The Bingham County news. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1918-1930, 1923-06-08
ICEBERG PERIL
IS NOW ACUTE
Plan to Warn All Vessels by
Radio of Route, Size and
Speed of Wandering Ice.

Washington.-More dangerous ice
bergs are expected to make their ap
pearance in the steamship lanes of thu
North Atlantic this spring than fl
many years. This knowledge, of grea
value to mariners and marine insur
ance companies, has been obtained a.
a result Of the new method Of iceberg
forecasting, In process of being per
fected by the International Ice Patro
and the United States Weather Blu
reau.
Eleven years ago, on April IA, 1912
the Titanic collided with an iceberg In
the North Atlantic on her maiden
voyage and went to the bottom with
some 1900 persons There had beer
from icebergs before that. Tramp
steamers and sailing craft had many
narrow escapes and some were lost
Many Of the ships indefinitely posted
a. missing on the boards of the
worlds shipping Offices also are be-
usved to have been sunk in this way.
The appalling loss of the Titanic re-
suited In an international conference
On the safety Of life at sea- This con-
ference, to which the United States
sent Captain Ellworth P. Bertholf,
head of the coast guard, agreed upon
the establishment of the International
Ice Patrol. For ten years this patrol
has been maintained, Its cost allocated
among the maritime nations IN proper
lion to their tonnage.
From autumn until spring two Amer
lean coast guard cutters, stanch
ships, designed to ride out any storm,
patrol the tempestuous seas Of the
North Atlantic. Each cutter has two
weeks tour of duty, at the end Of
which 1t Is relieved by the other If
either, or both, becomes disabled, other
cutters are dispatched to the patrol.
Notify Ships by Radio.
The cutters seek out any ice which
lies below the forty-third parallel Of
latitude-about on line with Boston.
Then they cruise northward. 1t Is the
duty Of these ice scouts constantly to
maintain contact with the southern,
the eastern and the western limits Of
the Ice. BY means of radio they notify
all ships within their long range of the
position Of bergs.
Lieutenant Edward II. Smith of the
United States coast guard has just
submitted a special report on meteoro-
logical aspects Of the International
Ice Patrol which is regarded as Of
special Importance. He has recon-
mended that the United States estab-
lish outposts In the Far North to give
earlier intelligence Of the presence and
progress Of these bergs than can be
obtained by the patrol
His report of observations is being
studied by the United States weather
bureau, in connection with the studies
of long-dlstance forecasting Of various
kinds which 1t Is making, and there Is
a fair promise that the government |
will take the lead in perfecting this
new science Of Iceberg forecasting, as
1t is called.
An iceberg Is the huge tip of a
glacier A glacier creeps at little |
more than geologic speed down the
gorges Of the Arctic mountains, being, |
In fact, river of ice. This river flows
into the sea. The contact with the |
warmer water usually is not sufficient |
to detach the end of the glacier. The |
Ice Is Of tremendous weight, and as |
1t flows out into the sea 1t takes the |
form of q vast beam of solid ice, pro-
i,,ta ha Having
no resting place on the earth, the
weight produces a greater and greater
downward pull on the end of the
glacier. When this weight becomes too
the protrudng end breaks
off.
Bergs Peril in Spring.
The first discovery in connection
with iceberg forecasting was that the
Weather conditions of the winter and
especially the spring have much to do
With the breaking off of the glacier
'nds.
The west coast of Greenland is the
birthplace of the Atlantic icebergs.
Observations by Lieutenant Smith
how that a season of stormy weather
will result in the breaking off Of more
ergs than a relatively calm season.
he vast forces of mountainous waves
aised by severe storms, pound so IT.
esistibly upon the protruding ends Of
he glaciers that they snap year or
lore prior to the time they would fall
rom their own weight.
The present season is expected to
ave more bergs than usual, because
he winter and early spring were
bout the most tempestuous in the {
istory OF the weather bureau. The
orth Atlantic has been vexed by
form after storm. In February, in 1
tead Of the nine or ten storm areas {
pgarded a. normal, some 20 disturb
noes swept across the ocean. Ship
fter ship reported the worst buffet
X In the memory of many ship
Ia stsfs The waves which have been
,sdng shipping all winter presum-
bly, have been battering loose the
acisr ends at the mouths Of the
reenland gorges.