Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1921-09-30
WATCH FOR |CEBERGS
IN NORTH ATLANTIC.
Patrols Find Great Floating
Palaces Wandering South
as Far as Delaware Bay.


Washington. sept. so.-Ccast guard |
cutters have been scouting the North |
Atlantic all summer so passengers |
and crcw Of ships sailing in northern |
aeas may sleep without fear that ar
iceberg win creep ur on them In the
night.
These floating white castles of the
North. with their fantastic glamour
and thrcateninS. death-dealing por-
tent sometimes wander down TO lati-
tude 81 degrees--es fsr south as such
sunny ciimcs as Lisbon in Portugal OF
the shores Of Dcinware Bay" says a
bulletin OF the National Geographic
society. from its Washington head
quarters.
'"rhc icchcrgs which arc TO h-e seen
durins 'he carly spring months in the
Atlantic are great frozen fresh water
riacicr- ends. which have broken loose
from the ice fields OF Greenland and
fioated with the current into warmer
seas. They herd quite often of the
coast OF Newfoundland. The warm
waters OF the northwestern coast Of
Europe keep them back on that side as
Ear north as - degrees. There are few
~ them also in the North Pacific. ex-
ccpt near northeastern Asia.
"Gorgeously trickcd out in white
that gloams and sparkles in the sun
light these monster palaces push out
from the great sheet OF ice that covers
Greenland. No architectural feat cf
the ancient Egytians or Of the Byzan-
tines. or ~ a Sir Christopher Wren
can csmpare with the Karnaks and
hundi,'ds 81 other temples which arv
carved IN their sides hy the agents of
erosion. No marble Possesses the rain
ho'v t!nt of their columns. and no
mnn-made edifce has 50 fairy-like
cHnrigious and bizarre a character.
The whole eamut OF blues and greens
rlays hide and seek over their sur
face. and sometimes IN summer little
cascatsS tumble over the sides 20 hide
themselves in the waves. But their
uhost-like emptiness and the ehill of
their breath make mariners shiver
with droad.
Most of the icoheres Of the North
Atlantic are pushed out from the west
coast of Greenland. between Disco
f1y and Smith Sound. or from the
east coast sound Of eS degrees latitude
some 81 thom are as much as 445 feet
above the surface OF the water. this
being about one-sixth or oae-seventh
~ their volume.
AS they sail away they necessarily
start with some of the debris which
vas originally in the bottom of the
nlacicr Much of this Immediately falls
O. the bottom Of the ocean, having
melted its way out. often they cap
size or nop on one side when the
breaking or melting shifts their cen
ters 81 gravity. The tehris. when il is
on the top. quickly plows it's way
through the iceberg. having absorbed
more of the heat Of the sun than the
sec does. When il is on the side il
soon eikkes into the OCEAN. At any rate
the debris seldom stays with the bere
far on its Journey.
Nothing seems 70 mar the purity o.
the icebcrgs' exterior. They suppor-
little life. minute worm and tn,
simple microscopic algae which give Z
r~ra color TO snow being their only m.
hahitauts.
The icef>orgs of the Antarctic re.
eions are larger than those OF the Arc
uc but not - tail perhaps. They er'
rs fion~ 81 the enormous ice shee
around the south Pole. which break of
IA table blocks and fioat away as grin
nent,nels Of the southern waters. On'
sxpiorer reports that at one time n
counted as many as sixty from th'
desk of his steamer. while more thar
that could he seen from his masthead
Like mighty derelicts, dwarfiing onl
largest bat;leships into utter insignlh
cance. their sides sometimes measur
tng from thirty 20 forty miles il
length when they first break of from
tho Ross Barrier. they float out int
sho depths, where the warmer winds
and seas eat out their very cores. un
asrmine them, make them turn turtl'
and finally break them up into smalle
heres and hard small chips calle'
GROWERS. The GROWERS are as dan
rerous as the mother iceberg"