Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1870-06-03
WRECKED UpOS ICE.

American Atatibn hired and equipped a
number of small fast sailing schooners,
and dispatched them from Halifax, Nova
Scotia, TO cruise on the banks, for the
double purpose of stopping encroach-
ment, andnalsosof preventing the New
foundland fishermen from smuggling cape
lin "a small fish used for bait for cod) to
the French risland of Saint Pierre, on
whose rock bound coast II is not to be
caught. OF ote of these schooners was
put In charge, and II was. while running
through the Straits Of Belleisle, that the
adventure am about to relate occurred
TO me,
had been tisiting the stations on the
coast of Labrador, and was returning to
Saint Johns, ewfoundland, through the
straits, When one evening was caught in
heavy Northefiy gale As night closed
in, reduced our sail to treble reefs, and,
knowing that fee was knocking about,
placed extra lookouts on, and remained
on deck 10 chaige of the vessel myself.
To sayNthe night was dark would give
no idea of the ihky iobscurity in which we
appeared to be sailtng.i zone could scarce
" see arosrm's length, and as for discern
ing anything Bhead, that appeared i'm |
possible. II say appeared, because there |
is much difference in having something |
to look at andl nothing; because, in the |
latter case, yop. fancy nothing could be |
seen, evensif any thing were there to be
seen. aIssyt tga s' ''t ."
Meantime, the, breeze kept increasing,
and had the close reefs taken in. At
midnight we were beading well out of the |
straits, and1 Thought I would go below
and endeavor to snatch an hours sleep,
and was int eSact of giving my orders to
the officer 0f the watch, when loud cry
from the lookout men of "a sail ahead,
standing right for Sus, sir r. startled me.
Rushing forward, saw the heavy, indis-
tinct form of what thought to be large
vessel under press of canvas, within a
cables length OF US ri
"Luffl fuff all you can!" beloved to
the man at the helm; but he, either mis-
understanding my order, or else having
caught sight of the object we were ap.
preaching, was too terrified to carry it
out, and, instead of putting the helm
down, put it hard swesther. The schooner
fell off, felt the full force Of the gale, and
flew with Fedoubled speed through the
In almost less time than it has taken
me to write the ABOVE half dozen lines, l
saw that it was no sail, but gigantic
iceberg! Had the helmsman luffed, we
might perchance have weathered it; but
it was now too late, and, with loud and
fearful crash, which threw myself and all
near me to the deck, the schooner struck
full upon it her foremast going short off
by the board, but fortunately injuring no
one.
Cries Of horror and distress arose from
all parts Of the vessel. The watch below
rushed upo on deck, many of them with
out their clothes. All was for moment
dismay and confusion, and as the schooner
rose and fell with the heave of the sea-
the crashing forward showed that her
bows were stove in, and at once saw that,
unless she fixed herself upon the ice, she
must if she backed off it, go down. Most
fortunately, she showed no sign of doing
this, and, as the force of the wind aided
by every heave of the sea, forced her still
further on. the berg, began to entertain
some slight hopes of saving my crew.
Collecting all hands, told them that
the only chance we had of escape was by
their regaining their GOODNESS and strictly
obeying my orders, and that, could we
but land on the berg, we should be COM
paratively safe.
thenvdireeted one watch to get up pro-
visions, while with the other got the
mainmast safely cut away. This done,
secured the end of the deep sea lead line
round my body, and, laying out along the
bowsprit, lowered myself by rope end,
and landed on part of the ice which the
waves did not reach, and with some diff
ficulty succeeded in scrambling up per-
fectly clear, of the spray. Here found a
tolerably leEel space. The schooner had
struck on the least precipitous side of the
berg, and, having run nearly half her
length upsout of the water, had become
firmly fixed; but this, of course, did not
discoverAntil the day broke.
Returning cautiously, / hailed for a
stronger rope, and regained the deck
found that during my absence quantity
of provisions and clothing had been got
on deck, which directed to be made into
bundles, and having directed each person
to secure one to his body, caused the
men to land on the berg in the manner /
had dopeE myself Had 1 known how
firmly fxed the schooner was, we might
have been spared that nights discomfort
but not hnoWing, L deemed it advisable
to abandonaher at once, fearing she might
glide of, in which case no mortal power
could have rescued US.
Leaving the vessel the last, Joined my
men on the ice, and then, in few bu
fervent words, we thanked the Almighty
for our escape, and implored His protec
ton.
1 can scarcely picture the horrors of tina
night. IBpuld fain indeed forget them
but thatS Is impossible. We had pre-
served our lives for the present moment
but we knew not at what moment tn,
schooner might break up or glide off th,
ice, and then what could we expect bu
starvation in its worst form? Strange t.
say, we did not suffer so much from tn,
cold as might have been expected proba
bly, the sense. of our greater danger
rendered US less susceptible to the lesse
one.
We had many hours to wait for day
light, but essseveral of the men had thei
pipes and tobacco in their pockets, and
had a box of lights, we smoked, and b'
keeping Close buddled together, 90
through the night better than nigh
have been expected. To favor us still
further, the wind fell very much, ant
veering round to the southwark, made i
much warmer.
Morning dawned at last, and what
change from the previous dayI Then w
had good Aauneh vessel under our feet
now, " ewefe aefift on an iceberg, ou
poor little schooner half in, half out, O
water, WITH d hole in her bows big enough
to drive q wagon through but the storm
had ceasedran the-sea wassrapidly goinj
down. Asthick fog came on, but that vi
cared little about
Our first act was to again offer our thank
to that beneficent Power who had 8,
mercifully spared us This done, we de
scended TO the wreck, and then saw tina
she was sc. hfmly fixed that, unless heav,
weather, again came on, we might We
make hef dohr home for some time /,
come, although quite out of our powe
to make.here eeaworthy again, even if |
had been possible for us to launch her
which it moAtydeeidedly, was not.
Climbing on board, the cook was at ono
set to light the galley fire, and prepar
breakfast, and l then cast about for som
means 0fsecuring, her in her position, ant
this detSrmfhed. to do, by laying tn
bower anchors out on the ice, and heavinj
In taut on'the cables. -'.t
Breakfast loyelr. .swe rugged pair sheers
and dismOuntings one OF our two guns
got its esrfiage over the bows, and lower