Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1872-02-21
OFF NEWFOUNDLAND.
The Steamer City of Halifax Locked IN
-- Seventy Miles of Ice.
Corresnondence New York Herald

? OFF NEWFOUNDLAND.
The Steamer City of Halifax Locked i'm
Seventy Miles of Ice.
Correspondence New York Herald.
, On BOARD THE CITY OF HALIFAX,
#. January %, 1872.
: All our passengers were aroused at
an early hour this morning by the re-
: peated cries of Ice off the starboard
: bow ~ and e lee dead ahead !" In a
dense fog off the coast of Newfound-
land these announcements are far
greater cause for fear than the raging
l of the hurricane which threatens to tear
; assunder the hull and spars that are
l battling against it.
AN OCEAN SCENE IN THE MORNING.
Aoout breakfast time this morning
. the fog began to clear off, and at nine
: A. NJ a sublime but monotonous scene
occupied all the visible space around us
from the ship to the horizon, in every
direction. Nothing save a little lake
o of open water about the ships length
ahead separated us from an ocean of
ice. Boulders, hillocks and plains of
. heavy field ice, with an ccasional bergh
. towering above the huge excrescences
of the frozen sea, blockaded us on all
sides.
DOWN THE SIDE AND HUNTING IN THE ICE.
We remained thus hemmed in for
ten hours, during which several of the
passengers yentured out on the ice as
desirable relief from the e7oet7e5 of ship
board An additional inducement to
disembark arose from the report that
seals had been seen by the lookout, "
Q at the mast head Armed with revolv-
ers and a double barreled rifle party
composed of four gentlemen left the
ship. Fearing to lose sight of the ship
we took direction in which the ice
was not INSTRUCTED by berghs and
boulders.
We had travelled about quarter of a
mile through the rough field ice when
the surface became ominously soft and
IS slushy. 1t was, therefore, proposed by
the chief officer, who was one OF our
party, that we would return to the ship,
but in a different direction.
SIGHTING GAME AND TUMBLING IT.
Returning, we had not advanced
more than a hundred feet when I saw
two dark moving objects on boulder
about the same distance ahead of u.s.
On examining them with my field glass
[ at once pronounced them to be old
seals. Our rifles and revolvers having
been tested we moved on toward the
game as quickly as it is possible to
move through broken bumpers and
over hillOcks and boulders of field ice.
Being within gunshot of the two IN
fortunates we stood and cast lots for
the first shot of the rifle, the winner to
bear the expense of winning tie party.
An elderly Scotch gentleman, whose
fame as an expert sportsman is of no
mean degree, drew the longest lot and
then drew the first trigger. A splendid
old harp seal, oily and plump, tumbled
n over the boulder to the level ice. The
!. other barrel being discharged, the com
i rade of the fallen phoca fell dead be-
x side it's mate, and then we all rushed
q to witness the spoils of our romantic
e tournament on the surface of the North
+ Atlantic, 400 miles from sight of land.
/. One of the victims lay quite dead, it's
/ fippers calmly folded on it's breast and
q It's head hanging over a lump of ice.
: The other was dying slowly from bull
S let wound in the neck, but the chief
, officer dispatched the suffering animal
J, by shot from his revolver.
b The skins of those animals was of
e the most delicate texture, and their
: forms we're large and beautifully SYM
t metr1cal.
}, As none of the party would undertake
n to procure the valuable skins, we pro-
o posed to hire the services of one of the
f seamen or the butcher for that pur-
e pose.
s A WONDERFUL AND AGREEABLE SURPRISE
: Having reached a spot within rifle
u range Of our steamer, we discovered
L that there were other hunters on the
u ice besides ourselves, for we heard two
e shots fired in rapid succession about
: twenty yards on our right Placing a
q red necktie on a boulder of ice near by
t as guide to the spot where the dead
e seals lay, we started in what we judged
u to be the direction in which the shots
e were fred. We had not advanced many
S PAGES when we were extremely aston
. ished by the apparition of two ladies,
! who were admiring the form of dying
I seal.
l One of these ladies, a well-known
4 = observation-disclosures, Mrs. Warrington, is
Il an excellent shot, and as lady sport is
/ generally proficient. It was Mrs War
L rngton who shot the seal, and she in
: sisted upon having it's skin by assuring
/. us that the mode of removing it, as
5 practiced by her countrymen, was very
J simple and In no way repulsive to the
, most delicate nature In our absence
Q Mrs. Warrington had seen this seal
5 from the deck of the steamer, and in
q stinctively she procured six shooter and
it a sheathing knife, with the one to kill
J; her game and with the other to secure
Il its skin.
o PROFITABLE OPERATION AND WE'LL PER
.. FORMED.
# The latter operation was performed
e with skill that any young surgeon
/ might envy. Adroitly Selling the
a sheathing knife Mrs. Warrington made
> a rapid and deep incision from the ton
t of the head to the hinder fipper of the
;, seal. She then put on pair of coarse
o gloves, and nearly removed the rich
T garment of the seal. CHOW" said Mrs.
a Warrington, looking trlumphantIy at
! us, 81 shall get the butcher to take
Or away that fat, and then, when I Get to
t Canada, [ shall have my beautiful seal
0 skin cape, worth forty guineas.'
3. GALL ON BOARD
:; The soft and slushy ice to which r.
referred, was the first indication of the
1 soft, but squally weather which soon
followed our seal hunt Hardly had |
Mrs. Warrington's seal skin been taken
on board by the obliging butcher when
: goodly space of water separated the |
: City of Halifax from the body of the
: ice. Toward a quarter past seven
l o'clock, when the cabin bell rang for
tea, the immense body of ice was hardly I
visible in OFF lee IT. was tho oantoiD;o