Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1886-02-17
NO. l9.


meteorologists as the ''cold wall"
Huge masses of ice or ice-islands are
borne along on it's broad bosom, mixed
with smaller icebergs and feld-ice-
Icebergs and feld-ice are formed in
quite distinct ways. A berg, as we
have seen, has it's origin as a glacier
probably far inland and moves down
ward to the sea as component part OF
the glacier; whereas field-ice is formed
on the surface of the sea during the
polar winter. Side by side with the
Arctic current flows the warmer water
of the Gulf-stream. The direction Of
the Gulf-stream is, however, opposite
to that of the Arctic current, and it is
more remote from the American coast.
SO sudden is the change in the tenn
perature of the sea-surface when
crossed by these currents. that the tenn
perature of the water at the extreme
ends of vessel has been found to diff
fer from twenty to thirty degrees.
The influence of these two great riv-
ers in the ocean is very noticeable when
we compare the climates of two places,
| both equally distant from the equator,
but separated from each other by the
/ wide expanse of the Atlantic. The
Americans have the cold current hug
ging their coast, thus increasing the
severity of their winter; while the
warmer water of the Gulf Stream,
stretching across in northeasterly
direction from about Cape Hatteras to,
| the west coast of Ireland, tends direct
| ly or indirectly to ameliorate the rigor
of our climate In March, 1888. the
Dundee whalers reached point in lat
itude seventy-four degrees thirty min
utes north, longitude four degrees
| thirty minutes east; while at the same
time the harbors of America were i'm
penetrable by reason of ice even as low
down as Bordeaux. Icebergs have
! been observed aground on the Banks
of Newfoundland, where the deep sea-
sounding had showed that bottom had
been reached at depth of six hundred,
and fifty feet.
During the past two or three years
many large icebergs and feld-ice,
hundreds of miles in extent, have been
met with in latitude forty-two degrees
north. Many of these bergs attained
height of three hundred feet above the
level of the sea. When we remember
that but one-ninth of the volume of a
berg is exposed to view, it would ap.i
pear that the total altitude may havei
been, roughly-speaking, about twoi
thousand seven hundred feet Theyi
have been fallen in with in the North
Atlantic as early as January and as,
late as September. In March, vesselI
has been jammed so firmly in the ice ini
latitude forty-four degrees north, longi-f
tude forty-6ve degrees west, as to et-s
able her master to enjoy the luxury cfi
a walk on the ice in mid-ocean. Ice-j
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;
riefs of more interesting objects Inl
June, 1894, His Majesty's ships Dada-i
lus and Ceres passed a very high and
dangerous ice-island on which a 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-fve 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-fve 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 large berg was seen
with a 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 Eve 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 i'm
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, it's
glittering pinnacles, its fairy-ike arch
iteeture, 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 re-
spectacle distance. Owing TO the con-
slant melting of the ice, the bergs are
always changing their form: Their
center of gravity becomes displacedi
they topple over, and woe betide the
unfortunate vessel close at hand! LIE
the bergs were easily distinguishable,I
Il E.