The Cook County herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Minn.) 1893-1909, 1900-11-24
!. "a A ]. B|: 4 J I / g E B. Err Gs,
NHERETHEY Ar EFoUND, THEIR
4 SIZE AND SHARE. I.
"a Sight or Huge Masses 81 Ice Is an
In MT ' ting Feature Of Ocean Travel
ut This 3 Time Of the rear - Fr .,., en-
Centuries Ago. # g \ s=s g d

Interesting Featur OF ocean av "
{ Mt This Time Of the year - Frozen .,e,
Centuries Ago Ill ~ 4 III s.a4
me advent Of the. iceberg season Of
lsoo was r; 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. f s;es1, 4 E= ISL !. ~ G ri, %lt .
d 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
liners plying between America and
Europe. s'S>55 v,12 It'd. Z, 49,
The icebergst seen in the, North At
lantic ocean have 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 its own weight
and the action of the water 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 thefcoasts 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 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
Zembia.
1t is matter of surprise 20 persons
who become acquainted with ice5ergs
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
to Greenland, came into collision with
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
~3one Of these, a spirited discussion
arose on board as to it's size. the esti'
mates made putting it all the way
from 200 to 1000 feet in height II
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 sucl
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 1920 feet, O,
more than one and a quarter miles
The berg had an area of five acres
which, put into square, gives a quad
rangle measuring SIS feet on eacl
side. The number Of cubic feet in thu
mass may be arrived at my multiply
ing SIS feet length, by SIS feet depth
by 1900 feet height This results il
the enormous sum of 1,909, 620, 900 Gu
bic feet. A cubic foot of ice weigh!
about sixty pounds, hence this ice
4 berg, weighed approximately 114,577,
100000 pounds, or 57,2S8,600 tons.
The great depth to which iceberg:
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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