ICEBERGS SEEN

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22628, 20 July 1935, Page 9

ICEBERGS SEEN

REPORTED ON CAPE, HORN ROUTE DANGER TO NAVIGATION EXPERIENCES OF BYGONE YEARS Reports of icebergs having been sighted by ships Homeward bound from New Zealand round Cape Horn and also from a steamer outward bound to Australia,

have been received during the last week. A few days ago (says the Dominion) the New Zealand Shipping Company, Ltd. had a cable message from their agents at Montevideo stating that the steamer Piako, which left Auckland on June 19 for London, reported that on July 2, in latitude 54deg 34min south, longitude lOGdeg 22min west, she passed two large icebergs. The Federal liner Durham, which left Auckland on June 29 for London, also reported that on July 7, in latitude 55deg 20min south, longitude 107 deg 19min west, she had passed a large iceberg. The reports_ indicate positions varying by approximately a degree of latitude and a degree of longitude, and that both ships when they sighted the ice were very close to the latitude of Cape Horn, which lies in latitude 55deg 59min south, longitude 67deg IGmin west.

On July 7 the Shaw, Savill, and Albion Company’s steamer Mamari, which left Liverpool on June 8 for Fremantle, reported by radio to Perth that she had passed five icebergs 75 feet high between latitude 44deg 58min south, longitude 57deg 39min east, and latitude 44deg 56min south, longitude 57deg 48min east. MENACE TO NAVIGATION

The presence of ice in the comparatively high latitudes reached by ships steering the modified or composite great circle courses between New Zealand and Cape Horn arid between the Cape of Good Hope and Australia or New Zealand is, possibly (the Dominion continues) the only danger to be feared by the navigators of the present-day highpowered steamers and motor ships, and especially in “ thick ” or foggy weather. Actually, there has been almost complete immunity from sea accident due to ice since the establishment of direct steamship services in 1883. From New Zealand to Cape Horn, or rather the Diego Ramirez Islands, 56 miles to the south-west of that headland, the approximate great circle track from Cook Strait leads into the highest latitude, GGdeg 30min south, longitude 117 deg 15miri west. But experience has proved that at nearly all seasons of the year serious danger may be incurred owing to the great quantities of ice encountered •in these higher latitudes, and for this reason the liners . usually steer a modified great circle course which carries them very little, if anything, above the latitude of Cape Horn. It was otherwise in the days of sailing ships which, under the pressure to make fast passages,, were well to the southward.

Ice conditions vary considerably from year to year. Quite frequently ships travel from New Zealand round the Horn without sighting a single berg, while at other times ship after ship will pass great numbers of icebergs between 50 and 55 degrees south latitude. In some seasons the run down to the Horn will be clear of ice, which will be met in quantities up as far as the north-east end of the Falkland Islands. COLLISIONS WITH ICEBERGS

It was after passing what is normally the northern limit of floating ice in the vicinity of the Falklands that the Shaw, Savill and Albion steamer Mamari collided with a berg at 1.30 in the morning of August 5,1927. The weather was thick when the ship, travelling at 13 knots, hit the ice head on, her bow being completely crushed in for 20 to 25 feet. Fortunately no one was hurt, but the men sleeping in the forecastle had a very narrow escape. The berg was of enormous size, and towered high above the ship’s masts and funnel <which was 112 feet high). When morning broke the Mamari steamed foils miles along an unbroken line of ice, which ranged from 350 ,to 400 feet in height, before she ran into clear water. During the day several bergs of great size were seen.

The collision occurred about 180 miles north-north-east of the Falklands. Radio messages brought the_ company’s steamer Matakana"to her assistance. Ultimately the Mamari made her way to Puerto Belgrano. on the south-east coast of the Argentine. Temporary repairs were made there, about CO tons of concrete being poured into the space behind the ship’s damaged plates. Three weeks later the Mamari. which had not made a drop of vater. resumed her passage to London, where she discharged her cargo in sound condition.

It was eastward of the Falklands early in the ’nineties of last century that the ship Wellington hit an iceberg, two men being killed in her forecastle, when her bows were stove in and the bowsprit, jibboom, and fore topmast were carried away. She managed to make Rio de Janeiro. IMMENSE ICEFIELDS An immense body of ice in the South Atlantic was reported to have been passed by 21 sailing ships during the five months from December.' 1854, to April, 1855, floating from latitude 44 degrees south, longitude 28 degrees' west, to latitude 40 degrees south, longitude 20 degrees west. It measured GO miles by 40, and its highest elevation was 350 feet. It was in the form of a hook, the longer shank of which was 60 miles and the shorter 40 miles, embaying a stretch of water 40 miles across. The first account of it was received from the auxiliary screw ship Great Britain, which in December, 1854. steamed 50 miles along the longer shank.

During the next three months it swung round 00 degrees to the left, and drifted E.N.K. about 100 miles, with its bay open to the track of outward-bound ships. One emigrant ship, the Guiding Star, was embayed and lost with all hands. The ships Cambridge and Salem were also embayed in March and April, but managed to work clear.

In 1802-93 icefields of huge extent were reported in latitude 46 degrees south extending between longitude 25 to 26 degrees west. In April the ship Cromdnle from Australia was embayed, but a shift of wind enabled her to work clear. The ship Invercargill, from New Zealand, passed 200 icebergs after rounding the Horn, while the barque Kinfauns, in May, 1892, sailed for over 400 miles through ice and counted over 100 bergs one morning. The Wasdale and the Stracathro ran into a bay in the ice 42 miles wide at the entrance and 20 miles deep, but managed to work their way out. In the following year ice was met stretching between 48 and 50 degrees south latitude and 41 to 52 degrees west longitude. In January, 1893. the Loch Torridon reported having sailed for 50 miles along the ice-field, and other ships recounted having met hundreds of bergs

in a run of 200 miles. In 1903-04, and again in 1908, sailing ships also reported vast numbers of bergs in the South Pacific and to the eastward of Cape Horn. The Carnarvon Bay, which collided with a berg in a dense fog in latitude 50 degrees south, longitude 45 degrees west, reported having passed one mass of ice 50 miles long and from 250 to 300 feet high. let must have accounted for many missinjj Cape Horn chips in those days.