 |
magazine / ma06
 |
March/April 2006 issue |
|
|
|
FEATURE
ICEBREAKERS
Breaking the ice
Ninety-four years after the Titanic, ships are still ramming into floating
behemoths in Canada's Iceberg Alley. Scientists in St. John's are purposely
colliding with bergs and testing ship designs to reduce the traffic accidents.
Excerpt of story by Wayne Curtis
ONLINE EXCLUSIVE
CG
In-depth:
On ice
Lumbering giants born from glacial parents, icebergs can chill our hearts with fear and awe,
but they can also help us understand the past as well as the future.
|
In the early-morning hours of June 17, 2004, the trawler Sólborg and its 19-person crew were 37 kilometres out of Newfoundland’s Conception Bay, headed to the port of Bay Roberts with a hold full of shrimp. The sea was
calm, and the wind was light. But a heavy fog had settled, forcing the three men on the bridge
to pilot by radar. The screen was cluttered with returns echoing back from fishing-buoy reflectors
ahead. Radar can pick up ice floating in the sea, but what appears on the screen can be vague.
Veteran skippers say small icebergs or bergs rounded by the waves can be hard to spot amid
the electronic scatter. What happened next is the stuff of every captain’s nightmares:
the Sólborg suddenly rammed into a monstrous iceberg rising some six storeys
out of the sea. The crash sent SUV-sized slabs of ice skittering across the top deck and
left the bow looking like a crumpled beer can. The good news for the crew was that the stout
hull didn’t tear open, and the Sólborg managed to make it into port
for repairs.
Ever since the misnamed sailing ship Happy Return hit an iceberg and sank in Hudson
Strait in 1686 — the first recorded collision of its kind in the northern hemisphere — the
iceberg-rich waters off Canada’s coasts have vexed sailors. Technology has made passage
safer, but something as elemental as water molecules rearranged by the cold can defeat even
the most sophisticated equipment. Ice, it turns out, is quick to dull the cutting edge.
That may become even more evident as global attention turns North. Many climate models predict
that by the middle of this century, the Northwest Passage will be substantially ice-free
for several months of the year. The dream of Frobisher and Franklin and countless other early
explorers — that of sailing from Europe to Asia using a northern route — may
actually be inching toward commercial reality.
For the rest of this story, visit your local newsstand or go to our store to buy this issue.
|
|
|
