Fogs, Field-ice, and Icebergs in the Atlantic

Abstract

THREE unwelcome phenomena have this year, in more than an ordinary degree, vexed the coasts of the United States and the navigation of the Atlantic; I allude to fogs, field-ice, and icebergs. The first have so much interfered with the success of the Nantucket fishermen that but few mackerel have been caught by the seine, the schools cannot be followed, and the boats have frequently remained idle for days. No one who hag not met with these fogs can form an idea of their density. With a bright sun shining over head, objects cannot be discerned at the distance of 100 ft. Collisions have been numerous in all the great American ports and rivers. On one occasion hundreds of tons of cargo remained two days in New York before it could be transported across the Hudson to Jersey city, although the distance was frequently under a mile from wharf to wharf.