New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1890-07-06

devils was chasin' en-"
DO YOU mean TO say that the force Of that
anchor broke square mile of ice ?'
"lezzur, that's it, EUR. Nc see, it were the
haction OF the hclements The eat o the sun an
the wash of the water ad melted the berg SOS it
were all ready TO break hany'ow 1t were only
necdful fer to give it sharp, quick blow. 1t
were struck hathaway"
The men were drowned You say?n
They must "a becn zur The hice fell all
over EN-. We never q shred or chip to tell
about boat or men. We see nothing but plung-
in, roarn hice, an none but the Good Man
knows why wasn't capsized, too. The hicc
rolled all around MS, EUR, an we might "a been
struck as well as not"
Skipper Toms story sounded to me as if it were
a tri1e improbable. hut it was not long before our
own eyes were afforded a practical illustration of
how small force may he sometimes required to
set very great into operation. We had cir
cumna vgated our ice island and were now steam
ing out TO the towering berg beyond Hints of it's
wondrous architecture he conveyed in Ordi-
nary terms. 1t was Of that marvellous con-
struction which enabled one 10 see different berg
from each new point of view. Here and there at
the waters edge were enormous caverns in which
the contending waves dashed each other into
foamy geyscrs that sparkled and flashed most
brilliantly in the sunlight they and fell.
What might, perhaps, he called the ccberg's roof
rose with Gothic ahruptness from line about 81
feet above the waters edge, and eliminated
in an irregular backbone of Jagged ice from
which towers, peaks, mnorets and spires
shot profusely sl,yward. On this cxpanse Of roof
long lines of brown seams in piece of mar
ble showed where that side of the berg had been
in contact with the earth, and TO make that effect
f1,a SIN linz INN ito hDll
could be distinctly seen half buried in the ice,
mute witness of those vast glacial movements
which must once have been al work upon this
island as to-day they are in Greenland 1tovas
interesting to speculate from what mountain
height that great rock had been rudely torn by
the icy arms that now held il. and how many
centuries had been occupied in its progress 10 the
sea. soon il would plunge through q thousand
fathOms Of ocean on TO the great marine plateau
of the Grand Bank. They say this bank, now the
homes of Gods and cuttletish. is gradually rising
Who knows but that. when II is the home of n
future civilization scientific person may
not light upon this very boulder and make II the
text of a profound discourse upon that forgotten
age when the now torrd zone a region OF
frozen snow. and when It's mountains were torn
into pieces and borne away in the clutch of icy
giants,
there was a vast porch lifted only a few feet
above the sea, and on the extreme end of II were
TWO monuments rather suggestive IN their APP
| pearancc of the veled heads Of nuns. One OF
these had been so washed by the waves contnu-
ally dashing over il that il now held in
place only by a thin column Of ice. The berg
was lying OFF Cape Spear Light, which is always
saluted 10y passing vessels, and while we
were examining these two peculiar pillars stand
ing as it seemed, at the very entrance TO our
| Arctic wonderland, one Of the big Altar steam
| ers passed between the berg and the lighthouse
| A little puff of smoke sprang up from "a cannon
| aft and the sound Of the discharge reached us IN
| a sonUrous BOOM AT that instant one Of the
| pillars fell with noise ten times as loud as the
| lannon's report The great cebrrg gave lurch,
| completely altering its position IN the water, ana
therefore in instant changing its appearance.
What lately It's rear elevation sunk INTO the
sea That which had been It's roof was now a
| low shelving side, and the platform or porch was
| thrown high into the air, developing new SIDE
from which the one remaining pillar projected Tor
all the world like a solitary tooth in monster
| law-bone. The conclusion of that shot had SO
Jared the berg to break of two huge PARTICLES
One was the monument or veied nun 5 head me
| other was a piece OF the porch, which, after max
| ing one TWO revolutions IN the sea, III the
effort TO secure its equilibrium, at last turned up
rounded and polished top as much IKE the old
Greek helmet of ThcmstOclcs as If made from IL as
model.
Another extraordinary result OF the bcrgs
lurcbing movement manifested itself as we turned
| and confronted its other side. This side had
J been lifted its opposite had been depressed,
| and we saw about twenty-five feet from the main
more than fifty feet above the sea. " had not
| been there before the iceberg turned
| and | called orr sklppeis attention 10 it, sup
| posing that il was another block detached a
| result of the conclusion Tom corrected This I'M
| preston. That bent the way of it, zur. It's
| part O this ere berg-hall Won body o hice
4
block were under water but ven She urched 1t
| were raised hup. They's often like that
You mean there's Submarine connection
between the big fellow and this little one ?'
Ell, zur: sub what, eur? Oh, see, eur
under water? Yezzur, that's it. ! rseter he
! gifted wid a mate which got wrecked rnnnin
sealin' on the Labrador an we're mostly edged IN
| by the hice. They was no big bergs; the like o,
that. zur, but only just a re91ar hice-ield, an
| he We're pickin' is way trough II the best .
| could He see the two bcrgs ahead Of him wild n
| clear sea betwixt 'cm an he started FER 10 go
trough. But they was really one block Gye
| scraped the hice Which no more III he done
| that zur ven one Of the bcrgs dropped hon an
t'other one lurches and ketched me maj" ahldship
| and twiIlcd i'm round and set i'm hup on IS
| beam hends hall in wink o yer hcye. zlr
% He must have been bit astonshed.
Skipper Tom chuckled hugely. f were that,
looked Bnt e got hon, znr. s slick S ven Q ius
| come from is ways. Fnr the berg soon 'u We,
| another turn an BACK q stu lH'o ln'
rudder was carried away an is masts broke hoi,
| but p fell in wild a mate an twcre hall rlgh' IN
| the bend"
This has been an exceptional year in the NUM-
Der and proportions Of the icebergs in the upper
| Atlantic. old bankers say thai not III MY
| v.ars have they seen such tremendous specimens
| nor such vast areas Of ice fields. An American
| banker" reported berg last week which he sad
was surely 900 feet high, and fully a dozen OF
| half that height have been along these coasts
| since June l. H. L. ~