Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1891-01-17
ICEBERG CAPERS.
THE TRICKS AND ANTICS OF
ARCTIC MONSTERS.
1t is Grand Spectacle TO See Noun.
tam of Ice Turn a Double
Somersault-"lceb
Calves"

No one who has ever seen = grand.
stately iceberg on ''its solemn southwark
march, writes Frederick Schwatka, in
the New York Herald. woui.t ever credi,
these floating islands of ice with undig-
nitied capers and erratlc movements. SO
impressive is the air Of awful Stiffness and
almost solemn solidity that surr ounds
these colossal children Of cold climates.
Still great mountain of ice will some
times vary its monotonous movements of
steady drifting by turning somersaults
| and double somersaults and whirling
| tricks until it looks like some huge hy-
perborean hippopotamus with skin OF
snowlike whiteness, wallowing around
in the waters Of the northern sea.
| have seen but one such overturnine
of these moving mountains of marble,
and surely it looked as if the "sreat
waters of the deep were breaking up
| and that the end of ali things had come
| Great green waves went laundering by
as If a hurricane might have been howl
ing for hours across the Sea that but
few moments before had been as motion
less as mill pond Flying fecks of
foam dash down from dizzy heights
above, and its slippery sides are almost
covered with cascades formed from the
waters that have been lifted up by the
rapidly overturning berg. -
The first intimation we had of the
shock from under the water against our
ships side as if a submarine blast had
been exploded, a shock very much like
that given when the great He'll Gate
mine in New York harhor was sprung,
and a moment afterward hugh rising
Of the sea near one side of the iceberg
was apparent, and through this vast lake
of uplifted waters broke through a snow
white mass of ice that had been detached
from the hugh crystal mountain far
down in the oceans depths, and that
came whirling to the surface with a
swiftness that seemed to lift it half way
out of the sea, and which kept it SPIN
ming and splashing for full FIVE minutes
afterward.
The release of this portion from its
frozen fetters far below had disturbed
the ''stable equilibrium as the learned
scientists would say-of the greater and
parent berg, and a moment afterward il
began its stupendons swaying, as if some
Earthquake were inhuencingit it from be
meath, until in one of its collosal careen-
ings it fell over and seemed to bury it.
self in mass of milk like foam, as if 8
thousand demons were drowning in th,
I lashed waters of the green sea. and tha,
sent tremendous tidal waves tearing
across the dephs that would have en-
quilted the Great Eastern had she beer
near. 1t sank for second only ant
then rapidly reappeared with a cream,
crest that in shallow sheets Of white
poured down the perpendicular side
OF the mighty glacial giant that wa
irving so hard to find Il quiet rest in hi
watery bed.
! Woe to the Ship that has ventured toC
nfar one Of these monsters Of ice Just a.
at has taken a notion to give display o
its Arctic antics, for If it he broadside I
TO the tremendous tidal wave that come
curling outward from the center Of com
motion, and has no. time to turn ''en
,, on to meet the rapid rush Of waters,
may be thrown ilpon ITS bean ends, a
. ! the sailor would SAY, or thrown over o'
side, by the steep front of the wave, the
3 accidents have been known to occur t
careless cruisers ia the iceberg region
and probably some Qi the very mvsteTlou
disappearances of polar parties would b
y solved in this Way II the riddle wer
lie really unravelled.
;, Then again If the boat has only sailin
q power she is liable 10 meet the most el
= ratio gusts Of wins, and sudden saual
l. that can upset her as suddenly as It'd
% wave. Everybody has noticed how muc
ie more powerful and erratlc are the wind
r around the base Of a yers high baildIn
d in city than elsewhere in II. And I
$ with the great iceberg. Il catches a
ID the wandering winds of the high heavel
i and directs them downward winding an
'e twisting around its base, until It is vei
" /, unsafe for sailing boat TO venture ue
!, | these eddvinr gusts. so between Il