The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1880-02-19
THE HABITS OF lCEBDRGS.
What an Old Ocean Captain Has to
Say about These Mysterious Sea
Monsters. 4lgt1 ii.fr

IN + HA AHATS OF lCEBDAGS.
What an Old Ocean Captain Has to
Say about These Mysterious Sea
Monsters. lt1l' ic2
Capt. j. w. Jennings, of the White
Star steamship Adriatlc, when asked
whether it was common thing to en-.
counter icebergs in the vicinity of the
Banks of Newfoundland at this sea-
son of the year, replied that, on the
contrary, it was very uncommon. He
said that he saw an iceberg in latitude
4S deg, longitude 4S deg, on June II.
These huge masses of ice, he said,
are formed away up in the Arctic re-
gion, 1000 to 1,5OO miles away, during
the winter. The following summer
they become detached from the
mother pack, and come floating south
ward with the Arctic current. which
flows at the rate of about one-half to
three quarters of mile an hour. It
takes them all winter to reach the
Banks, where they arrive about the
first of March, and from that time
until the first OF July they are fire.
quently encountered. They some-
times strike shallow water, and are
knocked about along the edge of the
Banks until they pass by and proceed
on their journey south. They continue
onward until they meet the Gulf
Stream, which will take them down to
latitude AZ degrees and longitude As
deg, to so deg, where the warmer tenn
perature of the water rots them, and
they break to pieces, melt away and
disappear. Sometimes they are kept
playing about for several days be-
tween the Arctic Current and the
Gulf Stream.
Producing chart, and pointing out
the routes taken by the different lines
of steamers, Captain Jennings said !:
Il have been studying the reports of
the recent collision of the Arizona
with an iceberg, near st. John, and if
the locality of the accident is proper
ly given, instead of running into an
iceberg the vessel would have run
ashone. The locality of the collision
is given as in AZ deg. north latitude
and So deg. west longitude; SO deg.
west longitude would have put the
vessel clear on shore. That, of course,
may have been an error on the part
of the person furnishing the report.
In my opinion, Capt. Jones, Of the
Arizona, was perfectly justified in
going that route, because he had no
reason to anticipate such catastrophe
from such source
When asked how it was possible for
q steamer to come in collision with a
sailing vessel or an iceberg on a clear
night and in still water, provided
proper care was taken in stationing
the necessary lookout, Capt. Jennings
said: Indeed, it is not strange, by
any means, that q collision of the kind
you mention should occur, even under
all the circumstances referred to. The
SOAuAIAOh Va thO otAAOsRAOA0 . w POI
sons on board ship may be such as
to make distances seem very deceptive
and hard to estimate. A vessel OF
other object may look to be q long
distance away, when in reality it is
very near ..tt
In conclusion Capt. Jennings said
that as near as he could understand
the Arizona encountered the iceberg
somewhere near st. John. The Eng
lish Navy, he said, had hundreds of
men in their employ, known as prac-
tice men, who burned annually tons of
powder firing into sand-banks. 1t
would be an excellent idea, he thoug! t
if the Government would employ
these practice men in the work of fir
ing into these icebergs and breaking
them to pieces whenever they appear
in the neighborhood of the Banks, as
that would cause them to melt quicker
and disappear sooner. He also thought
IL vonld ha n UOOd plan to anchor a