River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1921-09-15
BERCS DRIFT FAR
Immense Masses of Ice Often
Found in Mid-0cean.
Certain Conditions Of Sky and Light
Make Them Practically Invisible
to Ships Lookouts.

| Early summer is the real season of
the iceberg in the North Atlantic. 1t is
then that these frozen masses are set
free in great abundance in the Polar
regions and are drifted into mid-ocean
by favoring winds and currents.
They have been found several hun
dred miles below the southernmost
a very serious menace to vessels which
have to cross their track. The terrible
fate of the Titanic has been that of
many another noble vessel, though hap
PLY, without proving so disastrous to
human life.
Can an iceberg become invisible I'M
der certain conditions of sky and light?
1t is claimed that it canon clear,
starry night, when the conditions make
the berg nearly the same color as the
sky.
But nighttime, under any atmOs-
pheric conditions, is usually bad time
for seeing bergs at a safe distance.
This difficulty in making them out
is one of the reasons why their height
is so often exaggerated.
/ Mist or fog, too, will magnify berg
immensely, just as fog in the Arctic
regions has been known to make a fox
/ look as big as white bear.
Does experience show that "a berg
has nine parts of its mass below water
I to only one part above? 1t does not.
\ hat no sub
merged portion is usually much broad
| er and heavier than the exposed part,
so that it is not necessary for nine
| tenths of the berg to be under water
to keep the entire mass floating up
right.
1t is In the southern hemisphere,
| chiefly, where fields of ice miles long
are found One which was reported
by large number of vessels in the
year 1854 was 60 miles long and 40
miles broad, with an average height of
300 feet. In these cases many icebergs
had come together and formed into one
soldidly frozen mass.
Bergs sometimes carry strange
| freights. One of the fiat-topped va
.riety, 100 feet high, was seen in mid
Atlantic bearing three vessels on its
icy summit. Another. near the banks
Of Newfoundland, had several Polar
bears walking about on it.
1t is sad to think of the fate Of these
ursne derelicts when their icy raft
reached warmer waters In lower lati
|
can imagine. If the berg turned over
the dislodged animals frantically swim
ming back to their uncertain and slip
perry refuge only to find, perhaps, thai
it no longer afforded any real foothold
for them.
Ships have been moored to icebergs
on occasions when they have afforded
anything but a safe berth. DR.. Kane
the American explorer, once got the
ice-anchors of his ship fixed In bere
after several hours of very hard work
when large pieces Of Ice began to fall
on the deck. There was just time tt
| cast off again before the face of the
berg fell in ruins, crashing down witt
the noise OF heavy guns fired at close
| quarters.
On the other hand. the steamer Isle
| of Null was saved by an echo from ar
iceberg one very foggy night in June
| 1914, on the banks of Newfoundland
One of the Franklin exploring ships
also, was saved from certain destruc
ton by berg drifting in between hel
and surf-beaten rocky shore.
In May, 1907, some gas-buoys broke
| adrift from the entrance of New York
harbOr and one of them attached itseli
to the end of an iceberg and by sound
| ing its horn at regular intervals
warned vessels Of the icy danger.
The birth of an iceberg has otter
been seen. But who has stood by al
the death of one?
A Fair Warning.
. A.s., 4, ~