Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1855-12-26
THRILLING STORY.

AAAAA4NO O4OhI-
The following was communicated bv
Mr.. E. Merriam to the Porthmouth Jour.
nal
As early as 98s, Errick Rande, an
lcelandic chief, fitted out an expedition
OF twenty-five galleys at Suefell, and
having manned with sufficient crews of
colonlsts, set forth from Iceland to what
appeared more congenial climate. They
sailed upon the ocean fifteen days, and
they saw no land. The next day brought
with 1t storm, and many a gallant
vessel sunk in the deep. Mountains of
Ice covered the water as far as eye could
reach, and but a few galleys escaped de-
struction. The morning of the seven
teenth day was clear and cloudless; F.; the
sea was calm, and far away to the north
ward could be seen the glare ofice-6elds
rejecting on the sky. The remains of
shattered fleets gathered together to per.
sue their voyage, but the the galley of
Errlck Rande was not there. The crew
OF galley which was driven further
down than the rest, reported that as the
morning broke, the large Fl OF i,s
that had covered the ocean were driven
by the current past them and that they
beheld the galley of Errick Rande borne
by resistless force and the speed of the
wind before tremendous field of ice
her crew had lost all control over her
they were tossing their arms in wild ago
ny. Scarcely a moment had elapsed be-
fore 1t was walled in by hundred ice
hills, and the whole mass moved forward
and W IS soon beyond the horizon. That
the galley of the narrator escaped, was
wonderfull-it remained, however, un-
cOntradic'ed, and the vessel of Errick
K Rinde was never more seen.
Half a century after that, a Danish
colony was established on the western
coast of Greenland. The crew of the
vessel which carried the colonists thith-
er, in their excursions into the interior,
crossed range of hills that stretched to
the northward; they had approached
nearer to the pole than any preceding
adventurers. Upon looking down from
the summit of the hills, they beheld a
vast and interminable field of ice, undu-
lating in various places, and formed in a
thousand grotesque shapes. They saw
not far from the shore, figure in an
iced vessel, with glittering icicles in
stead of masts rising from it. Curiosi-
ty prompting them to approach, they
beheld dismal sight. Figures of men
in every attitude of woe, were upon the
deck, but they were ice things then; one
figure alone stood erect, and with fold
ing arms, leaning against the mast. A
Ratchet was procured and the ice cut
away, and the features of a chieftain dis
closed, pallid, and deadly, and free from
decay. This was doubtless the vessel,
and that figure the form of Errick Ran
de. Benumbed with cold, and in the
agony of despair, his crew had fallen
around him. The spay of the ocean and
the fogs had frozen as it lighted upon
them, and covered each figure with an
ice robe, which the short-lived glance of
a Greenland sun had not time to remove.
The Danes gazed upon the spectacle
with trembling. They knew not but the
scene might be their fate. They knelt
down upon the deck and muttered a
prayer in their native tongue for the souls
Of the frozen crew, then hurliedly left the
place, for night was approaching.