Show iceberg menace M JL Jace brings bri atit patrol patro row bow watch Is kept over ship lanes to safeguard ocean liners new york A giant iceberg its sleek sides glinting gl intini ghostlike in the fog OK Is riding tho the swells in the north atlantic steamship track southeast of the grand lanks horn of a gIn glacier cler in an the alie realm of ice fee on the western coast of greenland it had drifted unseasonably naly early at high speed for fl a berg down the frigid Ln labrador brador current past the eastern shelf of the banks sharp lookouts the north german lloyd liner Muen cheu passing the bunks on its last insi west westward waid J journey 0 ur before it burned and aind sank at its north river pier spied opted the menace and knew what it portended it was the advance guard of those threats to navigation which each winter divert the north atlantic liners to more southerly courses on tho tha edge of the gulf stream as they plow their way to and from europe ice in tho the steamship lanes la is a menace at any time ilme but so early in the season as this with tho the crews of the coast guard cutters which tain the international ice patrol still in their quarters at boston the threat is two edged word of the sighting of the iceberg therefore was flashed to tile the office of the navy dep department ariment at washington says the now new York Times for a experts in the vagaries of drifting ice had been keeping their attention upon the southern opening of davis straits between labrador and greenland keeping track of icebergs to them the brief report from the Muen Aluen chens radio told volumes it meant for one g that the I 1 tee ce patrol maintained by three coast guard cut cutters tere relieving each other at intervals on the banks must hasten to their stations and protect shipping capt 1 0 I S kempff naval commander 11 G and A B of the maritime safety division lind had had other reports and had noted them on charts sighted by the aellig olay of the american line east cast of newfoundland two others had been seen by lookouts of the ber gens fjord of the scandinavian amert ameri can line on off the east shelf ot 0 the banks other vessels had sighted ice fee fields further north lee ice in the steamship lanes as radioed bf b the six weeks eailler than anticipated indicated this might turn out mit the worst year for lee ice in the north atlantic since 1012 when the titanic on its maiden voyage to new york split her keel on a ber bers and carried 1100 persons to their deaths information was flashed by captain kemptf to rear admiral F 0 bit lard commandant of the const coast guard and th in turn to capt stanley V parker of tile the cutter tampa lying at boston who was ordered to get under way vay and undertake a general survey of ice conditions after a quick ap of conditions near the steamship sill 1 lanes 1 she Is to swing north to observe alln se rv ahat h t may beon aele their way southward and if necessary take up un immediate patrol of the lanes steamship ship courses altered 6 other measures wea were taken for as IM 1 curing safety to thousands of persons tra traveling ell fig the erth atlantic the operators comprising the north atlantic tt arx k agreement were immediately notified of the berg threat in the winter track the most k I 1 i lierly of the three lanes between new york and channel ports this body of operators it IL represented by tile the cunard Jun urd line and in iii this country by A E B wright Vr ight ts new york agent g it 0 on n being advised conin ju curea d th alib news to london the operators conferred and forthwith tile the liners shifted their courses t the next southerly steamship lane hine CO 00 miles further south of cape ape hace and miles furthers further ensti enst or approximately miles fur ther southeast sout from the tip of the banks this toils notion moved their courses close to the waters of the gulf stream away from the dangers dancers of bergs from POW now on their courses past the fog of the banks will be determined by the dally radio reports from the afie tampa and the modoc of tile the coast guard engaged in tile the international ice fee patrol it if the assumption 0 of f the experts ot of the hydrographic office are confirmed by tile the observations the tha ice patrol will begin at once and until nearly midsummer the three cutters will alternate nt at cruising off arf the edge of the ice and between the ice and the steamship lanes the nine year cycle similar ice ice conditions in the ant arctic have been reported by rear admiral byrd whose aides found the worst pack in years north of the thel lOss sen sea conditions now being re reporter portet 1 point to but do not yet conclusively prove tile the existence of a nine year cycle in the presence of heavy ice fee this early in the season jeason on and north of the grand banks the first year of which he office has de 11 nite e evidence idenie v of dimitar conditions condition was jn in the late winter of 1003 1903 the next year benr such conditions existed was in 1012 when charts show tile the pres ence of a veritable nest of herga bergs southeast oi of the banks into one or of which the titanic ripped its way again in 1021 1921 heavy ice appeared early in the season seaport in northern steamship lanes innes tile the nine year cycle appears to have been co completed this year again although who for years have been studying the ice movements in the north Athin atlantic tle have so for far failed tu to establish the factors which govern the surge and recession of the ice fields and the icebergs from their tieste in tile he cold regions to their graves giaves in the warm waters of the gulf stream data from which these secrets may yet he be wrung have been compiled since 1013 1913 by tile the men who maintain the ice petrol and by the scientists in washington who chart and botre correlate their findings new knowledge of the currents which control the movements of the bergs was obtained from the chill waters north of newfoundland by tile the coast guard expedition in the cutter Alt marlon irlon in the summer of 1028 now each day new bits of knowledge are being flushed flashed to the hydrographic le office by vessels of all nationalities they report tile the presence and movements not only of bergs and ice fee fields but also of every other threat to navigation where icebergs are born the scientists know now that the warm waters of the gulf stream as s they swing northeastward toward europe eddy past greenland a current swinging to the west around its southern tip and coursing north along the bleak greenland coast past the birthplace or of the bergs la in disko bay the surge of the warm current blasts the bergs from the glaciers at the ocean edge and they swing out into the stream apparently the current continues northerly for some distance but eventually it swings first to the west and then south again along tile the coast of baffen land and labrador continuing southward oft off newfoundland to the east shelf of the banks there the course of the currents vary some years they fliey eddy west around the tip til of newfoundland and tit at other times their ell eddies fes are in the contrary direction whatever their direction however the result Is the same at some period of the late winter the bergs ride into the steamship lanes and eventually are dissipated sometimes within four or he five days day in the warm waters of the gulf stream Str euni but from the day the bergs app appear ear off IT newfoundland they are tagged d by the cutters of the ice patrol and their movements watched so that ample warning of the movements may be sent to the nearby near by vessels the ice patrol Is tile outgrowth of the dem rinds for additional protection to sea voyn voyagers gers subsequent to the titanic Sra tragedy gedy the cost of maintaining the patrol Is shared among the nations whose shipping uses the north atlantic according to the tonnage operated over these these routes each coast guard cutter maintains a patrol on its station and then Is relieved by bv its successor clear of the banks and free of responsibility the cutters head into halifax for shore leave for their crews and to stock provisions against the next patrol |