Page:The Wireless Operator with the U.S. Coast Guard.djvu/291

 following spring, when the Iroquois went to the, on ice patrol. When the great ice fields of the frozen north disintegrate, and huge icebergs float south, passing through the steamer lanes, and so endangering steamship traffic, it was part of the work of the Coast Guard to protect shipping from these menacing mountains of ice. One  disaster was enough for the world.

When it came time for the Iroquois to relieve the Oneida in the ice fields, the ship was made ready and the long voyage begun. At Halifax the cutter touched to refill her water tanks and renew her stores. Then she headed northeast into the region of fog and storm and tremendous moving mountains of ice.

As long as he lives, Henry will never forget that journey through the tossing, fog-shrouded sea. For days on end the sun had not shone. No stars were visible at night. The dull gray sea and the dull gray clouds, with the thick shrouded mists, lent a leaden tone to life which was like nothing Henry had ever known. Onward, league after league, day after day, the little cutter rolled and pitched, tossed by a sea the like of which Henry had never imagined.

Only by dead reckoning could the commander tell where he was. He had so recently left that he could not be so very far astray in his