Los Angeles herald., 1907-11-03


He has had many adventures in busy
life at sea and tells of his experiences
with icebergs, those deadly foes of the
uususpecting seaman, In the following
Interesting fashion:
Many and varied are the dangers of
the ocean to the seaman, but the danger
OF collision with an iceberg Is easily his
greatest fear. 1t Is not generally known
that but for the great surface currents
in the North Pacific and North Atlantic
this cause of trouble to the sailor could
not exist. Icebergs are formed at the
outlets of the many great glacial rivers
of gold ice formed in the interior OF
Arctic Businesses. beginning with per-
petual SHOWS, which in time are pressed
and frozen, and move onward, rev
inches a day, till at the great outlet the
glacier forms a barrier of solid ice, often
q thousand feet in sheer height from the
surface of the water, and, as in the case
of the celebrated Muir glacier two or
more miles in width. So the Titanic
forces urge the gigantic mass slowly
toward the sea and the end OF the Ice
river is forced out over the sea water,
1t loses it's support, and when the
washing of the sea has caused suf-
fcient erosion at the base of the great
frozen body a crumbling and detonating
war is heard and then final crash,
such as no object on earth can make,
aud huge section fall into the water and
the iceberg is BORN
Natures Magnificent Effort
was one of a party of ESQ excur-
sionists on the steamer Senator from
Seattle to the Muir and other glaciers
in 1902. and when we got into Glacier
bay, at the head of which this wonder
ful blanket of fee is located 1T was
beautiful day in July and all the land
iohf hU n clear
Ahead of us appeared the square end
of the great ice river some 900 to 1000
feet straight up from the water and
fully mile and half wide. The
SUMS rays were centered on the white
mass, furnishing 1t brighter than pol
ished gold, and causing sort OF blind
ness to the observer, just as glance
at the sun does. Around us the water
was smooth, and the great fringe of
enormous pine and other forest trees,
$50 plentiful there, made a fitting frame
for the beautiful picture.
We steamed in till within mile of
the huge ice wall, and the closer we got
to it the more the suns light beauti-
fed 1t.
The Ship was one of the largest in
that trade, but she was as speck of
dust to the size of the great ice barrier.
We had viewed and photographed 1t in
all possible ways and were reluctantly
heading out for Cross sound when a
deafening roar called all hands from
the tables, where dinner was being
served The roar was the usual pre-
liminary to the fall of a berg and when
the sound became prolonged as IL the
stupendous weight was gradually over
bearing the resistance of the mass, a
huge section broke off from the west
side CT the glacier with report not
unlike that of great naval gun and
toppled into the sea. For a minute 1t
rolled and lifted it's several sides in the
effort TO find its equilibrium, and the
play of sunlight on the rapidly shifting
faces of the ice was grandly beautiful.
One could picture turrets, minarets and
domes of all the shades of the rainbow,
and all enhanced in beauty by sheen
of polish that made it dazzling In
brightness.
The fairy castles of youth were there
with their huge facades of FURNISHED
gold and silver decked oriels. Great
palaces arches and cloud-capped spires
appeared and vanished as If by magic;
the crowd of passengers being held
speechless and in awe and wonder at
it ALL
The density or gravity of freshwater
ice is as to with that of sea water,
and when the huge mass had settled it.
self it's pinnacles were 200 feet in the
air, and so an iceberg was born, mayhap
to be the death warrant of some unsus-
pecting seaman.
Currents as Navigators
On the Pacific side the Japanese or
black current coming from the coast of
that country in general northeasterly
direction floods the whole coast line of
Alaska and the bergs which have their
origin in the scores of glaciers which are
to be found all over the coast north of
IS degrees latitude are imprisoned by its
ceaseless flow and collision with an ice
berg is rare incident in the Pacific
ocean, chiefly as all the paths of Pacific
commerce are south of the great Japan
ese current and 1t forms vale to ward
the ice masses off. c
on the Atlantic coast the position OF
the great ocean highway is reversed, the
current of the gulf stream being de-
hected northward and eastward, almost
In the identical passage of the great
steamships which ply between New York
and Europe.
The huge icebergs of the Atlantic being
formed in much higher latitudes are
vastly larger than those on the Pacific
and some have been seen that covered
two miles in length and of great height
The far Arctic reaches of Davis straits
and Baffin bay and the eastern coast
line of Greenland are the prolific sources
of these monsters and the free action
of the local currents brings them south
till they cross the zone of commercial
traffic and become the most beautiful
and most feared object the mariner
meets. The eastern flow of the gulf
stream forms an eddy at and around the
banks of Newfoundland and their great
theater of action is in and about that
section.
Mechanical Ice Detective
So deadly and so costly have the bergs
proven to transatlantic passenger traffic
the great corporations are always in the
market for mechanical devices to give
notice of approach to icebergs, and several
inventions are now in use, one of which,
the thermostat, is a practical success,
This is a contrivance fixed on the stem
or forward part of the ship. and also on
the forward bridge, so delicately arranged
that at a fall of 10 degrees in tempera-
ture it will ring bell. and If the fall is
not an ordinary result of an obvious cause
the officer of the watch knows berg Is
near and governs himself and the ship
accordingly.
In July, 1898. the Atlantic liner Arizona,
Capt. Hatfield, was on the westward run