The Albany register. [volume] (Albany, Or.) 1868-18??, 1871-11-11
Destruction of tEse Whaling Fleet.

Z
News Of the destruction of the
whaling fleet In the Arctic ocean, was
received III san Francisco on the 5th.
The fleet was driven upon mud
shoals by ice which drifted down
from the northwest in immense fields.
and grounded i'll II to II feet of
water, showing It's great thickness.
The loss will aggregate a million
and Il half OF dollars. The oil lost
amounts to Is, ,o65 barrels Of whale.
9,065 Of sperm, and zoe, goo pounds
. OF bone. All the San Francisco YES
sells out this year We're lost, togeth-
er with the Florida, Carlotta, Vic
toria, Julian, Awashonks, Minerva,
William Roberts, Mary Roman and
! Comet. Nine persons rerished IN
the SEellekoif. The last who died
was Ashley Crane, son Of Judge
Crane, Of Almeda county, Cal. lie
was on his way to superintend a
sugar plantation at Callao. He
died before the steamship Moses
Taylor hove in sight. The vessel
had been water-logcel, drifting help
lessly 10 days, during which time
nothing could be obtained from be-
low, and the s,ltferings of the crew
were terrible until death relieved
them.
Captains of the whalers Arctic,
Gay Head, Minerva, Eliza Swift,
Reindeer and Eugenia, which had
arrived at Honolulu, furnished the
following details Of the whaling
fleet: The vessels had commenced
arriving at Cape Thadeus the lst of
May. On the first of June the ice
opened and let the fleet up within
sight OF Navarino. TIE fleet work
ing northward, found some whales
crossing the sea of Anadyr. In
Behring sea whales were more plenti-
ful, but much trouble was met from
ice, and when the fleet arrived at
Cape Behring and Ployer Bay. the
whales had passed into the Arctic,
whittier the fleet followed, meeting
with fair success until about the 1st
of September, when ice foes and
bergs OF great extent commenced
drifting down, and by the 10th a
number ot'vessels had been sunk.
and the bulk of the remainder hem
med III aud driven ashore. Septem-
Der ID the brig Comet was stove
and sunk. On the 7th the Roman
was lifted bodily out of the sea bv
two floes, and crushed like an eon
shell. The crew narrowly escaped.
The Florida and Victoria, of San
Francisco, were crushed. Septem-
Der 18th the captains of the fleet
hemmed III between Point selcher
and Wainwright Inlet held a meet
ing and resolved to abandon the
vessels i'll order to save the lives of
the crews, which was done, and
1900 sailors took refuge on board
the remainder of the fleet which had
been fortunate enough to escape out
side before the ice closed in. The
vessels thus abandoned are the Con-
cordia, Gay Head, George, John
Wells, Massachusetts, J.D. 1homp-
son, Contest, Morgan, Champion,
Henry Tabor, Eliza Swift, O. Crock
er, Navy, Reindeer, Fanny, George
Rowland, Paica, Eugenia, kohala
and i. Dickinson, 1t is supposed
that the whole number lost will
reach thirty-three. Those known
to be saved, with the oil secured by.
each, are as follows Arctic, 4SO
barrels /; Progress, $50; Chance,
22O sperm, 2sO whale; Daniel
| Webster, 25O; Lagoda, 72O; Eu-
ropa, $50; Midas, $50 whale, and
140 sperm. All the abandoned yes
sells will be, it is believed, total
loss, there being little chances of
even resecuring even the cargoes in
the Spring. The captain Of the
Florida arrived here by the Moses
Taylor. The news created the great
est excitement in Honolulu and
here.