New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1860-05-30
A Gloomy Night,



Bonsan and myself accompanied By two Of The
men, set or over the ice To Try to reach HE life-
boat foot. The head or die cove yrfserf II lar
was distant two miles we were at about tile same
Instance M from Lyttlcton Island. The Docs were
tightly packed, and ws found no diffcuitF hi at..
complaining onr purpose. The dsp0e was reachsd
In N hour dss4s Ss lEl' - r. r 81 E77
It remained undisturned. evidently NET ha,frxsl
been discovered By the natives. The boat wsn
turned bottom mp, and under ii law the articles -
posted there ny DIR. Kane. There Werp besidex
the oars and SAIL two barrels of bread one of r50r
and another of beef; about thirty pounds Of rfce.
Iag H. sane rsf dfnanty e sagar sagcepan aa ept
an ice anchor, an Ice ehisel, rum hatcf.et fSy
small poles and some pieces Of wood
we could not take Hsech Of this provision sirsce
backs. We, however, selected each arIieiep ~
were mcst needed and as could tie most xeaff5pT
transported in this manner vs. -
Ascending the hill side little way, we observed
fnat the eastern shore of Iyttleton island was
mainly free from ice, while the pack WIS locked
upon ifs northern cape, and stretched up tie west
and north as far as we could see. From the beach
Where we stood to the open water Of this island
was about mile. 1t was fully double that dis-
sanee " where our companions lay with tile Hope
oince We must drag the boat and carry fke
We enoae the shortest distance intending
:; ~ i,ytsleion isiand, and there await the break
~ 1ne Y storm the loosening of the pack and
saa ~ ooas g. ,s, Va lshs and hsd the haek been
but after leaving the land ice CIR roate
closely tammed pack OF pieces of ia III sl,,,ss1 4
M esery Y snaps ana size some of them beiaE foot
were hauling the boat Hp precfuies a. 10 q
ting her down another. Added q ff;s sssss1S1,
was the feeling Of constant insecurity for Il WuI
have been perfectly IN character f0x fie
suddenly to take flight ID s 49, " ss;ss
seqnently compelled to keep cur dfEet1fx Sf}3S5 3
as near together as possible First We carris5 f3{
ward the boat about hundred yards. tIen piSes
MIA xNAnY
operation being repeated about dozen firseI -
reachd finally, in six hours, the open water
BY this time i was blowing regular gale, staI
irom the north-east The pack had partially
idly down through the channel. To w0fk between
these driving masses was an operation attended,
with no little difficulty Once We came near beng
crushed. :,
4 Lyttieton Island, which was at length reached. (.
b the largest OF the granite knobs which ife ~ Y
cluster at the south side OF Life-h0at Bay Il II
about three quarters OF mile in diameter ana Is
half . mile in width. S3 IA m 81
Everything gave promise Of dirty nssi;t. Tb.
sky was overcast Light clouds went dif1fur
disclosing t~nsng wi sa & ne
magnitude. II was mot dark, for the sum #as natS
yet far beneath the horizon; But dull, Rl0or,Y
twilight. Already we were wett the skin with
the dashng spray. The mercury stood 1T To ana
the water was freezing upon our clothes. NE
must either land ON the island, or run before ffte
wind down under Cape Ohlaen, i've miles s0xfh
This last would carry us too far from or comrxde4
of the Hope, and we determined to land on the
island if possible. 8Assaas
The shore was steep almost perpendicular
and II was some time before we found d place
which offered the least chance for execufSn9 mn
intention. At length we discovered little cove.
or rather cleft in the rock about twenty feet III
width and twice as deep. The rocks I'd The rfght
and behind were vertical; but the cleft run of u
the left, and there the rock slDped gradually uJ,-
ward. If we struck this inclined plane, BY 4 for
tunate turn OF the boat after entering we ah0nI{s
be landed in safety. The boat was headed Bauare 81
for the opening, the men gave way Oh their oars,
and we rode in on top Of q swell which. as 1t re-
treated. lett us high and dry. Next mem snt all s
hands sprang out, and sezing the boat by the gun
Wale, hauled her out of danger. r s n 4
There was gloomy prospect for the night No
where could we find protection against the wind,
which not only swept in from the sea, hut came
furiously down upon us through the rocky goYges.
We had not as much as blanket to cover tls, anil
the cold gusts blew most cruelty through our
water soaked cloth coats and canvass parfa100ns.
We clambered about in the darkness along the
rocky ledge, under great black wall, hunting ID
vain for lea but no sooner had we found d p1ace
which seemed to offer protection. than the wind
shifted. Indeed 1t seemed to blow, in one and the
same minute, from every quarter Of the heavens,
north, south, east and west; and when II couldnot
get at MS from either of these directions II rolled
down over the Cliffs and fell upon US like an ave-
lanehe.
We returned to the place where we had landed,
and erected an extempore tent. One end of an
oar was thrust into crack in the rock the other
end was supported upon barrel Over this was
spread the sail. After securing the corners with
heavy stones, we crawled in, but we thus OBJ
on every side. Bonsall and Godfrey finally gave
way under the pressure OF fatigue and long ex-
posure, and shivered themselves to sleep. would
have given much to have been able to forget, IN
Of the question. Unable longer to bear the cola.
i drew myself out from the sail, determined to
thaw my frozen blood by rcn about the island.
John followed, muttering something like, !" be-
leve they could sleep with their heads in a tub OF
water
I was nearly blown of as clambered up The
steep rocks but reached at length the level table
above and ran to and fro, from east to west and
from west to east, for about an hour until had
got pretty well warmed; l then faced about and
in the teeth of the gale tuthe north cape Of the
island. To the north. west and south, the sea was
dotted with bergs, loose hummocks or streams of
pack-ice, against which the waves were 1ashing
themselves into foam. To the northeast could
trace the outline OF the solid pack in one long line
of dashing spray. There had left four comrades.
There they must have remained, but the mist and
darkness were too great to permit me to detect
them. Itwas now about midnight.
took another turn about the island, and came
back to the same spot. The wind was blowing
less fiercey; the clouds opend and moved snllenly
away, and the stars shone out In unohstrucfad
beauty. Thepack had separated, and great streams
of ice were pouring down thruugh the channel to
down to a point where could command a full
view Of the channel, and watched every piece Of
ice, expecting to the Hope and her crew adrift.
| had not looked long before discovered some
thing dark upon one Of the floating fields. Itwaa
q man, and soon made out that it was John.
called to him. but he either did not hear or did not
heed my voice. The tumult might well have
drowned my voice. What he was dsing there, or
how he got there, could not imagine. He was
standing in the middle of the crystal rift, with
nothing around him but the raging waters, which
were breaking over ii. Directly the foe foated
into the midst of q long stream Of broken masses.
The moment the collision came he spraDg forward,
and then away he went, bounding from foe to foe,
springing crack alter crack with the ieetness of
deer Once again saw him adrift upon an isolated
field, and thus he must have ioated several minutes
before the pack closedu up. watched him until he
was lost to sight in the mist and spray and dark
AT length change Of tide brought change OF
scene; the ice was set in motion the pack which
had so closely hugged the land was loosened, and
stretched its long out over the water to the
westward. Broad leads ran through the body af
it. Bonsas quick eye first detected something
dark moving upon the water.
]" see the boat! he shouted to me.
Where away ~
I" Coming down through the iIlshore lead m
There she was with all sail set bearing directiy
for the island. By o'clock her party brought up
on the sonth side of our encampment. counted
them as they hoated by--one, two, three, four,
In1u fbas.f. ss8