Chapter II: Foreword: By Jack Binns

All of the wondrous possibilities of radio are covered in this thrilling tale which deals with the latest adventures of The Radio Boys. It is a story well told, particularly in connection with the description of the collision at sea which precipitated the experience of the boys in the field of ice.

Of all the uses to which radio has been put, there is none more important than that in conjunction with the annual ice patrol in the steamship lanes of the Atlantic. Night and day the vessels from the various civilized nations engaged in this work vie with each other in devotion to duty in order that their efforts will save lives and property from danger on the high seas. Their sole medium of warning is the modern wonder of the world—radio.

The escapades of the boys in this book are extremely thrilling, but not particularly more so than is actually possible in every day life upon the seven seas.

Its appearance is extremely appropriate, because it is coincident with the announcement that the Coast Guard cutters, _Tampa_ and _Modoc_, are now under orders to proceed to the region east of Newfoundland’s rugged shores where the ice from Greenland is swept down upon the frigid Labrador current across the steamship lanes to annihilation in the warmer southern waters. For the next three months these two vessels will go through the experiences detailed in “The Radio Boys with the Iceberg Patrol.”

The history of this patrol dates from the disaster which overtook the giant liner Titanic in April 1912, when that ill-fated ship struck the submerged ledge of an iceberg in mid-ocean on her maiden voyage. The gaping wound in her side was so large that she sank within thirty-five minutes after striking the iceberg, and more than 1,500 of her passengers and crew were drowned.

As a result of this appalling disaster a conference was called at which representatives of all maritime nations participated in London, and there the rules for this iceberg patrol were agreed upon. Every year from March until the end of July these vessels are engaged in their humane work, and since that fateful day in 1912, hundreds of steamships, large and small, have been saved from a similar fate by the timely warnings of Radio.

Jack Binns

CONTENTS

I. The Cry for Help
II. A Narrow Escape
III. The Naval Captain
IV. The Iceberg Patrol
V. Buffeted by the Gale
VI. Tuning In
VII. Thrashing the Bullies
VIII. A Crash in the Darkness
IX. A Night of Uncertainty
X. Snatched from the Sea
XI. An Unexpected Meeting
XII. Bound for the Ocean Lanes
XIII. The Derelict
XIV. Blown to Bits
XV. Consternation
XVI. The Radio Warning
XVII. Rending the Giant Berg Asunder
XVIII. A Glorious Panorama
XIX. Wireless Wonders
XX. In Stately Procession
XXI. By a Hair’s-breadth
XXII. Startling News
XXIII. In Deadly Peril
XXIV. Trapped
XXV. In the Nick of Time

THE RADIO BOYS WITH THE ICEBERG PATROL