Ship on Top of Iceberg! October 6, 2016
Author: Beach Combing | in : Modern , trackback
This is a haunting passage from the first volume of Cochrane’s Autobiography of a Seaman. The episode in question took place in 1794 while Cochrane was sailing on the Thetis.
[63] The squadron sailed from Plymouth; and when about midway across the Atlantic an incident occurred worth relating… One night finding the temperature of the atmosphere rapidly decreasing, the squadron was proceeding under easy sail, with a vigilant look-out for icebergs. At dawn we were close to a block of these, extending right across our path as far as the eye could reach. The only alternative was to alter our course and pass to lee-ward of the group, to which, from the unwonted sublimity of the sight, we approached as nearly as seemed consistent with safety. The appearance of icebergs is now so well known that it would be superfluous to describe them. I shall only remark that on passing one field of great extent we were astonished at discovering on its sides three vessels, the one nearest to us being a polacca-rigged ship, elevated at least a hundred feet; the berg having rolled round or been heightened by [64] melting, so that the vessel had the appearance of being on a hill forming the southern portion of the floe.
This would have been worth seeing! It seems incredible, particularly the detail of ships in the air: as if the iceberg was some kind of spider-web. But, if the iceberg story is true, the ship did not sail into its icy grasp but got caught in pack ice that became the glacier. There is, in fact, a similar witness account from the mid nineteenth century when it is alleged that the two ships of Franklin’s expedition were seen on an iceberg (another post, another day). It is presumably possible? Can anyone provide any other instances? Drbeachcombing AT yahoo DOT com
31 Oct 2016, Bruce T writes: ‘Many Arctic and Antarctic expeditions would purposely get their ships locked in the pack ice and fix them high and upright with heavy timbers in the ice waiting for the spring thaw as they rode the ice hoping not to be crushed. The ever strange Ernest Shackleton had it done with the Endurance to no avail. Inuit will pull their umiaks up on the floes when caught in closing pack ice and ride to clear water. The overturned boat provides shelter, oil lamps provide heat, the older ice provides fresh water, and seals provide food for the ride. Some have lasted months on the drifting ice ending up hundreds of miles from where they began.’
