Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1909-08-18
NOTHING LIKE 1T UP NORTH HAS
OCCURRED FOR OVER
FORTY YEARS.
FLoEs AND BERGs PROVE A
MENACE TO PRESENT
SHIPPING.
St. Johns, N. F., August 14.-The

it's unenviable notoriety for the Sc
rionsness of the iceberg peril. In
this. the first week OF August, Ice
bergs are as numerous about the
Newfoundland coast as they nave
ever been in mid-winter, and more
numerous than at the same time IN
anv year of the past quarter-cen-
tlry. The whole of Newfoundland's
eastern seaboard. and the grand
banks also, are thickly strewn with
these floating islets, that spell de-
struction for every vessel that hits
them. Daily the steamships plying
in these waters report sighting
scores, if not hundreds Of bergs, and
one passenger ship from New York
to this port counted over a thou
sand during twentyfour hours.
What they mean to ships at this
season is shown by the fact of three
steamers having been crippled by
them in the past ten days. On July
% the steam freighter Begulus en-
tered this port with her bow bat
tered in by contact with berg in
dense fog off Cape Race. She was
so seriously injured that adeckload
of machinery had to be jettisoned,
and 100 tons of coal thrown over
board; but, even with this relief
she barely succeeded in making port.
Three days later the Black Diamond
liner BOnavista, also with her bow
stove in. At the impact her passen'
gers stampeded to the deck and
rushed for the boats, and only the
most strenuous exertions on the part
of the officers averted a tragedy. At
the same time, the Canadian Pacific
Line steamship Montrose was lying
off Cape Race for four days, re-
pairing damages caused by running
into another berg while on her We.
to Montreal with 300 passengers
She was badly battered forward, and
the British warship Brilliant stood
by her unsil she erected repairs to
enable her to reach her destination
Several other steamships more or
less crippled from contact with Zee
had to make the same port recently ),
and there are few missing and
overdue vessels
Navigation along the Canadian
roue has been seriously hampereu
by the presence of the bergs and
foes in these ATTITUDES. Belle Isle
Strait has been closed till an unusu-
ally late period, and the Labrador
waters have been rendered very dan
foundland numbering 1900 vessels
and employing some 25,OUo persons.
has been unable to operate there,
so far, and it looks for this summer
would be seriously cur,ailed, oW
10 the long continuance of the ice
pack. Even on the section of the
Newfoundland seaboard from ST
Johns to Cape Race, bergs are so
abundant now that fishing operations
are practically suspended, as men
have to take their nets out of the
water to prevent them from being
destroyed.
As the Labrador fishery repre-
sents one-third of the annual catch
of cod by the people of Newfound-
land, it can easily be seen how Sc
rious a situation this iceberg incu-
bus represents and as the season is
short at best, the situation is caus-
ing much concern.
On the Grand Banks, too. the
trawlers are hampered by the pres
ence of bergs; and all the big lin
ers are obliged to slow down in
passing. The story of icebergs in
the north Atlantic shows nothing to
resemble The conditions that prevail
at present.
No one can explain why these ice
conditions exist in certain years and
not in others. Not since 1863 has
there been any approach to the pres
ent condition, and in that year much
less Inconvenience was felt as bust
ness interests did not demand such
regular communication as at present
IN the spring of 1890 foes and bergs
were numerous in the north attain.
~ etAAO iuulUCl vi IudI ll6 iTd2S-
dies resulted which are attributed to
this cause. Four stout steamers,
With an aggregate list of nearly 500,
one or two having some passengers
atoard, vanished. and it has always
been believed that ice was The cause
OF their disappearance In the spring
OF 1899, again ten freight steam
ships, with $50 souls. vanished in
the same way. All had left Ameri-
can ports at dates which would
orlng them together on the Grand
banks, and the theory always has
been that they were caught in
noes 'here, and, a hurricane sn-ir~-
.As up We're pounded to pieces. In
ne present year, howeve-. the foes