The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1872-10-15
The Abandon ed Whalers i'm fine
Arctic Ocean

Arctic Ocean.
Letters have recently been received
from New Bedford whalers. giving some
account of the abandoned feet One
writer says
1Of the ships left at Point Beicher
last year, the bark Minerva lies at the
entrance of Wainwright Inlet, as good
as when abandoned in hull, but her cab
ia is n,arred considerably. she lay on
the edge Of the beach. and she swung
in shore clear of the heavy ice which
grounded outside Of her, aud so she re-.
ceived no damage. She only will be
saved.
'.The Thomas Dickson lies on her
beam end on the bank. bilged and full of
water. The bark Seneca was dragged
blythe ice some distance up the coast,
her bowsprit gone, bulwarks stove, and
Iudder carried away. She was then
frozen in solid, and so they found her.
The Reindeer sunk, and the Florida lies
ashore on Seahorse Islands, burnt to
the waters edge. All the rest of the
fleet were either carried away by the
ice or dashed to pieces in shapeless
manner, or burnt by the natives. They
burnt the Gay Head and Concordia
where they lay.
"On the bark Massachusetts, which
went around Point Barrow, there was
one white man who stayed up here last
winter. He made his escape over the
Joe, and was five days getting back to
the ships. He was about used up when
they found him this summer. The ma.
tives set out t, kill him. but the women
saved him, and aflerward the old Chief
took care of him. lie saved large
quantity of bone but the natives took
it away from him. except small guam.
tity He said Sl50,000 would nol tempt
him to try another winter In the Artic
He said that four days after he left the
ships the water froze over so that the
natives walked off to the ships, ,and four
teen days after it came on Il heavy
northwest gale, drove all but the ground
ice away. That never moved Shortly
after it blew another northeast gale, and
he said that of all , the bnulng and
smashing he ever saw, none was like
that among those ships dragging 'nto
each other during these gales. 3aa
''Some were ground to atoms, and
| what the ice spared the natives soon de-
stroyed after pillaging them of every
thing they pleased. We think the rea
son why they spared the three remain
ing ships is because they were handy to
the village, and they probably thought
they would have them to pick on. Nc
doubt they would have destroyed then
also, but they were totally unprepared
for the so speedy arrival of the white
men. The beach was lined with whale
bone and ivory, and other stuff which
they had plundered from the ships
Many articles were wantonly destroyed
and the Minerva was sight to behold
They had cut into the -four casks, anC
pulled it out and strewed it all around
"There was nothing that they coule
get at but the wanton wretchas cut into
The debris in the cabin was knee-deeI
with articles of all kinds, dirt, etc. Ev
cry thing in the run was broken open
and Its contents strewn all about. Th,
other ships were in the same condition
All the scuppers were cut out, with al
the lead they could find The sails wer
cut from the bolt-ropes, and of thos
they made tents. No sooner were the'
apprise1 of the arrival of the snip
than they loaded their canoes witt
! whalebone and started off to trade, tn
love Of barter as strong as ever. The.
were very independent and saucy, an,
cared only for guns.nf ag sas os ,gis