Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1876-10-25

! cept guns and ammunition was left on board. The
main hope was to find water enough inside of tn 4
ground ice to navigate the boats southwark, and
so reach the two ships supposed to be outside OF
the pack. The men left at p. IN. They first
carried the baggage a half mile or ahead, then
returned and dragged the boats along The ice
was very rough in places, and many holes which
would not bear the weight of a man were encoun-
tered. Many of the men fell through and suffer
ed much from cold The first night the party
camped on the ice about four miles from the ships
The next morning they resumed the march in a
binding snow. storm from the northeast The
prospect was most disc0nraging. Several men de-
serted and returned TO the ships, where numbers
of the crews remained who refused to face the
hardship of the journey toward the land. OF
their fate nothing is known. On Sept. the par
~ reached strip of open water, when the boats
were launched and pulled toward the land. All
that day and the next the boats kept working
through and over the ice, and at p. m. made
land two miles west of Point Targent. At noon
on the 9th they sighted the Three Brothers and
Rainbow at Point Barrow, and reached them be
fore night, The ice was solid beyond, and the
only chance of escape was to drag boats overland
to the open sea, a distance, as afierward proved,
of 1870 miles Sleds were made and the journey
begun; but on reaching Cape Smith the party
found the bark Florence there After CON
sultation, II was decided that any effort to proceed
would he madness, and preparations were begun
for wintering at Point Barrow. The boats were
prepared for whaling, as tina. was the only re-
source for food.
On the night Of Sept. Is the ice began to break
up before a strong east wind, and on the next day
the Florence was able to get under way. All
hands, with the baggage, were put on board ran
down the coast and found the Clara Bell frozen
fast IN the ice; the next night made Wainwrights
Inlet. The party waited there Tor the crew of the
Clara Bell and to get water. On the afternoon of
the 18th the Three Brothers and Rainbow joined
the Florence, bringing the crew OF the Clara
Bell. part of the people in the Florence were
then put on board the Three Brothers and ZEN
devious appointed at St. Lawrence Bay, where
they would stop for water. Both arrived there on
the 23d, and left next day for San Francisco and
Honolulu.
1t is the undivided opinion of every master that
no hope can be obtained of the rescue Of the
ships OF those who remained on board of them.
All are undoubtedly lost and carried away to the
north east III the immense ice pack which closed
them in for miles around. The reports are signed
by the following masters; W. III. Kelly, master of
the Marengo; b. +. Holman of the {. Rowland
+. 5. Hickworth of the Acors Barnes; j. Keenan,
of the J. Allen, jill. Knowles of the st. George
+. A. Ludlow of the Csmelia; L. W. Williams OF
the Clara Bell George F. Larry of the Josephine,
and Ezra b. Lapham of the Onward.
The masters of the abandoned Arctic fleet eX-
press uncertainty as to the number of names of
the men who remained with the ships or returned
to them after beginning the homeward trip, but SO
far can be ascertained it seems probable that 30
or 60 were left behind, many of whom were Kan
akas.