About a year ago, we posted Towing Icebergs – an Idea Whose Time is Still Coming?, where we pointed out that the latest proposal to tow icebergs from the Arctic or Antarctic to supply fresh water, was similar to plans that dated from the late 1970s. We should have gone much father back. Alexis Madrigal, writing in the Atlantic Monthly, describes the various schemes and dreams of moving bergs at least through 1825. Most of these schemes were failures, but not all. My favorite was an apparently successful venture towing small icebergs from southern Chile to Valparaiso to provide refrigeration to local breweries. “Sometimes the icebergs were supplied with sails to utilize the prevailing winds.” Thanks to Phil Leon for pointing out the article.
The Many Failures and Few Successes of Zany Iceberg Towing Schemes
Stands to reason one of the first practical reasons for towing home icebergs would be to chill the brew. Some years back it was deduced that in the arctic if you chipped down about 10 inches, you found ice that was laid down before there was any such thing as pollution. Entrepernures in Japan were bringing it back to their bars, selling drinks chilled with pure ice. They sold lots.
It wasn’t that long ago, maybe 15 or 20 years ago that you could go into your grocery store and buy bags of ice that came from one of the glacier.
I bought some here in Ohio, but no big deal.,
Then this global warming stuff happened a few years afterward.