BY A HAIR’S-BREADTH
The shouts of the Radio Boys were echoed by cries from other
throats, for several of the officers and many of the crew of the
_Meteor_ had been watching the oncoming steamer.
Up rose the vessel inch by inch, foot by foot, slowly but surely,
the dripping slope of the hull that had up to now been below the
waterline rising above the surface. It was as though some monster of
the sea had gripped the keel and was pushing it aloft.
For a moment the boys stood stunned and paralyzed. They felt as
though they were in a nightmare. They could scarcely believe their
eyes. Were the laws of nature being reversed? What mysterious force
was lifting this huge vessel with its cargo of freight and human
souls? And what gigantic lever was this mysterious force pressing?
Bob was the first of the boys to grasp the meaning of the
phenomenon.
“Look!” he shouted. “Look at the iceberg! It’s tipping the other
way.”
The other lads followed the direction of Bob’s pointing finger and
saw the peak of the great berg slowly careening in a direction
opposite to that of the apparently doomed vessel. And as it dipped
in one direction, the ship was lifted that much higher in the other.
Then they understood.
The captain, in running so close to the berg, had apparently
forgotten for the moment that a great spur of the monster might be
projecting horizontally under the surface of the water. This had
happened to be the fact in this particular case. The ship had come
so close that the wash from its engines had disturbed the delicate
equilibrium of the berg and it had tipped. As it careened, the
underwater spur rose with it, and as the vessel was passing over it
at the time, the spur had come up like a mighty hand and lifted the
ship with it.
“She’ll be thrown off!” cried Joe, pantingly.
“And probably turn turtle!” added Herb, horrified.
The boy’s faces were as pale as death as they sensed the nearness of
tragedy. If the ship were upset, it might mean the loss of scores of
lives.
Their agony of apprehension was increased by the certainty that they
could do nothing to prevent it. They had to stand by helplessly, and
perhaps see fellow men go to their death.
“Nothing but a miracle can save them,” muttered Bob, between his
clenched teeth.
And at just that instant the “miracle” happened.
There was a sharp report, and the great pinnacle of the berg snapped
off on the side opposite to the ship and fell with a thunderous
splash into the sea. The berg, relieved of the weight on the side to
which it was leaning, began to swing back again like a pendulum.
As it did so, the spur sank deeper, letting the ship down again into
the water. Sliding, grating, rasping, the vessel slipped into deeper
water until she again rode the sea at her regular water line.
Then, like a frightened deer released from the grasp of the hunter,
the ship that had had such a narrow escape hastened away from the
icy monster until it had got safely out of reach.
A gasp of relief broke from the boys and from all the witnesses of
what was almost a tragedy.
“Gee!” exclaimed Bob, wiping away the sweat that had started from
his brow under the tremendous mental strain. “That’s a case of
looking death straight in the eyes and yet getting away from him.”
“I don’t want to see any shave so close as that again,” ejaculated
Joe.
“They seem to have been injured,” remarked Herb. “The vessel is
slowing down.”
“It would be surprising if they hadn’t been hurt,” observed Jimmy.
“They didn’t have time to shut off steam, and their screws probably
came in contact with the ice. But they haven’t any kick coming if
it’s only an injury to the vessel they’ve got to worry about. They
ought to be glad that they’re still alive.”
The vessel had now come to a stop, and signals were interchanged
with the _Meteor_ by wireless that caused the latter to swing about
in its course and steam toward the injured ship.
When within a few hundred feet, the _Meteor_ lowered a boat and sent
over a party in command of Lieutenant Milton.
It developed that, as the boys had conjectured, the screw of the
vessel had suffered from contact with the ice, and Captain Springer
loaned the ship the services of some of his skilled mechanics to
assist in putting it again in working order.
Several hours were thus consumed, and it was nearly dark before the
damage had been sufficiently patched up to permit the vessel to
continue the journey that had come so near to being cut short.
It was from Ensign Porter that the Radio Boys later learned the
details of the occurrence.
“Just a case for the fool-killer,” the latter told them. “Only in
that instance he didn’t happen to be on the job. The captain
explained the whole matter sheepishly enough to Lieutenant Milton
when he went over.
“The vessel’s a tramp freighter, but of pretty good size. This trip
she is carrying as passengers some relatives of the owner.
“It seems that some of the passengers on board had never seen an
iceberg before, and they were so crazy over it that they urged the
captain to go close to it, so that they could have a better view. He
was weak enough to yield to their pleadings, and nearly paid the
penalty with his life and theirs. He confessed to the lieutenant
that he had forgotten for the moment that a spur might be stretched
out under the water.”
“I’ll bet that when he felt the steamer being lifted up he was
scared stiff,” remarked Bob.
“That’s a safe bet,” replied the ensign, with a smile. “I shouldn’t
be surprised if the carelessness cost him his position. Owners don’t
like that kind of man to command their vessels. As for the
passengers, it’s safe to say that they’ve lost all curiosity
concerning icebergs, and will be content from now on to view them
from a distance.
“It was not only the danger from the spur that should have kept him
from getting so close,” went on the ensign, “but the possibility of
part of the berg falling over on the ship. The bergs are breaking up
all the time, and they only need something like the vibrations from
a ship’s engine to set them going. The only safe thing with an
iceberg is to give it as wide a berth as possible.”
“That underwater spur gives one the creeps,” said Joe. “You can see
the iceberg, but you can’t see the spur. It’s like some great
devilfish lying in wait to grip you.”
“That’s what it was that ripped the vitals out of the _Titanic_,”
said the ensign. “The vessel didn’t come in contact with the part of
the berg above the surface. She sensed that she was near the berg,
and turned to escape it. But that deadly spur reached out and caught
her.”
“I wonder if that disaster would have occurred if they’d known as
much about radio as they do now,” observed Jimmy.
“Probably not,” was the reply. “At that time they relied chiefly
upon the sudden chill in the air and upon the lookout to warn them
of the nearness of the bergs. But both of those reliances were
broken reeds. Sometimes the chill in the air under certain
atmospheric conditions is scarcely perceptible, and in case of fog
or darkness, the lookouts aren’t much good. Now, we on the _Meteor_
could shut our eyes and yet know when we were getting near a berg.”
“How is that?” asked Bob, with interest.
“We have what is called an iceberg alarm,” explained Ensign Porter.
“It’s a modification of the apparatus recently used by the navy for
ascertaining ocean depths by echoes.”
“Echoes?” said Joe, inquiringly.
“Yes,” was the reply. “You see, a sound wave is sent to the sea
bottom by a transmitter, and when it returns as an echo is heaved in
a receiver. The interval of time between sending and receiving
determines the distance of the bottom from the ship’s hull, since it
is known that sound travels at the rate of about one thousand one
hundred feet a second.
“Now, by the same methods, echoes may be obtained from icebergs.
Precautionary signals are being sent out all the time by the
transmitter on board, and when the echoes come back, we can tell if
there are any icebergs in the vicinity, just how far off they are,
and govern the ship’s movements accordingly.”
“It’s a sort of comforting feeling,” said Herb, “to know that
tonight and every night, even while we’re asleep, the iceberg alarm
is on the job.”
“Never thought of it before, did you?” asked the ensign. “Uncle
Sam’s a pretty good relative, and he looks after the safety of his
nephews. This ship has a good many wonders packed between the bow
and stern, and you’ll learn more of them before your voyage is
over.”
“I guess that’s one of the things that Johnson meant when he was
talking to us last night,” observed Joe. “He told us to come into
the wireless room some time, and he’d show us what a busy place it
is.”
“No time like the present!” exclaimed Bob. “Let’s go now.”