ICE AND LAND AT SEA.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 65, 3 August 1912, Page 2

ICE AND LAND AT SEA.

INVENTION TO DETECT THEM. Coming as they do so soon after the loss of the Titanic by striking an iceberg, the results of the investigations as regards an invention which it is claimed can detect' ice or land at sea will occasion considerable; interest. The instrument, it appears, was made by the famous Dr. Barnes, Professor of Physics and Director of the "Physical Laboratories at McGill University, Montreal, and was tried on the occasion of a recent trip of the R.M.S. Royal George, on which he travelled from Halifax to Bristol. It is called the microthcrmo-mete-r, to which is attached an automatic recorder. It is of an extremely simple character, and not at all costly, and the recorder can be placed in the chart room or any part of the ship, being electrically connected with the other part of the apparatus. The instrument will record a variation in the temperature of the water of one-thousandth part of a degree. To be of any value the temperature records of the water must be continuous, and the variation must be known. It was -practically useless to take the temperature of a bucket of water with an ordinary thermometer. During the voyage the Professor stated that the apparatus detected icebergs and ice-fields at distances varying from two to ten miles. Tt also noted the junctions of the Gulf Stream and Labrador Current, and recorded the fact that the vessel was near the Irish coast long before the Fastne-t light was seen. The instrument also detected the presence of Lundy Island before it was sighted. Proximity of icebergs was detected by a slight rise of about 3-lfiths of a degree, followed by a sudden fall in the temperature, whereas the proximity of land was shown by a gradual and rather unsteady fall. As the Royal George come up the Bristol Channel, and the water narrowed down, the behaviour of the instrument was most marked. If the invention can do all that is claimed for it. it means that on ships equipped with it ■the_ exact location of ice may be made known, and the presence of shoals could-be detected.