Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1891-08-27
SAILING THROUGH ICE
EXPERIENCES OF a JOURNEY ACROSS
ORTHUNeeRLAND.

How an Iron Steamboat Flows Her way
at Speed of Ten Knots an Hour
Through Miles of Thick Ice-vaIue of
Two Rig Water Tight Compartments.
Mr.. L. A. Currey mas returned from a
trip to Prince Edward island, and accord
ing to his account, such trip is one of the
most interesting and novel imaginable.
lie is full of it, and to hear him tell of the
wonderful ice cutting achievements of the
government steamer Stanley would almost
induce one to start OF at once to enioy a
trip across Northumberland strait. I'VE
were about three days going across from
Pictou TO Georgetown" said Mr. Currey.
land we had a splendid opportunity of see
ing how communication Is kept up in win
ter between Prince &c ward island and the
mainland, as required under the terms of
confederation.
Until about three years ago, as Won
know, communication with the island in
winter was kept up by he steamer Northern
Light. She was built of greenheart. and
was very strong, but as she could only RIM
through loose, broken ice and pick her way
among the drifting field ice in the strait
she was unable TO approach either shore
nearer than the edge of the board ice or
the solid ice along the coasts would Der
mt. ms board ice is generally about
the thickness of the ce in the river St
John-probably from Il foot to three feet
and during the winter months it extends
out about four miles from the Pictou
shore and eight or tell miles from the
shore of the island
When the Northern Light was run
ming she had TO be met at the edge of the
ice on either side of the strait bv teams
which transferred the passengers, mails
ana freight to the shore, and an old res
ldent OF Plctou, who had great faith in the
achievements OF science and the progress of
the Nineteenth century, was laughed at
when he prophesied that within a few
years steamer would De built that could
make the complete passage from shore to
shore. The idea seemed well nigh impossi-
BILE, but the old mans prophetic dream has
been realized much sooner than even he
could have believed possible, and the same
captain which ran the greenheart North
ern Light from ice to ice now runs the
steel Stanley from shore to shore
GREAT SPEED NECESSARY.
The Stanley was built especially for
TINS service by the Dominion government.
She Is necessarily very strongly constructed
She has sharp bow, and is wedge shaped
on the bottom. When YOU see her living at
the wharf, surrounded 10y solid ice, which,
as SAID, extends for several miles from
the shores, you would think that there was
no chance for her to move. But she is fit
TED with triple expansion engines of great
power, and when these begin to whirl the
heavy screw propeller the ice has TO give
way before her
In little while she gets up quite speed,
and, cutting, crashing and cropchinc
through the solid ice, turning burrows
sometimes up and ometimes down. the
steamer proceeds on her voyage. very
quickly working her way out to the clear
water or to the part of the strait where the
heavy field ice drifts down from the Gulf
of st. Lawrence. 1t is here that she ex.
perlences the most difficulty, or it may be
sald the only difficulty IL making her regu-
lar trips, for while she cuts through the
solid board ice steadily at the rate of al
most ten knots an hour, her progress is
often greatly impeded by the heavy drift
ice, which is often fifteen to twenty feet
deep in the water, and which therefore in
terferes with the working of the propeller.
The Stanley sometimes gets wedged
into field of this heavy drift ice and has
TO drift along with it for some time before
she can force her way out, and it was on
account of trouble of this kind that we had
TO spend three days going across. We got
over one Wednesday, and the steamer
made up one of the lost runs by making a
round trip over and back next day.
BREAKING MILES OF ICE
The distance Is about forty miles from
Pictou to Georgetown, and the trip is a
most Interesting one under any circum-
stances, for the steamer has splendid pas
senger accommodation, and the way she
cuts her way through the ice is the most
wonderful thing you ever saw 1t makes
quite roaring sound aud some little vi
bration, but not enough TO make one feel
uncomfortable.
You can form the best idea of what she
is capable of doing in the way Of running
through ice when | tell you that the Stan
ley's captain asserted confidently that he
could run his steamer up he st. John river
IN MID winter at the rate Of about ten knots
an hour. a winter steamer service between
st. John and Fredericton would be a nov
city, wouldn't it? But there is no necessity
for 1t as there is in the service supplied by
the Stanley.
Another interesting feature about this
wonderful steamer is the way in which she
is arranged for breaking her way out of
the heavy field of ice. AT the stern of the
steamer Is large water tight comparr-
ment. When she gets stuck in ice that is
so thick and strong that she can't cut her
way through it, the water is let into this
compartment, so that the stern of the
steamer sinks enough to raise her bow ont
of water.
Then steam is put on, and she runs her
bow right out upon the ice and crushes it
under her. Where the pressure is not suf-
ficient in this way the powerful pumps are
set at work, and in a few hours tons upon
tons of water from the stern compart-
ment are transferred to a like compart-
ment in the bow, and this pumping kept
up till with the combined weight of the
steamer and the water in the bow COM
partment the ice is forced to give way, and