Show prepared by national society J W au service the white terrors of the north atlantic ship lanes are on their annual migration from the arctic to their doom in the warm waters on the gulf stream al ready north atlantic traffic lanes have been moved CO miles southward by order of the ice patrol which reports that some bergs will move southward during the 1032 ice season of april may and june icebergs have always been the dread of the transatlantic navigator they drift hither and yon they give no warning of their presence they are propelled now by ocean currents now by tides and now by winds and waves fog Is their constant corn canlon A vessel speeding through an area infested with moving ice during night or in fog plays a game of chance even on a starlit night a berg cannot be seen beyond a halt mile but when the position of the ice Is known to the navigator the danger Is ed he can alter his course to avoid the menace the ice comes down every year as it has for centuries but now every berg that follows the eastern edge of the grand banks into the steamer lanes Is dept under surveillance by the international ice patrol from this service navigators can learn the answer to the question which each asks where Is the ice biot a single ship has been lost through collision with an iceberg since the patrol was inaugurated greenland s icy mountains alone are the source of the icebergs that come as far south as the steamer lanes journeying about 1800 miles approximately the distance from washington D C to denver before they become white specters to shipping with the exception of a small strip of coast line greenland Is completely covered with a vase ice cap af pf es timatea thickness Is feci always the ice mantle Is moving down the slope of the land anward the sea in great gla clera pushing out through the valleys As the ice reaches the sea it noses out into the water until buoyancy lifts it up and then the front of the glacier breaks off at a weak spot there Is a deafening coir and a thunderous crash and with a tidal eliash the glacial fragment plunges heavily into the sea almost ing the water 1 churned into creamy waves as the newborn berg shakes off the sea regains its equilibrium and settles itself comfortably for a long journey southward come from greenland there are eight principal berg producing glaciers in greenland the worst offenders are those of disko bay Jakob shaven and karadak Ka and on the west coast bergs are discharged in vast num bers from these and other greenland fiorda fiords yet few come south of sew many are too small to last long only the fittest survive the buffet ings of the sea to be carried south on the flow of the labrador current and along the eastern edge of the banks into the gulf stream this warm current gives them short shrift but until they have dwindled to the size of an ample library desk they are capable of staving in a vessel s plates the labrador current although a danger carrier has its usefulness it teems with all kinds of marine life affording breeding and feeding grounds for our best food floh the berg danger period coincides with the heavy flow period of alifi labrador current each year that Is from march 1 to july 1 it Is dur ing this period that the cutters pa arol the ice endangered areas two buttera are assigned to the ice patrol with a third cutter held in reserve the cutter on duty Is a busy place every day to carry out the orders to locate the icebergs and ice fields nearest the tran tic steamship lanes and to determine the southerly easterly and westerly limits of the ice as it moves 0 o the southward and keep track of all ice seen or reported Is not un easy task the oceanographer a day begins before the break of dawn because he must get star sights for position it the fog permits the first of the series to be made and checked all during the day at six the first ice broad cast goes out to the ships with mod ern equipment patrol vessel near two bergs latitude 42 degrees 30 minutes longitude 48 degrees SO mill utes beet and drift decrees five tenths of a knot per hour fog smooth sea added to this the position of perhaps twenty other bergs the set and drift dita enable ahe ship navigators to know that the t vo bergs which are the two southern most are coming south at the speed cli en the oceanographer notices while plotting the water temperature reports from ship that their present courses might carry them close to a number of dangerous bergs an ice warning Is immediately dispatched which the vessels acknowledge with thanks the vessels alter their courses to clear the ice on the great steamer lane between europe and america liners cargo carriers and tramps pass constantly it Is an avenue of thelea just much as michigan boulevard or fifth avenue Is a heavy traffic street on what Is known as the westbound tracks are the ships coming from europe and on the eastbound tracks CO miles south are the ships going to europe all vessels off the tracks are reported for violation of the rules A vessel off the track Is just as dan berous as an iceberg or a derelict the ice patrol cutter stands as a traffic officer on this avenue of the sea it the ice threatens blockage the cutter sets the stop sign and turns the traffic into a side street detour to the south three separate charts are plotted recording the ships ice and water temperatures the latter Is very important por tant because by using from to 1300 messages in 15 days one can locate the cold wall the line of demarcation between the gulf stream water and the cold labrador current water the danger line this line Is the danger line because icebergs that are perils to shipping seldom cross it the loca alon of it at the beginning of the season is an index to the severity of conditions to be expected A berg that crosses the line corn mits quick suicide for water at V to CO degrees melts ice very rapidly A big berg will disappear seven days after it crosses the line the cold walus easy to see north of it the ocean Is a beautiful olive green south of it the water Is in digo blue the higher content of microscopic marine life gives the labrador current its olive green tone the prow of a cutter can be in green water of 40 degrees fahrenheit the stern in warm blue water that registers CO degrees the crew may swim in tropical temperatures water while halt a mile away to the north floats a large iceberg drifting in cold water As a boat approaches a floating ice island a sizzling sound become audible close attention shows that this comes from small pieces of ice slipping off into the sea unlike or binary ice lumps the pieces ef fer this is a peculiarity of glacial ice due in all probability to the fact that it Is compacted of snow thousands of americans sailed to europe last year few of them were aware as they retired to their state rooms at night of what precautions were being taken for their safety they did not know that in the radio room on the upper deck of their ships a message from the ice patrol was coming in telling about fog and icebergs nor did they realize that their liner was reporting a coast guard cutter drifting on the grand ranks so that officers on the cutter could check to learn if the liners course was en clear of danger the titanic catastrophe in april 1912 shocked the entire world and a universal demand for a patrol gave birth to the ice ditrol immediately after the titanic disaster the united states navy detailed two cruisers for guard duty until ha last bergs disappeared from the steamer lanes in late june in the spring of 1913 two revenue cutters were detailed to carry out the patrol during the fall of the same the international conference for the safety of life at sea was convened at london to organize this patrol on an international basis in recognition of its service to ships of all nations representative es of the principal marl time nations of the world signed the agreement on january 20 1914 creat ing he international derelict destruction ice observation and ice patrol service the united states was asked to un dermake the management of this sen ice this country agreed to send two vessels which would patrol the dan ger area during the iceberg seison each of the contracting parties con to bear a share of the cost in owna the united c states guard la charged with the duty of maintaining the patrol wherefore when the cut sail for the banks ice guard every march they go in the name 0 belgium canada denmark I 1 rane germany great britain italy rather lands norway sweden and the unit ed states but serve the shipping in teresta of the entire world |