80 DANGER OF MOORING TO ICEBERGS. 



icebergs, which is frequently done for shelter in strong ad- 

 verse winds, or when the vessel is rendered unmanageable by 

 the accumulation of drift-ice around ; but there is this dan- 

 ger: the icebergs are very nicely poised; if a large piece of 

 ice breaks off from one side, the whole mass is suddenly and 

 rapidly turned over, by which vessels have often been 

 wrecked or destroyed, while boats have been upset, even at 

 a considerable distance, by the vast waves produced by the 

 sudden change of position of an iceberg. 



An incident is related of two sailors who were attempt- 

 ing to fix an anchor to an iceberg. They began to hew a 

 hole in the ice, but scarcely had the first blow been struck, 

 when suddenly the immense mass split from top to bottom, 

 and fell asunder, the two halves falling in contrary direct- 

 tions with a prodigious crash. Fortunately the men 

 escaped. 



Sometimes vessels moor to icebergs when in want of 

 water, and obtain it from the deep pools which, in the 

 summer season, are found on the depressed surface of some 

 bergs, or from the streams running down their sides ; but 

 if, meanwhile, the iceberg should fall to pieces, which is 

 likely at any moment during the summer season to be the 

 case, the vessel is liable to be buried under its icy mooring. 

 The precarious character of these huge mountains of ice 

 will be understood from an anecdote related by Dr. Hayes, 

 the Arctic navigator : " A few years ago, while a French 

 man-of-war was lying at anchor in Temple Bay, Labrador, 

 the younger officers resolved on amusing themselves upon 

 an iceberg a mile or more distant in the straits. They 

 made sumptuous preparations for a picnic upon the very 

 top of it, the mysteries of which they were curious to see. 

 All w^arnings of the fishermen in the ears of the smartly- 

 dressed gentlemen who * had seen the world,' were useless. 

 It was a bright summer morning, and the jolly-boat with a 

 showy flag went off to the iceberg. By twelve o'clock the 



