Not a follower here, but thought you might be interested in this article in the New York Times from 1901, about icebergs in the area where the titanic would later sink.
Posted Sep 26, 2020, 5:34 AM UTC
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You should join the sub. Very good post.
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Icebergs were a known and common hazard for Atlantic ships, this had been the case for centuries. This is why one of the main uses of the Marconi wireless telegraphs--after sending passenger correspondence--was transmission of ice sightings and warnings.
Every ship at in the North Atlantic in April 1912 was fully aware of the risk of icebergs, especially at night. That's why the Californian stopped completely: Captain Lord didn't want to risk running into/over any ice at night, so was waiting until morning to navigate the ice field that was in their path.
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That said, it was still common practice to keep going. even with heavy ice in an area it was surprisingly uncommon to actually encounter a berg in your trajectory.
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Great find! What eerie foreshadowing!
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Was this unseasonable ice a result of climate change caused by industrialization?
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Honestly couldn't tell you, but I doubt it. Coal production was widespread at the time but co2 emissions were nowhere near what we started to get in the 1940-1950s and onwards.
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Yeah it seems fairly early to me as well. I do remember an article going viral from around 1908 warning about climate change, though I never confirmed it's veracity. I should ask a climate expert lol.
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Wow!!
Completely surprised me as well, I like reading old newspapers cuz it's kinda like the closest thing to a time machine. Every single time I randomly choose an edition I run into an interesting thing.
Ooo you should post everything interesting you find. Is there a sub for old news? There should be. Newspaper time machine. Or such. I used to work in the newspapers and microforms library at college and sometimes we got to help with research going through old newsreels. Was so fun! Also somewhat tedious but yeah. Def feels like a time machine!
Where do find them? I remember them on microfilm at the library when I was younger - it does remind me of a time machine!