DID YOU KNOW THAT ? ...


. . . there was once a murder on an iceberg.

. . . in the Latin text entitled "Voyage of Saint Brendan the Abbot" the Irish monk was said to have "passed by towering crystals that rose up to the sky" during his legendary sixth century voyage.

. . . a secret second world war program (Habbakuk) was a plan to manufacture icebergs for use as aircraft carriers.

. . . icebergs have sheltered vessels in storms, towed sailing ships against the wind and cleared paths in sea ice for mariners.

. . . in June 1875 the schooner "Caledonia" was lost 9 miles off Cape Fogo, Newfoundland, but her crew of 82 were saved when they managed to clamber onto an iceberg from which they were later rescued.

. . . the term "iceberg" probably originates from the clutch term "ijsberg", which means ice hill.

. . .when iceberg ice melts it makes a fizzing sound, thus the term "bergy seltzer". The sound comes from the popping of compressed air bubbles which are in the ice. The bubbles form when air is trapped in the snow layers which are compressed to form glacial ice. Note that the released air is as old as the ice - thousands of years !

. . . icebergs may make very loud booming and cracking sounds without any sign of movement or calving. The sounds probably result from the sudden formation of cracks due to changing thermal and buoyant stresses in an iceberg. When icebergs do calve loud noises are common.

. . . birds taking flight from an iceberg are a good sign that the berg is going to roll soon. A possible explanation is that bird's keen sense of balance enables them to detect gradual movements in icebergs long before people can see them.

. . . in Newfoundland iceberg ice is now "harvested" for bottled water and vodka production. Both products are available in Newfoundland at retail stores. More products are expected soon as more people are entering the iceberg ice business.

. . . "growlers" or small iceberg pieces less than 5 meters at the waterline get their name from the sound they make when they plunge down into the water when oscillating in sea swells.

. . . the Hibernia platform is designed to withstand the impact of an iceberg in excess of 5 million tonnes. The massive reinforced concrete structure has vertical wedge shaped elements on the surface intended to reduce iceberg impact loads.


Further reading:

Cammaert and Muggeridge, ICE INTERACTION WITH OFFSHORE STRUCTURES, 1988,
Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, 432 p.

Sanderson, ICE MECHANICS, RISKS TO OFFSHORE STRUCTURES, 1987,
Graha, and Trotman, London, 253 p.

Other sources maybe found at the Ocean Engineering Information Center, C-Core,
St. John's Newfoundland Canada A1B 3X5

For more information, or, if you have any interesting facts or stories about icebergs your inquiries or submissions are welcome. Contact:

Dr. Stephen E. Bruneau, Ph. D., P.Eng
55 Bond Street
St. John's, Newfoundland
Canada A1C 5H5
Tel: (709) 753-7330
Fax: 709) 753-7338
email: seb@marexinc.ca
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