The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1876-02-02
MISCELLANY.
THE rsnnox OF THE arctic sEAs


WHERE THE ICEBERG Is BORN AND GRABBED.
Amid all the perils which environ the path
of the hardy navigator within the Arctic zone,
none SO forcibly arrest the attention and cx-
cite the imagination as those resulting from
the titanic action Of the ice. Especially is the
mind appalled, by those floating mountains Of
glittering adamant which are driven hither
and thither by the freezing blast, or borne a.
long by the subtle power of some mysterious
deep sea current and which. from their awful
capacity Tor destruction, may be justly called
the Terror of the Arctic Seas.
Stupendous beyond all power of words
adequately to describe, these inanimate masses
float majesticaily upon the bosom of the
waters, moving irresistibly to their own de-
struction, and with sphinx-like calm over
whelming every smaller object in their course.
Their multitudc, as well as their magnitude
is appalling. In the year 1924, Captain Parry
counted from the deck Of his ship no fewer
than one hundred and three of these immense
masses, and tho vessel ran SO much danger
from their proximity, that it was necessary to
lead the ships through the maze by means Of
the boats. During the Grinnel expedition in
search Of Sir John Franklin, in the year 1850,
DIR. Kane counted in one morning two hun
drcd ana ten iccbergs, forming beaded line
across the ocean. The hight of one of these
he computed at 1875 feet; the length Of
another he estimated at 1850 feet, with q
height Of 140 feet, and calculated weight of
sixty-ons million tons.
Later on, in the same voyage, he counted
SO bergs in group; and shifting his post Of
observation to higher ground, be raised the
total to $50, most of which were above the
standard height of $50 feet, some exceeded 300,
and few were less than 100.
There was none of these, he remarks,
smaller than the Capitol at Washington one
of them, indeed, being of bulk sufficient to fill
the Capitol square. Another, huge amor
phour mass, particularly took his attention |;
black, gnarled, waterworn, and serrated with
chasms, its summit, he tells us, was a rolling
country, stained with rocks, over which a Pc
destrian might walk for mile in straight
line.
But even DR.. Kane's marvellous accretions
are dwarfed by accounts of floating islands
ten miles in circumference and one hundred
feet in he, hit. Nor do these figures, vast as
they are, give the entire bulk of the drifting
mass The dimensions of that part of the
berg which lies below the surface of the water
must necessarily be of far greater magnitude
than those which meet the eye above the
waves for, we are told. every cubic foot over
the sea line requires at least eight cubic feet
beneath to keep it in equilibrium SO that it
is not uncommon for bergs to be stranded in
/ 1900 feet of water.
Arctic travellers dilate upon the awesome
feelings with which they have watched one Of
these masses, in perfect calm impelled by
some deep sea current unfelt at the surface
slowly, almost imperceptibly, yet with horri-
BILE irresistibility, plow it's way through an
opposing ice foe. Enormous blocks, tons in
weight, are forced up in front and deposited
on each side of the floating mountain, which
glides majestically onward undeterred by the
cyclopean barrier opposed to its progress.
Shapes the most fantastic and wild are
assumed by these bergs, as they are shaken
and injured in the collision with other masses
huge as themselves, or are acted upon by the
more insidious, but not less powerful, effects
of sun and wave. Now a marvellous city
floats solemnly upon the waters a city, from
its lowest foundation to the highest pinnacle
of its battlements, serenely, purely white.
Not scintilla Of light escapes from its unre-
f1ecting surface but it moves forward as II
cut from block of the fairest alabaster ST.
lent and irresistible as fate. Now it II an
enormous glacier Of dull green ice, raised in
frowning ridges, and furrowed with chasms,
whence issue foaming cascades and springs Of
gilt ering water.
Sometimes it is an immence arcade of
fiozen, halls, with gigantic pillars Of polished