New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1907-05-08
HUNDREDS IN Peril
ON ocean STEAMERS
THREE BIG LINERS BELIEVED
IMPRISONED IN ICE IN CA
BOT STRAIT.
DRIFT FOR DAYS AT
MERCY OF VAST FLOES
Glacial Field Fifty Miles Wide Hold
Allan Line Craft Relpless-Heavy
Damage to Commerce Sealing
Fleet Is Delayed.

Halifax, N. S., May 6.-Three large
transatlantic liners are believed to be
imprisoned in the vast ice fields that
completely block Cabos strait between
Newfoundland and Cape Breton, and
other lines in the Montreal and St.
Lawrence service have been sorced
to land passengers and freight in this
port after an Intellectual attempt to
pierce the impenetrable barrier
The Allan line steamer Sandman,
Capt. Near, from London and HaVre
for Montreal, which was forced into
this port Friday to land her 500 pas
sengers, reports that imbedded in the
ice fields he could see two large steam
ers. One was the Allan liner Ontario,
from London for Montreal, and four
nlasted Dominion liner which Capt.
Near thought was the Vancouver,
pool on April 20, the same day on
which the Ontario left London.
Big Ships Are Helpless.
Both of these powerful ships, Capt.
Near reported, were helpless and NOV
ing only with the uncertain psotion
Of the ice fields. He was unable to
see the Allan line steamer Ionian,
which also is believed to be fast in
the ice. The Ionian arrived here
April 81 from Liverpool, which port
she left April Is, and sailed from
here on the 2Sth for Quebec with a
thousand passengers on board. She
since has not been reported and it is
thought that she, too, must be at the
mercy of the ice fields somewhere in
the Gulf of St. Lawrence
The fields stretch across Cabot strait
for a distance of little over so
miles, and to add to the dangers of
navigation thick fog hangs over the
coast Not for years has the opening
of summer service to Montreal been
so delayed as this year, and as re-
suit immense quantities of freight des-
ignated for that port, which in the
summer is one of the greatest ship
ping terminals on the continent, have
been delayed During the winter the
transatlantic business of Montreal is
suspended on account Of the ice in the
ST. Lawrence river and gulf, and Hall
fax, st. John, Portland and Boston
are made the terminal points for the
liners
These steamers were withdrawn
from the winter routes in April, and
many of them have sailed from across
the water with unusually heavy car
goes billed for Montreal, as the sea-
son usually opens under ordinary con-
ditions by April Is. The first of the
steamers found the ice fields i'm
passable and many Of them were
forced to put into this port, while
others have been picked up by wire
less and ordered to come here instead
of trying to make the strait.
Sealing Fleet Tied Up.
Ice conditions this winter up and
down the coast Of the maritime prov
inces has been worse than for many
seasons and has caused great damage
to shipping and marine interests. The
government ice-breaking steamers
have been helpless for weeks at a
time, having been caught in their eff
forts to relieve other vessels. The
sealing fleet has been one of the
heaviest losers. Its catch has run
thousands behind that of last year.
owing to the sealing grounds being
walled in by vast ice fields. Several
of the steamers were badly damaged
in the ice, and three are still imprison-
ed somewhere along the coast.
The fishing industry, upon which
the French island of Miquelon de-
ponds for it's existence has been hit
hard. For several weeks the winds
have held to the northeast, thus pack
ing the ice in the harbor, and no relief
is expected until the breeze gets into
the southwest. 1t will take a brisk
southwest wind and several days to
break up the ice sufficiently for even
the most powerful liners to get
through, it is believed.