The weekly Minnesotian. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1852-1858, 1856-12-06
Parting Hawsers among Ice Berss.

The following thrilling adventure is from
DIR. Kane's new work on his second Arcti,
Expedition. 1t occurred during the last few
days of the nor:hward voyage of the Ad
vance, before she made her winter harbor
The "pack,' which consists of floating ict
driven together in large masses, was fast be-
coming consolidated by the newly formed
ice of the cold August nights. TIE foes,
detached portions ofthe great ice-felds' were
running furiously with the tides. The shore
ice was too broken and rotten t. allow the
men to drag the brig along its margin by
tackling; and the only resource was to take
advantage of the "leads - or navigablc open
ings of the ice, when wind and tide favored
and by boring through the foe one lead tc
another. Sometimes, however, jdst as the
staunch little vessel had entered a lead, Ill
would suddenly become entansled in the
drifting foe, and huge pack wonld b al
down upon it with ominous grinding. This
was one OF their narrOwest escapes
1t blew perfect hurricane. We had
seen it coming, and were ready with three
good hawsers out ahead, and all things snug
on board.
Still it came on heavier and heavier, and
the ice began to drive more wildly than |
thought had ever seen it. had inst turn
ed in to warm and dry myself during the
momentary lull, and was stretching myself
out on the bunk, when I heard the sharp
twan9ing snap of cord Our six inch haw-
ser had parted, and we were swinging by the
two others; the gale roaring like line to
the southwark.
Half minute more, and twang, twansr'
came second report. l knew it was the
whale line by the shrillness of the ring. Our
noble ten-inch MANILA still held on. was
hurrying my last sock into it, seal skin boot
when Notary came waddling down the
mpanion-ladders. "Capt. Kane, she WON'T
hold much longer; its blowing the blue devil
himself, and am afraid to surge"
The manila cable was proving its excel
lence when l reached the deck and the
crew, as they gathered round me, were loud
N its praise. We could hear it's deep Eolian
chant, swelling through all the rattle of the
running gear and moaning of the shrouds.
IL seas the death song! The strands gave way
with the noise of shotted gun; and in the
smoke that followed the recoil, we were
dragged out by the wild ice, at its mercy.
We steadied and did some pretty warping,
and got the brig good bed in the rushing
drift but it came to nothing. We then
tried to beat back through the narrow ice
clogged water way, that was driving, quar-
ter Of a mile wide, between the shore and
the pack. 1t cost us two hours Of hard la
Dor, l thought skillfuliy bestowed; but at
the end of that time, we were at least four
miles off, opposite the great valley in the
centre of Bedeville Reach. Ahead of us,
further to the north, we could see the
straight still narrower, and the heavy ice
tables grinding up, and clogging it between
tue shore cliffs Oh one side, and the ledge on
the other. There was but one thing left for
us to keep in some sort the command of
the helm by going freely where we must
otherwise be driven. We allowed her to
stand on a reefed fore-top sail; all hands
watching the enemy, as we closed, in si-
lence.
At seven in the morning, we were close
upon the piling masses. We dropped our
heaviest anchor with the desperate hope of
winding the brig; but there was no with
standing the ice torrent which followed us.
We had only time to fasten spar as buoy
to the ship, and let her slip. So went our
best bower.
Down we went upon the gale again, hope
lessly scraping along lee of ice seldom less
than thirty feet thick; and foe, measured by
a line as We tried to flsten to it, more than
forty. / had seen such ice only once before,
and never in such rapid motion. One up
turned mass rose above our gunwale, smash
ing in our bulwarks, and depositing half a
ton of ice in a lump on our decks. Our little
brig bore herself through all this wild ad-
venture as though she had charmed life.
But new enemy came in sight ahead
Directly in our way, just beyond the line ol
hoe ice, against which we were alternately
sliding and humping, was group of bergs
We had no power to avoid them; and the
only question was, whether we were to be
dashed against them, or whether they might
not offer US some providential nook or refuge
from the storm. But as We neared them,
We perceived that they were at some distance
from the foe edge, and separated from it by
an interval OF open water. Our hopes rose
as the gale drove us toward the passage, and
into it; and we were ready to cxult, when
from some unexplained cause, probably an
eddy of the wind against the lofty ice-walls,
we lost our head-way. Almost at the same
moment, we saw that the bergs were not at
rest; that with momentum of their own
they were bearing down upon the other ice
and that it must be our fate to be crushed
between the two.
Just then broad sconce-piece of low wa
ter-washed berg came driving from the south,
ward. The thought flashed upon me of one
of our escapes in Melville Bay, and as the
sconce moved rapidly close alongside US, Nc
Gary managed to plant an anchor on the
slope, and to hold on to it by whale-lne
1t was an anxious moment. Our noble tow.
horse, whittier than the pale horse that seem,
ed to be pursuing us, hauled us hravely on
the spray dashing over his windward fanks
and his forehead plowing up the lesser ice as
if in scorn. The bergs encroached upon us
as we advanced; our channel narrowed to a
width Of about forty ieet; we braced the
yards to keep clear of the impending ice
walls.
We passed clear; but it was close shave
so close that our port quarter-boat would
have been crushed if we had not taken il
from davits and found ourselves under th,
lee of berg, in a comparatively open lead
Never did heart-tried men acknowledge will
more gratitude, their merciful deliveranc,
from a wretched death.
FTUT c%opJ cold n urosforo of,,,or p