Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1896-05-13
ICEBERGS IN STEAMER LANES.
Not Since 1892 Have Ice Packs and Bergs
Been So Numerous.

Been So Numerous.
In the latter part of March the captain
of the steamship Scipio reported to the
photographic office that he had sighted
off the banks of Newfoundland an ice
berg 1900 feet long and more than 200
feet high. This was the advance guard
of great fields which have since foated
down from the North with the Arctic
current, and which are causing mighty
anxious times along the steamer lanes
Almost every incoming steamer trav-
cling the northern route reports passing
giant bergs and foes. Not since 1892
have these Arctic visitors been so numer-
Gus. On April 4 the steamship Brooklyn
ran through a field of twenty-sexen bergs
and huge area of pack ice. A few days
later the ship Jabez Howe sailed a day
and a night through thick pack ice dur
ing thick, foggy weather.
Since then reports have come in daily
of the great quantity of ice around the
banks, and during the inevitable foggy
weather in that locality cautious sea
captains have exercised every precaution
to prevent running afoul of the bergs
1t has been only during the last two
weeks that the ice fields have drifted di-
rectly into the paths OF ocean steamers
In that time captains of the Gascogne
the Ihlngvalla, the Veendam, the Cam
pania, the Augusta Victoria, the Bremen
haven, the Persia. the Normandie and
many other steamers have run through
large ice fields
On the White Star liner Britannia on
April u, thirty-two icebergs were seen
all together, off the banks. This is about
thousand miles out. The first officer
of the steamer told me that he had not
seen SO much ice in the last five years.
1t shows an unusually early breaking
up IN the extreme North" said he
These vast bergs drift slowly down on
the, Arctic current, becoming smaller,
and breaking up into smaller pieces as
| they drift south. Usually we see more
ice in May and June than during other
months. | am afraid that there will be
great increase of ice during these
| two MONTHS
The same opinion existed in the hydro
| graphic office. although the quantity
of ice is not yet nearly so great as in
May or June, 1892" said one of the Off
Gals, 1T is fully as great for the month
| of April, and we are afraid that it will
! greatly increase as the season progress
es: l suppose that protracted spell of
mild weather has affected the glaciers
| along the eastern shores of NeWfound-
land, and that they have broken off vast
! bergs which have come south with the
| current.
'The absence of pack ice and the COR
| geous green and blue colors reported Ey
the sea captains show that the Dergs
are of true glacial origin. The tenn
perature was far below the freezing
point while the Brittanic was passing
| through the bergs. The Arctic current
brings the bergs invariably to he
Banks, where they strike the warm wa
tiers Of the Gulf stream and are par
TALLY melted and turned back to the
northeast, forming sort of vast whirl,
where the bergs travel until they are
entirely disintegrated."
One of the sailors on board the Brit
fannie told me a strange story Of the
! overturning of a berg on April 81. 1T
| was just at dawn he said, land the
! berg was on our port bow. 1t was rs
big as the steamer, and stood up out of
! the water something like a horn. 1t
must have been at least ninety feet high.
While | was looking at it, it slowly
turned over. 1t did not seem TO fail
with any force, but when it struck the
water it was a sight worth seeing. 1
never saw such a commotion in the sea
! in my life before. The water flew mast
| high, in great sheets, and it was a long
time before it grew quiet again. After
| the berg turned over it looked like the
back of big whale. New york Her
| aid.