Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1837-11-17
RETURN OF CAPTAIN BACK FROM
1.-THE ARCTIC REGIONS.


We are enabled, through the kindness Of
one Of the officers of the above shin, to in
.orm the readers of the Freeman's Journal of
the safe arrival of its intrepid crew to whom
were assigned the perilons duty of trying the
long sough after but still undiscovered north
western passage.
The courage and dauntlcss intrepidity
with which the ships company endeayored
TO snrmount the obstacles opposed 10 their ef
forts by the climate, and the fearful and dan
gerous Consequences resulting from these
exertions were almost incredible; and, in.
deed, their return, after the absence of IL
months, the greater part of the time hemned
IN by one wide impossible sheet of ice, an.
pears all but miraculous The hardshins
endured, the dangers encountered and ri
umphed over, are Of such character as
must render their history at once affecting
and interesting. la F
On Sunday night last, the ship put in at
Tough Swilly, in almost sinking condition.
the men necessarily laboring at the pumps,
and the bull of the vessel secured by chains
and cables 10 keep her together. It appears
she was encompassed by the ice at the latter
end of August, 1886, at which time her
crew consisted Of sixty souls, including off,
GERS, who were at various times exposed to
the most imminent perils from the constant
conclusion Of huge masses OF ice, which
were dashed against the vessel with trernen
dous violence, threatening either sudden
and violent death, and, in the event of es-
cape from this danger, TO avail; slow but GER
tain destruction by the appalling means of
famine and cold. Deprived OF fresh proyis
ions or vegetables Of any kind, disease spread
among them with a rapidly only equalled
by its virulcnce; twenty-five were together
afflicted with that well known scourge of that
latitude, the scurvy. TO which three of them
fell victims Donaldson. the gunner; sea.
man named james Walker; and Alexander
Young. marine. No efforts on the part OF
the medical men who attended them could
avert the consequences; and. oppressed by
an accumulation OF suferings which they
were unable TO endure, they died under the
disease. The vessel lay in that pcrlous po-
sition for four months, drifting to and fro
near Cape Comfort; then driven BY the cur
rent of ice along Southampton Island, as far
as Sea Horse Point, off Baffin then at the
mercy of the wind and tide, through Hud.
sons Straits, by Charles Island. along the
Labrador Coast On the 10th OF August
they passed Resolution Island
From the goth of September they lay Sur
rounded, exposed to all the horrors Of the
arctic climate, with the thermometer 40 de-
grees below zero, until the ice commenced
breaking away in February 1887. On
the 18th Of March they experienced the
greatest shock they had yet encountered, a
mountain Of ice striking the ship with the
utmost violence, and rendng away every i'm
mediate barrier, without the slightest percep.
tble effort The decks were Obliged 10 be
dashed to each other to prevent their separa-
ting, and the planks rising from Their fasien-
ings; the stern posts, dead wood, and ancr
part ofthe keel was knocked away In con.
sequence Of the repeated collisions, the water
gained on the ship and she was shaken from
stem to stern; a chain cable was passed
round her to keep her together, the men
constantly at the pumps to keep out the wa
ter, which at one time rose 10 seven feet in
the hold Every exertion being made at this
time 10 prevent her falling TO peces--men
and officers all emuous and working labo.
riously as they could. knowing their safety
depended on the result Of their exertions.--
So unremhiing and fatiguiug were the tolls
they endured, that all were excorated more
or less. aa e1 aaN aar
The ship was built purposely for the ex-
petition, being eight feet in depth through
the bow and stern, two feet seven inches in
the sides, with five additional bulkheads
athwart ships, of four inch oak planks; and
two extra fore and aft ones of the same
lthickness, two feet from the side each side
filled up withtwenty-fve tons OF coal for fur
Their strength and security.
BY the impetus Of the ice the bow was
lifted clean out OF the water as lar as The
mainmast; her stern as far as the seven foo
mark. was placed in the same prcdicament
In this condition she continued for 100 days
AT the expiration of that time they got d
Ithrty-five foot ice-saw, worked by shears
and commenced the faliguing operation Of
cutting through the bulk Of ice under her
measuring in thickness more than thirty
feet. On the / lth of July they had compile
ted SO much of their task as but two or three
feet Of the stern remained, when she righted
Immediately on this they made sail on th'
vessel, but tremendous wedge sluckto hel
starboard side between her fore and inair
chains, and they ware compelled 10 have re
course TO the saw again. not being able Il
free themselves by any other method. b,
means of purchases applied 10 the vast lump
il rose from under the bottom as twas freed
aud, according TO the laws of gravitation
Aoated abovethe water, being the lighter DO
dy. throwing the vessel on her beam ends