The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1862-05-02

arrived abreast of where she had been fro
zen in, the ice was broken up to within
! five miles of the land, and the schooner
was gone.
Three week: passed, and all remained
uncertain with regard to tae fate of the
| Western Trader or her brave boy COM
! mander, when he was again heard from on
the Canada side, some fifty miles to the
westward OF her former position. But be
. fore relief conld be sent TO her there came
violent gale from the westward which
broke the ice, and she was borne away
down the lake embedded ia the field Of ice
more than a hundred acres.
Next she was seen off Erie. hundred
miles to the westward Of Buffalo, and they
could not even see the boy on deck, bat it
was almost ni9ht-it was impossible to
board her, and at daylight next morning
she had disappeared.
AS there was neagre stock Of proyis>
inns on board when she left Cleveland,
peopl 10 wondered how the boy had subsist
ed during that time, and predicted lis
death by starvation, provided he schoon>
er should live out the fierce winter gales
Several times after her appearance off Erie
The " estern Trader was seen in different
parts Of the lake, but too far off TO make
out anything about her distinctly, only
that there was a smoke coming ont Of the
funnel of her cabin stove
At last one Sunday afternoon in the
month of April, about week after The
western part of the lake was clear from ice
schooner under just the head of her fore
sail, was seen ten miles outside the harbOr
of Cleveland, and as she came in brayely
between the piers, hundreds OF people on
ognzed her as the truant Western Trader,
and the brave little fellow at her helm as
Frank Merrill, the winter rover of the
lake, returned in safely from the zee voy-
age.
Such welcome rs England would have
accorded Sir John Franklin had be escaped
from the ice ribbed Arctic prison and re
turned to his native land, was given by the
citizens of Cleveland to the young ice yoy
ager, Frank Merrill.
People wondered AT first how he had
suosisteI but when they saw his well CON
dtloned face, his literal supply of boiled
and paychei corn, and the way in which
he had cut away the schooner's rail. wind
lass aud joiner work of her cabin for fuel,
they wondered no longer. The young
commander of the winter cruiser got his
twelve dollars a month, besides many
handsoms present from those who admired
bis courage and fidelity, and when the
Western Trader was completely repaired
a bill of sale for one half was placed in
Mrs. Merrill's hands for her sou, 5y Mr
Joseph Denuison
Long before the aunmer was over there
was no Mrs Merrill in Cleveland, and those
who inquired for her at her former resi-
dence, were directed to mansion on the
bank OF a lake some two miles from town,
where they are sure 20 find The rich Mrs
Dennsou, just as courteous aud happy to
meet them as oven the poor widow Merrill
had been
Frank Merrill is at the present time one
of the most popular steamboat captains on
Lake Erie. And one Of the nobIest traits
in his character is, that he vet loves, res
poets, and make his home with his mother
while Mr. Dennisou he calls father, and
loves him quite as well as he could If he
really were his father