Huntsville gazette., 1885-08-15

pear CnaC IH1 OCdl alClCuQe may uaVo
been. roughly speaking. about two
thousand seven hundred feet. They
have been fallen in with in the North
Atlantic as early as January and as
late as September In March, vessel
has been jammed so firmly in the ice in
latitude forty-four degrees north. longi-
tude forty-five degrees west, as to en-
able her master to enjoy the luxury OF
q walk on the ice in mid-Ocean. Ice
bergs have, been seen richly laden with
stones, earth, and other substances,
which they deposit gradually on the bed
of the ocean, perhaps for geologists OF
future ages to ponder over.
Occasionally, icebergs are the car
riers Of more interesting objects. In
June, 1894. His Majesty's ships Dada-
lus and Ceres passed a very high and
dangerous ice-island on which ship
was stranded. In June, 1845, in lati-
tude forty-six degrees north, longitude
forty-seven degrees west, the Perth
shire passed an ice-island thirty miles
long, and on the north end was ship
high and dry with her crew but no
assistance could be afforded them. In
April, 1851. the Renovation, in latitude
forty-five degrees fifty minutes north,
on the edge of the Grand Bank, passed
a very large berg. on which were two
three-masted ships high and dry. They
had apparently been made snug and
secure at some previous time for win
ter quarters in the Arctic regions.
These two vessels were supposed by
some to have been the Erebus and Ter
ror of Franklin's long-lost expedition,
though later tidings do not support this
supposition. In May, 1888, the City of
Lincoln passed twenty-seven large
bergs in latitude forty-five degrees
north, longitude forty-eight degrees
west, with many Polar bears on them.
The Magdalene, ten days previously,
but two degrees farther to the eastward,
had passed tremendous bergs, like
islands, with many Arctic animals on
them. In April a large berg was seen
with hut on it; and on the 28th OF
the same month the Glamorgan passed
more than one hundred bergs with
numerous bears on them. The ice
was two hundred and sixty miles in
width. Probably these animals would
exist on fish and seals. DR.. Scoresby
once counted five hundred bergs at one
time in the Polar Seas. A steamer has
passed as many as three hundred dur
ing her passage across the Atlantic.
There is scarcely anything more
grandly beautiful and majestically inn
pressive than large berg seen under
favorable conditions. It is a sight
hardly to be reproduced on the canvas
of the painter or to be portrayed in
words. Its stately domes, its
glittering pinnacles, its fairy-like arch
itecture, its peculiar sea green tint, the
miniature cascades, all conspire to hold
captive the senses with feeling of
awe. They are, however, as treacher-
Gus as beautiful, being extremely dan
gerously to approach except at a re-
spectacle distance. Owing to the con-
slant melting of the ice, the bergs are
always changing their form. Their
center of gravity becomes displaced;
they topple over, and woe betide the
unfortunate vessel close at hand! If
the bergs were easily distinguishable,
the mariner would have little to fear.
This is not the case. They are gene
rally shrouded in mist, and are met
with in latitudes where dense fog is
prevalent. The thermometer gives but
imperfect indications of the presence
of ice. With the utmost vigilance,
bergs are close to the ship before being
seen. The passenger in his warm
berth can hardly realize the intense
strain on the senses of the captain and
officers at such times.
The Meteorological Office is in
formed, by telegram from America, of
the exact position of bergs passed by
steamers on their outward passage to
New York. This information is pub
lished in the daily papers for the imme-
diate benefit of the mariner. The
Admiralty place on their charts the
limits within which ice is likely to be
met; whilst the American Government
published monthly charts in which they
embody all the reports of ice met with
up to date of going to press. 1t is a
matter of wonder and sincere thank
fulness that in this iron age, when time
is more than ever money, out of the
large number of vessels carrying pas
sengers across the tracks of these un-
welcome pests of the deep, so few
casualties occur.
This year, icebergs have been unus-
ually numerous and very far east for
the time of year. At Quebec, on the
10th of May, as many as three steam
ers were behind time, owing to the fact
that the unprecedentedly heavy ice
had blocked the entrance to
the Gulf of ST. Lawrence. Such
an occurrence has hitherto been un-
known in the annals of the port. Six
sailing-ships bound for Quebec were
totally lost, and eight steamers seri-
ously damaged, by collision with ice
bergs. The barque Maranee foundered
with all hands except the captain and
two seamen. The survivors, with few
biscuits to sustain life, were eighteen
days in an open boat, surrounded by
icebergs, and exposed to the inclemency
of an almost arctic sky. The screw
steamer Sarmatian got in the ice on the
1st of May, and remained fast till the
9th. The ice was solid as far as the
eye could see, extending completely
across the entrance of the Gulf of St.
Lawrence. The screw steamer City OF
Berlin, at thirty five minutes past three
on the 18th of June, ran stem on to an