Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1872-05-28

heave of the sea, forced her still
further on the berg, I began to enter
tain some hopes of saving my crew.
Collecting all hands, I told them
that the only chance we had of es-
cape was by their regaining their cool
ness and strictly obeying my orders,
and that, could we but land on the
berg, we should be comparatively SAFE
l then directed one watch to get up
provisions, while with the other / got
the mainmast safely cut away. This
done, 1 secured the end of the deep
sea lead-line around my body, and lay
ing out along the bowsplit, Inlowered
myself by q ropeiend, and landed on
part of the ice which the waves did
not reach, and with some difficulty
succeeded in scrambling up perfectly
clear of the spray. Here / found a
tolerably level space. The schooner
had struck on the least PERCEPTIONS
side of the berg, and having run near
ly half her length out of the water,
had becorns firmly fixed; but this, Of
course, 1 did not discover until the
DAY broke.
Returning cautiously, I hailed for
strong rope, and regained the deck.
l found that during my absence a
quantity Of provisions and clothing
had been got on deck, which direct
ed to be made into bundles, and hav-
ing directed each person to secure one
to his body, caused the men to land
on the berg in the manner / done my
self. Had l known how firmly fixed
the schooner was, We might have
spared that nights discomfort; but,
not knowing, l deemed it advisable to
abandon her at once, fearing she might
glide off, in which no mortal power
could have rescued it. .
Leaving the vessel the last, joined
my men on the ice, and then, in fcw
but fevernt words, we thanked the
Almighty four our escape, and implor-
ed His projections. lIl ailr.m yil.l
1 can scarcely picture the horrors
of that night. t would fain indeed
forget them, but that is impossible
We had preserved our lives for the
present moment, but we knew not at
what moment the schooner might
break up or glide off the ice, and then
what could we e,expect but starvation
in its worst form ? Strange to say,
we did not suffer 30 much from the
cold as might have been expected /;
probably the sense of our greater dan
ger rendered us less susceptible to the
lesser one. a w iauU0To2 o.
We had many hours to wait for day
light, but as several of the fnen had
their pipes and tobacco in their pock.
cts, and I had box of lights, we
smoked, and by keeping close huddled
together got through the night better
than might have been expected. To
favor us still further, the wind fell
very much and veering around to the
southwark, made it much warmer.
Morning dawned at last, and what
a change from the previous day =
Then we had good, staunch vessel
under our feet; now, we were adrft
on an iceberg, our poor schooner half
in, half out of water, with a hole in
her bows big enough to drive a wag-
on through; but the storm had ceas-
ed, and the sea was rapidly going
down. A thick fog came on, but that
we cared little about. TUat io yHaa
Our first act was to again offer up
our thanks to that benefcient Power,
who had SO mercifully spared us. This
done, we descended to the wreck, and
then saw that she was so firmly fixed
that unless heavy weather again came
on, we might yet make her our home
for some time to come, although out of
our power TO make her Iseaworthy
again, even if it had been possible for
us to launch her, which it most decid-
edly was not. ~ .e
Climbing on board, the cook was at
once set to light the galley fire, and
prepare breakfast, and I then cast
about for some means of securing her
in her position, and this 1 determined
to do, by laying the bow anchors on
the ice, and heaving in tsut on the ca
bles. u.tfrG fu fsr
Breakfast over, we rugged pair Of
sheers, and dismounted one of our
two guns, got Its carriage over the
bows, and lowering the starboard an
chor into it, contrived by the aid Of q
deck-tacle 70 drag il up to the level
space we had spent the night on.
This done, we served the port an
chm the same, and then dragged the
ends of the cables to them and re-
! hackhcld them. We then by the aid