Delaware journal., 1828-12-19
THE DANGERS OF SAILING IN HIGKLAT-
IIUDES.

ITUDES.
One serene evening in the middle Of August. I775,
Captain Warrens the master Of Greenland whale
ship, found himself bccamed among vast number
Of icebergs in about II deg. north latitude On
one side, and within mile Of his vessel, these were
of immense height and closely wedged together, and
succession of snow red peaks appeared behind
each other as far as the eye could reach, showing
that the ocean was completely blocked up in that
quarter, and that had probably been so for long
period of time.-Captain Warrens did not feel al
together satisfied with his station but there being
wind he could not move either one way or another,
and he therefore kept strict watch, knowing that
he would be sale long the surrounding icebergs
continued in their respective places.
Abuut midnight the wind rose to gale, accom-
panied by thick showers OF snow. while succession
of tremendous laundering, grinding and crashing
noises gave fearful evidence that the ice was in
on.-'rhc vessel received violent shocks every mo-
ment, for the haz'ness of the atmosphere prevented
those on board from discovering in what direction
he open water lay, or actually if there any at
all on either side of them The night was spent in
tacking as often as any cause Of danger happened
to present itself and in the morning the storm aba
ted and Capt. W Warrens found to his great Joy that
his ship had not received any serious injury. He
remarked with surprise that the accumulated ice
bergs VIII ch had the preceding evening formed an
inpenerable barrier, had been separated and disaH
ranged by the wind, and that in one place canal
of open wound its course among them as far az
the eye could discern.
1t was two miles beyond the entrance of this canal
that ship made its appearance about noon Tho
sun shope brightly at the time. and gentle breeze
blew iiom the north. At first some intervening ice-
! bergs prevented Captain Warrens from distinctly
seeing any thing except her masts, but he struck
with the strange manner in which her sails were dis
posed and with the dismantled aspect of her yards
! NJ. koCxu &ko, .1
for few turlongs and then grounding upon the low
icebergs remained motonless.
Capt Warrens' Gu iosity was much excited that
he Immediately leaped into his boat with several sea-
men, and rowed towards her. On approaching. he
observed that her hull was mserabIy weather beaten,
and not a soul appeared upon the deck which was
covered with snow to considerable depth He
hailed her several times but no answer was re-
turned. Previous to stepping board an open
port hole near the main chains caught his eye, and
on looking into it, he perceived man reclining back
| in chair, with writing materials q small table
before him, but the feebleness Of the light made every
thing indistinct. The party. therefore, went upon
deck. and having removed the hatchway which they
found closed, they descended 10 the cabin. They
| first came to the apartment which Captain Warrens
had viewed through the port hole. A tremour seiz-
ed him as he entered it. Its inmate retained his
former position. aud seemed to be nsensibe of stran.
gers He was found to be corpse, and green damp
mould had covered his cheeks and forehead, and
veied his open eye balls. He held pen in his hand
and log book Ia before him. the last sentence in
whose unfinished page ran thus 81 llh Nov. 1863;
We have now been enclosed in the ice seventy
days. The fire went out yesterday and our master
has been trying ever since to kindle it again, bat
without success. His wife died this morning There
| is no reef@"
Captain Warrens and his seamen hurried from
the spot without uttering word. On entering the
principal cabin the first object that attracted their
attention was the dead body of female reclining
on bed in an attitude of deep interest and aten-
ton. Her countenance retained the freshness Of
life. and contraction of the limbs alone showed thai
her form was nanimate. Seated on the floor in one
corner of the room, the corpse ofan apparently
young man holding steel in one hand and a flint ia
the other, if in the act ofstrkng fire upon some
tnder which lay beside him.
In the fore part of the vessel several sailors, were
found lying dead in their births, and the body Of
dog cronched at the bottom of the gang way
stairs. Neither provisions fuel could be dis
covered any where, but Captain Warrens was pre-.