Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1876-11-25
OLYMPIA WASHINGTON TERRITORY SATURDAY MORNING. NOVEMB
The Frozen Ship.

The Frozen Ship.
One serene evening, in the middle Of Au.
gust, 1775, Captain Warren, the master Of
the Greenland, whaleship, found himself be.
Gained among a number of icebergs, in
about seventy-seven degrees of north lati.
tude. On one side, and within mile Of
his vessel, these were of immense height
and closely wedged together. and . success
ion of snow-covered peaks appeared behind
each other as far as the eye could reach,
showing that the ocean was completely
blocked up in that quarter, and that it had
probably been so for q long period Of time.
Captain Warren did not feel altogether SAT-
isfed with his situation; but there being
no wind, he could not move either one way
or the other; and he therefore kept strict
watch, knowing that he would be safe as
long as the icebergs continued in their res
pective places. About midnight, the wind
rose to q gale, accompanied by thick
shower Of snow, while succession of tre-
nendous laundering, grinding and crashing
noises, gave fearful evidence that the ice
was in motion. The vessel received violent
shocks every moment, for the haziness Of
the atmosphere prevented those on board
from discovering in what direction the open
water lay, or if there was any at all on Ell
ther side of them. The night was spent in
tacking as often as any cause Of danger
happened to present itself, and in the morn
ing the storm abated, and Captain Warren
found, to his great joy. that his ship had
not sustained any serious injury. He re-
marked, with surprise. that the accumulated
icebergs. which had on the previous even
ing formed an impregnable barrier. had
been separated and disarranged by the wind.
and that in one place canal of open sea
wound its course among them as far as the
eyecould discern. twas two miles beyondthe
entrance to this canal that ship made its
appearance about noon. The sun shone bright
ly at the time, and a gentle breeze blewfrom
the north. At first, some intervening ice.
berg prevented Captain Warren from dis
tinctly seeing anything but her masts; but
he was struck with the strange manner in
which her sails were disposed, and with the
dismantled aspect Of her yards and rigging.
She continued to 60 before the wind for
few furlongs. and then grounding upon the
low icebergs, remained motionless.
Captain Warren's curiosity was 50 much
excited that he Immediately leaped into his
boat with several seamen, and rowed to.
wards her. On approaching, he observed
that her hull was miserably weather beaten.
and not a soul appeared on the deck, which
was covered with snow to q considerable
depth. He hailed her crew several times.
but no answer was returned. Previous to
stepping on board, an open portfolio near
the main chains caught his eye, and, IN
looking into it, he perceived man reclin-
ing bsca In chair. with writing materials
on table before him, but the feebleness Of
the light made everything very indistinct.
The party went upon deck, and, having re-
moved the hatchway, which they found
closed, they descended to the cabin. They
first came to the apartment which Captain
Warren viewed through the portfolio. 4
tremor seized him as he entered it. Its IN.
mate retained his former position, and
seemed to be insensible to strangera He
was found to be corpse; and q green,
damp mould had covered his cheeks and
forehead, and veiled his open eyeballs He
had pen in his hand, and fogbook lAy ON
the table before him, the last sentence on
whose unfinished page ran thus: "Nov
IA, l762. We have now been enclosed 70
soo Q~a
yesterday, and our master has been trying
since to rekindle it, without success. His
wife died this morning. There is no relief
-" Captain Warren and his seamen hur-
ried from the spot without uttering word.
On entering the principal cabin. the first
dead body Of q female. reclining on = bed,
in an attitude Of deep interest and atten.
ton. Her countenance retained the fresh
ness Of life, and contraction Of the limbs
showed that the form was inanimate. Seat
ed on the floor was the corpse Of an appar.
emily young man, holding q steel in one
hand, and . flint in the other. - il in the act
Of striking fire upon some tinder which lay
beside him. In the forepart Of the vessel
several sailors were lying dead in their
berths; and the body Of q boy was crouched
at the bottom Of the gangway stairs.
Neither provisions nor fuel could be dis
covered anywhere; but Captain Warren was
prevented, by thesuperstitious prejudices Of
his seamen, from examining the vessel a.
minutely "a he wished to have done. He,
therefore, carried away the logbook men.
toned, and returned to his own ahip, and
immediately steered to the southwark.
deeply impressed with the awful example
which he had Just witnessed Of the danger
Of navigating the Polar seas in high north
ern attitudes. On rsturning to England. he
made various inquiries respecting vessels
that had disappeared in an unknown way.
and, BY comparing the results ce these with
the information which was Afforded by the
written documents in his possession, he as-
certained the name and history Of the i'm
prisoned ship. and Of her unfortunate mas
ten, and found that abe had been frozen
thirteen years previous to the time Of his
discovering her among the ice.-Rsy~olds
Nsspepapw.
WHEAT Has THE WORLD DoNYi-Ths world
has had six thousand years to bring "a its
"more excellent way" What has it de-
vised. apart from the Bible. to heal the
sores Of the broken. sounded, bleeding
hsartf What has Rome in her ages Of mar
tial glory, e Greece in her ages Of philos.
ophic culture or refinement. done to solve
the yaxnd urohlam Of aching humanitvf