Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1873-05-10

+ grew stronger. While here | discovered my
other boat, bread, &c, and saved all. The
;ce grew firm. and | made another attempt to
reach shore carrying everything IN three. boats
and dragging them on their Keel. The ice be-
inc exceedingly rough we stove bnth boats.
We succeeded on the lst OF November IN setting
about half way 10 shore when tue ny M came
on us aud very stormy weather. lnthe mornlng
the ice was broken and We. were drifting south-
ward very last. =,
bad weather continuing all through Tic hionll
oF November. We built snow houses, and
m,de ourselves as comfortable as we could.
| We were ten white men and two E<qnlmaux,
tuo womcn and four chilireu in all. We sue
| ccrded in killing five seals which furnished Us
with liuht audtucl, With which to warm our
scantv allowance of food through the darkness
| Of the Attic winter.
| In the latter part Of february we lived prln:.
cipally upon birds, and in March commenced
tn catch seals. Through that month We sup
nnrtcd ourselves on bears and seals flesh,
wasting neither skin nor entrails; W. collected
cnourh food in this way to last Us until the
middle of May. Had we not been driven to
sea by the slroug westerly gale IN the latter
part of March our foe piece being then re-
duccl from five mirs iii circumference to atout
twenty yards in diameter, We let! the piece
on the Ist of April and Abandoned ncary ali
our meat, large amount OF ammunition,
clothing, skins and other articles, taking Il por
ton OF the meat in the boats which we were
soon Obliged TO throw overheard on nc
count of the boats being SO deeply laden
We gained the outer cd gc OF the pack
Of ice on the 3r.l Of April, and succeeded
| in getting farther 10 on the pack. On the
| fourth heavy northeast gale set IN and d
| heavy SCI, was running under the ICE which
| broke it in small pieces, so we had to i've on as
small pieces rs we could not put the boats out.
nailhcr could We find any seals Tor food and
were reduced almost to state OF sIarv:iion
On the DIST of April we sighted Polar bear
and every person WAS ordered to down and
initiate Il seal while two E>quimaux sccrctcd
themselves behind peicc OF ice and succeeded
ia getting the bear near enough for Us to Kill
him. Five days after We got our boats IN the
water aud worked our way southwest and west
and continued to work at every opportunity to
the westward in hopes Ut reaching Labrador
| coast and getting temporary relief. We were
picked up nv the steamer Tgr@SS on the 5Oth
Of Aprl. in latitude So s. north, longitude
So west Or near Wolf Island, about 40 miles
from land The PoariS is now without boats,
having lost two in trying to get north in the
srrils of Isl! The iIgrcss fell in with our
party in dense fog, and providcu1a!ly struck
tho very hoc on which we Were, otherwise, W.
must have persisted. They all seemed toIcrahy
we'll Captain Tyson complained o! swcllct legs
and feet, but nothing serious was the
matter with him. When they left the Polaris
all on borrd we're in good health. In reference
to the way in which the p0larls got away from
the party which was rescued from off the ice
| tb.,tI a Toll hr1tIt II ria.
anxiety al first, thinking she would soon COME
to their relief. 81 set my cylorS, he said as she
stood down along the shore, but the vessel was
soon lost to sight in Il bend Of the land, and be-
ing what touk to be Northumberland Island.
! The piece | was on comnenccd drifting south
ward as the wind hauled to the northeast,
opcuing little bay to the northeast Of North
| cumberland Island. | saw tl!c vessel III the har-
| Dor there her sails were turluG, no smoke was
| issuing from her smoke stack that | could see,
| | then attempted to bring my boats across the
| foe in an caStcrIy direction hoping to find the
water and reach the shore.
| succeeded in dragging one boat across. and
took the water, and attempted TO reach the
shore some distance below the vessel. We were
then drifting very fast aud the gale waS blow
| ing fresh with great violence from the north.
cast, and showing very fast and drifting |
was driven back on the Ice again and
compelled to pull my boat, and the night
closed on me and carried US to the southeast
In the morning we were about thirty miles
southwest of where the ship went in harbor.
4 heavy sea was running which broke up my
foe piece separating Us from six bags Of bread
and boat saw vessel under steam and
canvass rounding poiut to the northwest.
Thinking she would come to our rescue gave
myself no anxiety, but we were soon dlsap-
pointed, aud from thar time till the llgrcss
rescued u, we never got Il GLIMPSE OF the 20
| 1sris