The Hartford republican. (Hartford, Ky.) 18??-1926, 1917-02-16
SOME FACTS ABOUT ICEBERGS
Wrong Impressions of Floating Noun
tains of Ice Corrected.

There are few matters about which
such widespread ignorance prevails
as about the ice masses with which
the North Atlantic, in the region OF
the Grand Banks, is bestrewn every
spring and summer. The general
impression is that this ice Is formed
along the coast Of Newfoundland and
Labrador and is released every
spring, but, in truth, the origin of
the icebcrgs are huge masses OF sia-
ciers formed in the vast Arctic con-
tinent of Greenland.
The glaciers slowly, but irresisti-
bly,, press seward through Green
land valleys into the ocean. where.
when the weight of the outer portion,
once 1t is unsupported by the land.
becomes too grea. 1t breaks of from
the parent mass. q process called
"calving." The calving portions be-
comes an iceberg, and sometimes
these are OF enormous size-many
miles in extent. indeed, and often so
vast that they ground on the shoals
in the region. until. By the play of the
winds. the seas, the currents and
; the sun. they become topheavy and
tumble over again to break apart in
to smaller fragments, which are fer
ried southwark on the bosom Of the
polar current and which ultimately
reach the avenues OF travel. These
foes can only make their escape
from the Arctic waters during the
brief summer months.
1t takes these ice masses six or
eight months to voyage over the p
900 miles separating Melville Bay,
in West Greenland. from the Grand
Banks, and the larger bergs. which
often ground along Labrador, are
even longer on the way.
These foes, and the bergs, which
are often among them. but which are
increased later in the season by a
vastly larger number of bergs that
sail along in solitary grandeur after
having had their progress retarded
by grounding on shoals or points
of land, force themselves over the
Grand Banks and become the very
worst of menace to ocean shipping.
II would be possible to Occupy the
whole of the space devoted to this
article in merely summarizing the
cases of ocean steamers which, dur
ing the past so years, have met dis
aster through collision with icebergs
in the waters OF Newfoundland. All
other records in this regard, how
ever, were completely Overshadowed
by the appalling disaster TO the III
taniC. This mighty master crea-
tion, the greatest the world has ever
seen, was eliminated in the brief
space of a few hours, through tho
mistaken idea of some Of those in
authority on board that she was so
strongly built that she could defy
all agencies of nature and race with
impunity through ice-laden seas.
AS the summer advances and the
sun becomes moro powerful the bergs
melt into smaller fragments or up
set break into pieces on the shoal
ground of the Grand Banks, being
then swept into the gulf stream.
whre hey lie in the way of the steam
ers plying east and west, and cause
the shipping casualties so frequent
during those months. Still nigh
tier bergs, however, ground along
the coast OF Newfoundland in the
spring and summer and move south
ward in the fall.
! Admittedly the worst danger men
acing transatlantic travellers in mod
ern days, with steamers of such speed
as are plying on the Atlantic, is that
of collision with an iceberg in a dense
| OG.---Review of Reviews.
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