Ste ee ors eS 
er 
ICEBERGS IN THE SOUTHERN OCEAN, 287 
in the Southern Ocean,” prepared by John Thomas Towson, F.R.G.S., 
and was published by the Board of Trade and Admiralty, London. 
But for the period intervening between 1858 and my own work, 
I find very little in print. Mr. Towson claims to have selected 
the well-known ocean tracks for vessels coming to Australia in 
1848, and he adds that for six years thereafter there were no 
complaints of icebergs as a danger in the tracks he had laid down, 
until the latter part of 1854, when alarming accounts of ice in 
the southern ocean began to come in. In November, both in the 
outward and homeward tracks, more particularly between Cape 
Horn and Cape of Good Hope, many icebergs were seen; and 
writing in 1858 he goes on to say, “Since April, 1855, however, 
the only reports of icebergs sighted in this part of the ocean are 
much farther south and confined to a small area.” 
Noticing the frequent reports of icebergs recently I began to 
collect them, and found in the Australian Shipping News of 
August 5, 1893, two articles on icebergs, one copied from the 
Nautical Magaxine, the other from the Sydney Morning Herald. 
The Vautical Magazine says, “Since November, 1891, reports of 
iee in the southern ocean have been very frequent.” 
In addition to these, I have collected all the reports from the 
daily press, and record here my obligations to the following gentle- 
men who have very kindly furnished me with detailed reports of 
leebergs : Mr. R. Woodget, master of the ship “Cutty Sark,” 
Nos. 69 and 70 on list; Mr. Charles Dixon, master of the ship 
“ Erin’s Isle,” No. 103 ; Mr. T. Messenger, master of the barque 
{Hetias,” No. 89; Commander Burgess, R.N.R., sub-lieutenant 
" “Bungaree,” No. 82; Mr. Thomas J. Cook, master of the 
‘tip “ Oronsay,” No, 102, 
The reports detailed in subsequent pages prove, I think, that 
has been of late another remarkable outburst of icebergs in 
Parts of the ocean where they are very dangerous to navigation. 
Many years since, Lieutenant Maury studied this subject and 
sed what he learned into the statement, ‘‘ We can only say 
