The Cook County herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Minn.) 1893-1909, 1900-11-24
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"A ] 30 ! u Z I g b / ! /. B ) Err Gs
WHERE THEY RE ouND, THEIR
SIZE AND ND s = e
"a Sight Of Huge Masses OF Ice, Is an {
Interesting Feature or ocean Travel
at This Time Of the 81 ear - Frozen
Centuries Ago. Sss M &; !. \ 3s5s
y The advent Of the iceberg season of
1900 was recently marked by the sight"
ing OF a huge mass OF ice floating
southwark BY the steamship Column
bian. while off the coast Of Newfound-
land. 1&s :E s. Z. & ]:
At this time OF the year one of the
interesting features Of ocean travel is
the frequent view afforded of icebergs
crossing the lanes taken by the ocean
I liners plying between America and
Europe. &C., tga3 sEgs st ]
'.E u
The icebergsl seen in the North At
lantic ocean have a definite limit of
travel. They are formed in the arctic
regions of heavy inland glacial ice,
which, moving to the sea, is broken off
IN enormous masses by it's own weight
and the action of the water. Fl These
masses float away and are caught in
arctic currents and carried into Mel
Vile Sound. where the current de-
scribes a circle and carries them TO
the south along the coasts of Labrador
and Greenland. Such ,bergs as are not
stranded on the rocky shores drift
past Belle Isle and Newfoundland,
across the paths of the transatlantic
steamers, until they reach the higher
temperature of the Gulf Stream, in
which they gradually melt and disap-
pear Their most southerly limit is
Cape Hatteras, and their eastern, limit
passes close to the Azores. Their field
is then bounded by a. line that runs
north to Southern Greenland. with a
sweep again to the east along the
shores of Iceland. thence north into
the Arctic ocean and east to Nova
Zernbia.
It is a matter of surprise to persons
who become acquainted with icebergs
for the first time to learn that they
are frozen fresh water, and are not
salt. They are formed of fresh water,
frozen many centuries ago, during
which they have been slowly travelling
to the sea.
The danger Of navigation by icebergs
is very great, and many a good ship
lost mysteriously at sea has founder
ed from collision with one of them
drifting across it's path in the night or
in dense fog. In 1894 the steamship
Miranda, carrying a party of scientists
an iceberg in the straits of Belle Isle,
almost foundered, and was compelled
to run to st. Johns, Newfoundland for
repairs.
In crossing Davis Strait the Miranda
again encountered numberles3 icebergs
of all sizes and of the greatest variety
of fantastic shapes. Sailing toward
one Of these, a spirited discussion
arose on board as to its size, the esti7
mates made putting it all the way
from 200 to 1000 feet in height 1t
was measured by the sextant and was
found to be 800 feet high, and to cover
an area of five acres. Thus it was
three and one half times as high as
the steeple of Trinity church, in New
York, or nearly twice as high as the
Washington monument
The specific, gravity of ice is such
that the proportion of it when float
ing is one part above the water line
to eight parts below. This would make
the entire height of the iceberg meas
ured by the Miranda 1900 feet, or
more than one and a quarter miles.
The berg had an area of five acres,
which, put into square, gives quad
rangle measuring SIS feet On each
side. The number of cubic feet in the
mass may be arrived at my multiply
ing SIS feet length, by SIS feet depth,
by 1900 feet height. This results in
the enormous SUM of: 1903, 100000 Gu
bic feet. A cubic foot of ice weighs
about sixty pounds, hence this ice
berg, weighed approximately 114,577,-
100000 pounds, Or 57,2S8,60O tons.
81 The great depth to which icebergs
sink in the. sea. prevents closer ap-
@proach to shore than five to ten miles.
The temperature of northern waters
above latitude So degrees is below 4s
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