The Norfolk weekly news-journal., 1909-08-27
RECORD ICEBERG. YEAR.
Nothing Like It Up North For
Over Forty Years.
PERIL IN FLOATING lSLETS

0U NeWTounulanu Iosst ana on the
Grand Banks Foes and Berss Are
Proving a Menace to Shippins-Fish-
ing Fleets Business Sadly Ham
pered.
The present year continues to main
tain its unenviable notoriety for the
seriousness of the iceberg peril. In
the first week of August icebergs
were as numerous about the New
foundland coast as they have ever
been in midwinter and more numer-
Gus than at the same time In any year
of the past quarter century. The
whole of Newfoundland's eastern sea
board and the Grand banks also are
thickly strewn with these floating
islets that spell destruction for every
vessel that hits them. Daily the steam
ships plying In these waters report
sighting scores, If not hundreds. Of
bergs. and one passenger ship from
New York to st. Johns, N. f., counted
over thousand during twenty four
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 few days. On July % the
steam freighter Bergulus entered st.
Johns with her bow battered in by
contact with berg In dense fog off
Cape Race. She was so seriously In
jured that deck load of machinery
had to be jettisoned and 100 tons of
coal thrown overheard, but even with
this relief she barely succeeded In
making port Three days later the
Black Diamond liner BOnavista, With
seventy passengers aboard, made port,
also with her bow stove in. At the
impact her passengers stampedcd to
the deck and rushed for the boats, and
only the most strenuous eXertions on
the part of the officers averted trag
edy. 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 way to
Montreal with 300 passengers. She
was badly battered forward, and the
British warship Brilliant stood by her
| until she effected repairs to enable her
| to reach her destination.
Several other steamships more or
less crippled from contact with ice
had to make the same port recently,
and there are few missing and over
| due vessels.
Fishing Fleets Hampered.
Navigation along the Canadian route
| has been seriously hampered by the
presence Of the bergs and foes In
been closed till an unusually late Pc
| Rod, and the Labrador waters have
been rendered very dangerous. The
fishing feet from Newfoundland. num-
bering 1.5OO vessels and employing
some $4,000 persons, had been unable
| to operate there up to a recent date,
and 1t looks as If the catch Of cod on
the coast for this summer would be
seriously curtailed, owing to the long
continuance of the ice pack. Even on
the section Of the Newfoundland sea-
board from st. Johns to Cape Race
bergs are so abundant now that fish
ing operations are practically suspend
| ed, as men have to take their nets out
Of the water to prevent them from be-
ing destroyed.
AS the Labrador fishery represents
one-third Of the annual catch of cod by
the people of Newfoundland, 1t can
easily be seen how serious a situation
this iceberg incubus represents, and as
the season is short at best the situation
Is causing much concern.
On the Grand banks, too the trawl-
ers are hampered by the presence of
bergs, and all the big liners 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.
Cause o. Many Marine Tragedies.
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 present con
dition, and in that year much less In
convenience was felt, as business in
terests did not demand such regular
communication as at present. In the
spring Of 1890 foes and bergs were nu
merous in the north Atlantic, and Q
number of marine tragedies resulted
which are attributed to this cause.
Four stout steamers. with an aggre
gate list of nearly 300, one or two
having some passengers aboard, van
ished, and 1t has always been believed
that Ice was the cause of their disap
pearance. In the spring Of $780, again
ten freight steamships. with $50 souls
vanished in the same way. All hat
left American ports at dates which
would bring them together on thu
Grand banks, and the theory Away
has been that they were caught fl
the foes there and, hurricane spring
ing up, were pounded to pieces. In tn,
| present year, however. the foes hav,
been even worse than on these occa
sions, and the harbor Of st. John
has been icebound and sealed VI
. against all arriving and departing yes
) sells even more securely than If sur
, rounded by blockading fleet.
Monster Masses Of Ice.
The worst feature Of this icebert
situation is that all the bergs ant
L 1rIf int Il,