Heat (Thermite) 



Howard T. Barnes, a professor of physics and an ice expert from McGill University in 

 Montreal, was one of the earliest proponents of using thermite to destroy ice. He was a self- 

 described ice fighter who regarded ice "as an enemy to mankind." As an observer on Modoc in 

 June 1924, he had seen Ice Patrol's use of wrecking mines. He realized that it would be better to 

 create an intense thermal shock by igniting thermite inside an iceberg. Thermite is a mixture of 

 aluminum and iron oxide. When ignited, it creates a violent reaction that bums at very high 

 temperatures, as hot as 3,500° C, which is enough to melt steel. 



In the summer of 1926 in Notre Dame Bay, Newfoundland, Prof. Barnes conducted 

 several iceberg destruction experiments using thermite and bermite, a high explosive. In one of 

 the tests, 500 pounds of thermite was placed about four feet into the iceberg and 



fired at sundown in order to allow the people of Twillingate an opportunity to see the 

 spectacle of the burning and disrupting ice. The whole thing was a most wonderful sight 

 when the mighty charge fired and roared, lighting up the iceberg and surrounding hills like 

 Vesuvius in eruption. Flames and molten thermite and ice were shot upwards 100 feet or more 

 by the e.xplosion which followed. Much of this berg was disrupted but the full effect of the big 

 charge was lost into the air. 



He concluded that the charge would be much more effective if it could be placed 50 to 100 feet 

 into the iceberg using a rock drill, a process, he declared, that could be accomplished from a boat 

 without boarding the iceberg. 



After the results of Prof. Barnes's 1926 experiments became widely known, the following 

 optimistic assessment appeared in the March 1927 issue of Nautical Magazine: 



[I]t would appear that as soon as an iceberg is reported approaching the trans-Atlantic 

 .steamer routes all that is necessary is for a handful of men to approach the berg and with the 

 judicious use of thermite completely destroy it in a few hours. 



Bombs, Carbon Black, and More Thermite 



While Ice Patrol recognized the promise of Prof. Barnes's thermite experiments, the 

 prospect of taking explosive charges and boarding or even closely approaching an iceberg tossing 

 in the sea conditions typical of the North Atlantic seemed foolhardy. They sought a better way to 

 deliver the required thermal shock to an iceberg at sea. 



Using an aircraft to deliver modem ordnance seemed like a safe and promising tactic. 

 During and after World War II, there were tremendous advances in the manufacture of "shaped" 

 charges and special bomb and rocket designs. In 1959, Ice Patrol obtained 20 aircraft incendiary 

 bomb clusters and conducted a series of bombing experiments against several icebergs near 

 Newfoundland. Two types of incendiary bombs were tested, each consisting of many bomblets 

 containing material, including thermite, that bumed at very high temperatures. The airplane 

 delivering the bombs was the USCG UF2G Albatross, a twin-engine amphibious airplane. The 

 first several bombing attempts met with poor results, primarily because the Albatross had no 

 bombsight. After the installation of a makeshift bombsight, 11 of 12 bombing mns resulted in the 

 bomblets striking the iceberg. Unfortunately, many of the bomblets of both types failed to 

 detonate on impact. The bomblets that contained the thermite mix created spectacular, brilliant 

 balls of white flame that left deep and wide bum holes. While there was some modest evidence 



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