Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1916-03-12
ICE VIGIL kept UP
American Vessels Patrol Dancer
! Zone in Atlantic.
Lesson OF the Titanic Is Not Forgot
ton Despite Submarine Disasters
Scout Ships Send Wireless
Warnings Daily.

WdEQlu8LOu. "IlOTIOES nave Mul'
tiplied since the Titanic, plying west.
ward on her maiden voyage, struck
pan ice' of the Grand Banks of New
Foundland and sank in four hours.
The Lusitania, the Arabic, the Ancona,
and other ships by the score have
paid the toll of accident and war,
until, now, there are added to the
lives lost upon the Titanic thousands
more, including hundreds of Ameri.
cans, who have persisted recently in
the North Atlantic.
The Titanic carried down 1900
souls, the Lusitania LOO. In death.
cost ice holds the record over war,
over fire, over collision, and over hur'
ricane. Just as the war in measure
forced development of methods OF pro.
tecting the commercial shipping Of the
Atlantic from submarines, the Titanic
disaster forced the development OF
methods of protecting these main ar.
teries Of world.trade and travel from
ice.
Ice patrol in the North Atlantic is
one of the principal duties of the
United States coast guard as reorgan'
tied, expanded, and transformed into
a military service under the present
administration. It is task which
was formally assigned to the United
States by the International Maritime
Conference at London soon after the
Titanic disaster. This conference con
sisted of delegations representing ev'
cry maritime nation of the world.
The duty O. providing the patrol
devolves solely upon the United
States, though the expense is pro-
rated among the nations using the
North Atlantic in the proportion OF
passenger travel by nationalities. The
cost for the fiscal year 1914 amounted
to $50, 1893, Of which France, Gorman|,
and the United States are obligated to
pay Is per cent, or $12,S69.SS each;
Great Britain, 80 per cent, or 49,
1876, and Austria-Hungary, Belgium,
Canada. Denmark, Italy, the Neither
lands, Norway Russia, and Sweden,
from 2 to 4 per cent each. This years
annual report of the coast guard shows
that little Belgium, though almost an
initiated as q nation, has paid her 4
per cent toll of S3,431.97 for 1914;
Germany has not yet paid the Is per
cent due from her for 1914.
Icebergs which menace shipping
break or "calve" off the mother glacier
chiefly in the summer preceding their
appearance in the northern lane of
transatlantic steamships. In the fall,
when he northwest gales begin to
blow, the Labrador and East Green.
land currents, which flow south from
the eist and west coasts of Green
land, become strong. At St. Johns,
N. F, in November the inhabitants
Judge the weather and predict the
amount of ice to be expected the fol-
lowing season. II it is bitter fall
and winter, with numerous and heavy
blows from the north and northwest,
the wind will add strength and speed
to tie flow Of the Labrador and East
Greenland currents, and carry ice
south in great bulk and volume.
Tie first, or "slob." ice usually ap-
peas off St. Johns in January. This
con,ists of loose, broken ice, and is
not dangerous. Heavy sheets of field
ice .each the vicinity of St. Johns In
early March, and the Grand Banks
abo,t March Is. This includes, as a
rule. pan ice, or low lying, heavy, thick
she,ts, and the first Of the large ice
ber,s. From March Is until June ID
the bergs, the pan ice, and GROWERS"
(snall bergs.) threaten the transatlan'
tic steamship lines.
Two stanch cutters are assigned by
thecoast guard to ice patrol duty from
February to July. Each cutter patrols
theice regions for a continuous period
of fifteen days. The cutters make
thar base at Halifax, N. S., and it is
q tree.day run from Halifax to the
tai of the Grand Banks, or the south
eastern fringe of the huge shoal in
the ocean which lies off Cape Race,
whre their work begins. Each patrol
boa, therefore, spends twenty-one
days at sea during the patrol period,
thr,e days going out, three days re-
turing, and fifteen days in the ice zone.
Tie ship lanes from Boston and
New York to all European ports pass
lust below the tail of the Grand Banks
and upon the eastward voyage, turn
ABRUPTLY to the northeast just little
southeast of the tail of the Grand
BANS. It is for distance of ap'
hundred miles on either
side of the point of this turn that the
chic danger lies.
Arrived in the danger zone, the pa
troll ,oat searches for the large bergs,
and GROWERS, finds their po'
sitio, and rate Of drift, and notifies
Iii spproaching steamships Of these
facts in detail. At six o'clock every
evening the ocean, so to speak, is
hushd for the United States ice warn
lngs; that is, the use of the air for
wireless is reserved by common con.
rent the ice scouts for half an hour.
Messages are dispatched to all vessels
plyin; these seas giving the exact 10.
cato, of the southernmost ice and Of
over, dangerous berg, pan, or grow.
|er sghted.