350 GIGANTIC ANTARCTIC ICEBERGS. 



drifted northwards into the track of vessels both in 

 the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Even in the Indian 

 Ocean many great icebergs have been sighted by ships 

 bound to Australia, in the usual track of vessels. 

 The ob struction created by the ice has also been very 

 great within a short distance of the New Zealand 

 coast. 



The Morning Post (London) in a most able and 

 interesting article on this subject, says, 



" Some idea of the extent of this obstruction may be formed 

 from the fact that it necessitated a steam ship losing two 

 days, in making a detour to regain its proper course." 



But the ice here appears to be relatively trifling, com- 

 pared with that seen in the South Atlantic. There 

 there is a current setting from the southwards, past 

 Cape Horn towards the Falkland Islands, and on this 

 the same article says, 



" Hundreds, if not thousands of gigantic bergs, have been 

 floating into mid ocean as far north as Lat. 37 S., and it 

 is likely that ere long vessels bound round the Cape of Good 

 Hope will fall in with these dangers." " Ice," it proceeds to say, 

 " is often seen on the Newfoundland Banks a few miles in 

 circumference, and from 50 to 250 feet high, but the largest 

 of these dwarfs into insignificance beside the monsters from 

 the South Pole. Some of these bergs are at least 50 miles in 

 length, those of 10 miles and upwards being numerous." 

 The fields of ice have been extending for 400 miles and 

 " bergs of 200 feet high are common, several have been reported 

 of looo feet, and one is said to be 1500 feet." 



Fortunately the shipping casualties were few, one vessel 

 however collided with one, and had to be abandoned, 

 and in the West India Docks, London, there were at 

 the time the above article was written some half a dozen 



