Tire other season a large berg anchored itself outside the harbour of St. John’s, in Newfound-, land. Two hoys in a rowboat pulled through the bottle-neck entrance of the Narrows and brought up close to the glittering ice. Just at that time the sun had almost completed its work. As the boys watched, the- pinnacles slid apart and fell tumbling into the sea. The waves they raised rushed into the harbour and tore boats from tlieir moorings. BOYS’ WONDERFUL ESCAPE The boys did not return, and friends set out with little hope of finding even a fragment of the boat; they returned to mourn. The following day a fisherman leaving the harbour thought he heard weak shouts high up on the face $f Signal Point and looking up saw a v nving arm. Away up there they foi nd boat and boys, and p, man had to be let down the face of the cliff by a lope to take the lads to safety. The' wave that had created such havoc within the harbour had lifted the boat and deposited it high and dry on a ledge of the 500-foot cliff.

Not infrequently for diversion the patrol vessels fire their twelvfe-pound-ers, at the big bergs, but their shots are usually as effective as they would be against the'Rock of Gibraltar. Occasionally when the ioe is growing soft, the shots will sink in for a foot or two, but have no other effect. True, the other month they did succeed in smashing an iceberg up with a mine. The berg was 350 ft long and one of its two spires was 170 ft high. The patrol ship sent a boat towing two mines toward it. The mines contained the high explosive T.N.T. They wore put down in six feet of water close to the great precipitous face or the berg, which the men could hear, snapping and crackling with a sound like rifle-shots above them, while great fissures were spreading in the berg’s icy face.

A BERG BLOWN TO PIECES The men sank tie mines, drew off, and waited at a safe distance. They could not see niucb, because a fog settled down, but presently they heard crashes like thunder. Next day they saw the berg again. It was smaller, but by no means done for, and it was not until they bad attacked it again and again with mines thnt on the fourth “’day it broke in half. Then, with an explosion that sent the water 100 ft into tho air, it blew into fragments. . All ice information collected by tho patrol vessels is sent out broadcast, b.v wireless twice a da.y. IF the conditions are unusually -erious, messages are sent moie frequently, sometimes as often as once an hour. The cost of the patrol is borne b.v all the nations using the Atlantic in proportion to the number of ships sailing under their vesnoot.ivß flags.