Captain Vetch on Icebergs* d9 



Ship Ontario, Captain Seahore, 24th March. Lat. 42° 26' N., 

 Long. 50" W. 



Saw two icehergs, one to the southward, distant, appearing 

 like a ship under sail ; the other to the north, distant about 

 six miles. This last, as near as we could estimate, was about 

 one mile square, the edge nearest the ship being only about 

 iO feet high, and the more distant edge about 100 feet high, 

 presenting a wedge-form above water, thus : 



slightly undulated, covered with snow a foot or two deep, the 

 edges or cliffs worn into all kinds of gullies and fissures by the 

 waves which broke against it in great force. 



In the two voyages just referred to, we saw ice at the same 

 time of the year nearly, and at the same place ; nor in these 

 or other voyages which I have made across the Atlantic, did 

 I observe ice at any other season or place ; of course, extra- 

 ordinary states of the weather will cause irregularities in the 

 course of the icebergs. I am, however, led to believe, that 

 in the season I have mentioned, and at the locality stated, 

 vessels sailing between England and New York will cross the 

 great stream of icebergs, and, consequently, that the naviga- 

 tion then and there must always be dangerous ; and I was 

 only surprised not to hear of more loss of shipping from such 

 a cause of danger. And when the steam-boats were intro- 

 duced between this country and North America, I always 

 feared some fatality would arise in the season of March and 

 April, in dark weather, owing to the velocity of the boats. 

 That we have not heard of losses of sailing-vessels striking on 

 ice in the locality named, will readily be explained by the fact 

 that it can hardly ever happen that a soul escapes to tell the 

 melancholy tale. 



If my inferences are, however, correct, they lead to import- 

 ant considerations, now that steam navigation is becoming so 

 much in use between this country and North America ; and 

 the master and officers should be instructed to use every pre- 

 caution, and exercise the utmost vigilance, when approaching 



