Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1941-04-28
Watch Seas
=. ,-,
or'Icebergs
After Titanic
70 Years Ago Big Liner I
Was Sent to Bottom
BY EDWIN C. HILL

luxurious ship in the world,
struck an iceberg and sank with
a loss of 1,517 lives. Two years
later, the International Ice Pa
troll was formed. with Is nations
participating. the United States
policing the sea lanes, but with
the other nations sharing the
expense.
A little suffering. stringhalt
wireless set kicked out a warn
ing Of icebergs to the oncoming
Titanic. Whether the message.
was received was never quite
cleared up by the investigation.
Certainly it was not needed. And
quite as certainly il would be
needed today.
Four times a day. or more II
necessary, the coast guard cut
tiers on their Spring and Sum-
mer rounds send out by radio
the exact location of all icebergs.
large and small. and details OF
their size and drift. The patrol
possibly has saved many times
the number of lives lost on the
Titanic.
News from Washington now
Is that the coast guard is ask
ing the cooperation of the new
transatlantic clipper planes in
the exchange of weather data.
The planes. in turn. will main
tain a hawk-eyed watch for the
prowling bergs. 1t is all in the
full flower of the radio miracle.
Ships, planes and shore stations
can gossip at will. as il they
were all in a fireside chat.
WEAR BY year, various
L branches OF the government
use the iceberg patrol in various
research. with meteorology ire
mendously aided, under the
direction OF the photographic
office. Not long ago coast guard
vessels started releasing balloons
with radio apparatus Some OF
them rise to a height OF seven
miles, to a temperature OF 63
degrees, filching weather secrets
from the skies which could be
obtained in no other way.
The condensed argot Of the
weather wizards enables them to
transmit TO ships and planes
steady flow of accurate intel
ligence of winds, temperature,
visibility and, above all, OF the
murderous bergs. And weather
lore from above Is relayed by
the cutters to the transatlantic
ships. with the coast guard
vessels an alert liaison between
ships and planes and the never
sleeping friends of both.
Not long ago there came down
TO Boston a riot call from the
Grand Banks. Two huge white
killers were loose on the sea
lanes. Within a few hours the
cutter Chelan was on the way
up there. to watch and warn, to
be followed few days later by
the Champlain.
Other ships have since gone
on patrol. and the swift liners
are being shepherded safely
through the graveyard Of the
Atlantic as they used to call it.
MOST OF the great icebergs
A'A are ''calved" on the west
coast of Greenland. as a glacier
lunches and crunches its way
slowly down to the edge Of the
ice cap and finally breaks away.
1t takes the runaway about a
year TO get down to the traffic
highways.
In its glacial progress, before
breaking away, IL has picked up
few million tons of snow solidi-
fled to the equivalent of ice by
terrific pressure.
AS it gets into the Gulf
Stream. the snow melts first.
and the berg may be glittering
blue and white filagree Of
astounding beauty in the bright
sunlight.
As they hit the warmer re-
gions. the icebergs do some
strange acrobatics. This "tum-
bling" is due TO the upper mass
melting first. finally bringing as
many as four somersaults in 20
minutes, as the center Of the
gravity shifts.
And these submerged remnants
are dangerous. With the COM
plete effectiveness of the patrol.
the Skyscraper bergs, sometimes
200 feet high. are easy to locate
and guard against. The berg
which is just about on its last
legs is the real killer.
You can take your hat off TO
this noble organization whose
men throw themselves continu-
ously to battle against the ele-
ments. And because every soul
Of them is briskly and everlast-
ingly ready. their achievements.
as brilliant as human effort
knows, have become tradition.
Copyright, 1871. King Features synd., Inc.