150 SEA AND LAND 



about the destruction of the strongest ship that floats, if the 

 vessel encounters them when t^oing at a speed of fifteen or 

 twenty knots an hour. These berglets often float to a great 

 distance from tlie main fields of ice, and being small, do not 

 aft'ect the temperature of the water or of the air. Again, it 

 sometimes happens that a strong wind will drive the air and 

 water before it, so that there is no fog about the bergs and 

 no very cold water on the side from which the bergs are 

 approached. These exceptional conditions make the path of 

 a ship, which in the night-time traverses an iceberg-laden 

 portion of the sea. the seat of grave perils. 



A collision with an iceberg has certain elements of hope- 

 lessness which belong lo no other calamities of the deep. 

 Colliding with another vessel, the blow is not likely to be so 

 severe as to damage more than one of the compartments of 

 a ship, the others may keep her afloat. An iceberg, owing to 

 its unyielding and massive nature, gives a much harder blow. 

 Moreover, as the experience of the steamer Arizona showed, 

 the fall of masses of ice from the cliffs of the berg upon the 

 bow of the shij^ is likely to add to the damage done to 

 her forward parts. When running against another ship, or 

 against the land, there is alwa)s some hope of rescue or of 

 refuge for the shipwrecked people, either on the shore or 

 the deck of the other vessel ; but no more hopeless condi- 

 tion can be imagined than that of people who might seek a 

 foothold on the inhospitable islands. The steep, generally 

 overhanging, cliffs, usually deny access to their summits, and 

 even if by chance the shipwrecked people attain the summit 

 of the ice, they would have little chance of rescue, for no craft 

 willingly comes near to those dangerous objects. 



It has been suggested that the men-of-war of the great 



