The Opelousas journal. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1868-1878, 1877-07-14
EXCITING ADYEFTURE WITH POLAR
BEA RS.

Three of the crew Of the steamship
Intrepid, Captain Soutar, had a very ex
citing adventure at the Greenland sea
fishery this season. During the time
that their vessel was fast beset among
the ice, three Of the crew-Thomas
Royal, Welverhampton James Winter
Peterhead and William Mulligan
Dundee-set out one day to pay a visit
to the ship Perseverance, of Peterhead
which lay apparently about four miles
distant. After walking about a couple
of miles it was seen that the distance be,
tween the two ships had been misjudged,
and that in reality they were six miles
apart, and the dangerous nature of the
journey began to dawn upon the seamen
when they realized how far they were
from any vessel, and that their sealing
clubs were the only weapons with which
they were armed. When they came to
realize the real distance they begun to
deliberate whether it would not be the
best course to return to their ship. One
of the trio insisted on making the Jour.
ney, while the others were of the opinion
that they should give up the attempt.
In the midst of the debate an unwelcome
visitor came upon the scene in the shape
of a she bear, with one of her cubs, and
as she was fast coming up between the
men and their ship, the only chance o
escape was to run on in the hope of reach
ing the Perseverance, a distance of about
four miles. When the men took to their
heels the bear quickened her pace, and
in a short time was close upon the sail
ors. 10 attempt to face the animal with
their clubs was useless, and accordingly
one by one the men took off portions of
their clothing and threw them down on
the ice. It this way the progress of the
bear was retarded, as Bruin stopped to
sniff and tear at each of the articles as
she came up to them. By this means
the men were enabled to keep a little
ahead for about a couple of miles, by
which time, however, they had parted
with most Of their clothing, one of them
having nothing but his pants, a cravat
and a woollen shirt upon him. He had
retained possession of his club, and.
fastening his cravat to the end of the
weapon, he waved it as a signal of dis
tress, and fortunately the attention of
the Perseverance was attracted to the
perilous position of the three geamen.
Several Of the crew of the Perseverance
i Immediately set out, armed with guns,
and, after running about q mile, they
came up to the three men just in time
to a v them, az they had almost no
clothing left, and were quite exhausted
with the chase. The bear and her cub
SO close behind that the rescuers
had no difficulty in despatching them
With several bullets. The following
morning the three sailors returned to the
intrepid. They were escorted part OF
he way by a number of the crew of the
Perseverance, and the male bear having
'een seen in the vicinity, apparently on
lockout for the she bear and cub,
Re was likewise killed. The most of the
nen's clothes and their sea boots, were
licked up, all more or less torn. The
hree men had been kindly Treated on
GARD the Perseverance andV supplied
18th clothing, so that they suffered no
ad effects from their exposure and ex-
ting adventure. Danube (Scotland) ,
.dvert;ser. g ,