were substantially damaged by contact with growlers or bergy bits on the Grand Banks or its 

 approaches. 



TABLE 1 : Record of sailing and fuel powered ships damaged by icebergs in 



the North Atlantic 



CONCLUSIONS 



A database of over 560 ship collisions with icebergs in North American waters has been 

 compiled. It spans a time frame of over 200 years and the collision trends help confirm 

 fluctuating ice severity on the Grand Banks area of the North Atlantic over the same period 

 as established by the author in an earlier work (Hill, 1998). Of particular note is the period of 

 severe ice conditions between 1880 and 1900 when over 200 vessels were damaged. This 

 also marks the transition of sailing to steam vessels. Correlation between collisions and ice 

 extent becomes increasingly less apparent as the 20"^ century progresses and is likely due to 

 better iceberg monitoring programs and better detection techniques. However, incidents are 

 still occurring at an average rate of 1 to 2 per year. Fishing vessels operating in ice covered 

 waters off the northern part of Newfoundland and off the east coast of Labrador comprise the 

 main component of vessels lost in recent years while icebergs on or near the Grand Banks 

 account for the majority of incidents with larger ocean going vessels. The database, which 

 includes a summary of the incident, date, geographic location, damage and any known 

 human injuries is included in the following pages. 



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