440 POLAR PROBLEMS 



In the ice fields the surface of the ocean is covered with a glisten- 

 ing expanse of ice dotted with towering bergs of every shape and 

 size, and, in a gale of wind and blinding snow, drifting in the pack 

 with a ship jammed unable to move, it is, to say the least, uncom- 

 fortable. A steamer is not so bad, for you can steam up to the wake 

 of the berg and you are safe. In a sailing vessel you have to loosen 

 sails, and, even if you are fortunate in catching the wake, it is hard to 

 hold it in a gale of wind and beat to windward. Calm weather in open 

 water and strong current with a small crew is a serious thing. Your 

 only chance is to get the boats overboard and row, thus keeping her 

 clear. In even a slight swell the berg is in motion and rears and 

 plunges. If the berg is steady you still have the wash breaking on the 

 sides and sometimes a ram or tongue of hard jagged ice long under- 

 neath. I have seen many accidents resulting from collision with bergs. 

 Icebergs are really big ice plows. In many cases they tear through 

 large floes as if they were pulp. The bergs are more affected by cur- 

 rents than the ice is; the latter owes its drift to both winds and cur- 

 rents. The wind of course helps bergs also, but often we see them 

 plowing to windward in a strong breeze. 



What a menace those white devils are to the cod traps of the 

 Labrador and Newfoundland fisherman ! Tens of thousands of dollars' 

 worth of fisherman's gear are destroyed yearly. Often they get into 

 coves in the height of the capelin school, that is the very haymaking 

 time of cod fishing. Often they will stay and hinder the fisherman 

 from putting his traps in the cove. Dynamite is the only thing to 

 make them quit, but what fisherman has dynamite? And the ice- 

 bergs are responsible for so many fatal accidents that occur through 

 the foundering and capsizing of the fi.sherman's skiff. It's astonishing 

 how easily bergs can be made to topple by the firing of a rifle or the 

 cutting of a small piece off the side. A blow from an ax have I seen 

 do it also. The noise of a berg rupture is often deafening. It is a 

 great sight to see them turn over. As a rule when they reach the tail 

 of the Banks they are becoming smaller, but there are cases recorded 

 by the Hydrographic Office where bergs have been seen in the lati- 

 tude of New York, with sharp spurs under water, as dangerous as 

 a sunken reef. It's much safer to give them lots of room. A ship 

 should always go to windward of an iceberg because the spalls, or 

 fragments, are to leeward. Naturally they move faster than the 

 berg. The small pieces are often more of a menace to navigation 

 than the larger berg itself, because often they are the color of the 

 water and float so low as to be seen only with difficulty. 



Field ice is found from a point south of Sable Island northward to 

 the pole. The ice in the Polar Basin varies in thickness from seven or 

 eight feet to one hundred and over. It is astonishing how thick ice 

 may get in the River St. Lawrence and along the north and west shores 



