The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1858-02-11
A Dismal Plight.--A Good Story.

Sir John Vaudeville, an old British
navigator, gives soDe astonishing reports
of adventures in the Arctic seas-sueb,
for example, as the following:
We were separated by storm in the
latitude of Seventy three, in>omuch that
only the ship which | vas in, with DCfcb
aud French vessel, got safe into creek
of Nova Zembla. We landed in order to
refit our vessels, and store ourselves with
provisions. The crew of each vessel R,ade
themselves a cabin Of turf and wood at
some distance from each other, to fence
themselves against the inclemencies Of the
weather, which was severe beyond imag-
ination. We soon Observed that. in talk
ius to one another, we lot several Of our
words, and could pot hear one another at
above two yards distance, and that too
when we sat very near the fire. After
much perplexity, found that our words
froze in the air before they could resch
the ears Of the person to whom they were
spoken | was soon confirmed in this
conjecture. when. upon the increase of
the cold, the whole company grew duab,
or rather deaf; for every man vas seusi-
bic. as we afterwards found that be spoke
as well as ever, but the sounds 40 sooner
took air than they were condensed and
lost 1t vas now a miserable spectacle
to see Us nodding and gaping at one an
other, every nan talking, and DO man
heard One might ob-erVe a sesmau
that could hail ship at leagues dis
tance. beck oning with his hand, straiuiDg
his lungs, and tearing his throat; but all
In vain:
Nor voice, nor words ensued.
We continued here three weeks in this
dismal plight. At leugtb upon turn Of
wind the air about Us began to thaw. Our
cabin was Immediately filed with dry
clatteriug sound, which | afterwards found
to be the crackGD con-onats that broke
above our heads, aud very often mixed
with geutle Kissing, which imputed to
the letter as" that occurs so frequently in
the english tongue. soon after felt a
breeze Of whispers rushing by my ear ;
for those, being of a soft aud gentle sub
stance, Immediately liquifeG iu the warm
wind that blew across our cabin. These
were soon followed by entire sentences,
that melted sooner or later, as they were
more or less coOgealed; so that we BOW
heard everything that had been spoken
during the whole three weeks, that we
bad been silent, if may use the express
sion. 1t was now very early 10 the NOR
ming aud yet to my surprise, L heard
somebody say "Sir John, it is midnight
and time for the ships crew to 20 to bed.
This L knew to be the pilot p; a I'D, upon re-
collecting myself, | concluded that be bad
spoken those words to ne some days be-
fore, though | could not hear them until
the present thaw. Ny reader will easily
imagine how the whole crew was amazed
to hear every man talking, and see no
man opening his mouth. Ia the midst of
this great surprise we were all in, we
heard a volley of oaths and curses, last
ing for q long while. and uttered in We
ry boarse voice, which knew belonged
to the boatswain, who was very choler-
10 fellow, and had taken this opportunity
of cursing and swearing at me when he
thought | could not hear bim; for | had
several times given hin the strappado on
that account, as | did not fail to repeat
IT for these his pious soliloquies when i
got bin on sbipboard