Spring 2003, Volume 96 Number 1

We lived quite close to the shore, and, as a child, I vividly recall being awakened during those ‘iceberg’ nights by the shouting of men as they warned each other that the ice was coming in. It didn’t matter who owned the property that was in danger, all the men of the area would be there to help….In order to control the drifting ice, the men would arm themselves with long stout poles with spears in them. Their aim was to keep the ice away from any net, boat or stage, and steer it into an empty ‘landwash’ between the stages. They would guide it as far as possible to the shore. Then they could wade to it, tie a rope around it and drag it to land, where it would remain to melt and cause no more damage. This was hard work and many men were needed to pull these immense pieces to land. Nevertheless, everyone joined in the rejoicing when the great threat of danger was controlled….Sometimes the bergs would remain around all summer so they had to remain alert, and keep up a constant vigil.

Today, many of us can view icebergs from the deck of a tour ship or standing on shore; however it wasn’t very long ago that they posed a very real hazard to the livelihood of inshore fishermen. While in some places fire is recognized as a threat, at one time in outport Newfoundland watches were kept to protect communities from the danger of ice. Traveling in the ocean’s currents, icebergs that drifted into populated bays and coves would destroy fishing traps, boats, and even stages.

Generations of fishermen and sailors have had to contend with the threat of ice and icebergs, a danger that still persists although technology has come to play an important role in assisting safe passage for ships crossing the North Atlantic. Aerial reconnaissance has been key to the monitoring of ice and iceberg movement. It is now used in association with satellite technologies that allow for long-term tracking not only of the movement of icebergs and ice, but also of changes in their development. For all our advances in research and understanding, we are still confronted each spring with the threat of ice, as well as treated to its beauty.

With the advent of oil exploration and extraction off the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador, the threat of icebergs took on a new meaning. The oil industry needed to design ways to protect their crews and equipment. Drilling platforms were engineered to account for the impact from collisions, or to be quickly shut-down and moved if a threat emerged. Rather than waiting for a situation to arise, in the 1970s researchers initiated experiments in towing, or redirecting, icebergs away from operations. One of the techniques that was tested involved securing a line to a point on the iceberg. Holes were drilled into the body of the berg into which anchors were lodged. Water was then poured over the anchor to freeze it in place. Most of the procedures involved researchers working on the surface of the iceberg itself under the constant fear of having it roll or calve beneath them. Eventually a system of towing without anchoring was devised. This system involves circling the iceberg in a boat while playing out a line, then closing the loop and drawing the line tight. The ‘corralled’ berg is then hauled behind the ship to a predetermined destination where it is let loose.

Modern iceberg management procedures are motivated primarily by the exploration and research agendas of the oil industry. Understanding and monitoring the movement of the annual flow of ice is essential to the safety and maintenance of their operations off the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador. As the industry develops, and pushes further out to sea, so will the need to keep these skulking behemoths clear of the exploration sites. With deeper water will come larger icebergs and more ingenious methods of managing their movement.

Still, one cannot help but smile at the persistence of tradition. For all the technology at our disposal, the most effective method of moving something unmanageable that happens to be in your way is to hook a rope around it and give it a good tug. It is like using a doorknob to pull a tooth and not a far cry from the intrepid fishermen hauling growlers onto the landwash by hand. In the end, it is still, often, the simplest method that makes the most sense.
- NQ

Icebergs are pieces of glaciers and therefore retain the compositional characteristics of glaciers. Glaciers are formed from layers of ice and snow accumulated over thousands of years. Blue streaks form in areas where the glacier has melted, the water pooled, and then refrozen. Dust, dirt, and even volcanic ash are indicators of the terrestrial origins of icebergs. (See bottom photo pg.18) Boulders can be seen melting out of their surface. The air that is released as the iceberg melts, trapped during the original formation of the glacier, is itself thousands of years old. When icebergs melt they emit a hissing sound as this trapped air is released.

It is estimated that anywhere from fifteen to forty thousand icebergs calve annually from Arctic glaciers. While some North Atlantic icebergs originate in the eastern Arctic, the majority come from glaciers along the Greenland coast. Once calved, most icebergs spend from three months to two years in Baffin Bay before beginning to drift south. Newfoundland icebergs, carried by the East Greenland current, comprise less than ten percent of the total icebergs produced annually in the northern hemisphere. Calving and melting result in an almost 90 percent reduction in size of most icebergs by the time they reach the coast of Newfoundland. They eventually dissolve in the warmer waters of the Grand Banks, although rare sightings have been made of icebergs off the coasts of Bermuda and Ireland.

The largest iceberg recorded in the northern hemisphere, in 1882, was 13km long, 6km wide, with a height above water of 20m and an estimated weight of over 9 billion tonnes.

From the earliest journeys into the North Atlantic, icebergs have threatened vessels. A review of the history of navigation prior to the turn of the century shows that an impressive number of casualties occurred in the vicinity of the Grand Banks. The Lady of the Lake sank in 1833 with a loss of 70. Between 1882 and 1890, fourteen vessels were lost and forty seriously damaged due to ice. This does not include the large number of whaling and fishing vessels lost or damaged by ice. It took one of the greatest marine disasters of all time to arouse public demand for international cooperative action to deal with this marine hazard. This disaster, the sinking of the RMS Titanic on April 15, 1912, 409 nautical miles off Cape Race, was the prime impetus for the establishment of the International Ice Patrol.

U.S. Coast Guard International Ice Patrol web page: www.uscg.mil/lantarea/iip/home.html