Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1881-06-28
vesseI. Fight with the lee.

The wreck OF the Danish mail steamer
Phoenix, which took place of the west
coast Of Iceland, was attended by very
peculiar circumstances, which are thus
described by J A Alien in Nature
1.-THE vessel (abOut $50 tons burthen)
hagen TO Leith, Ftroe Islands and lee
land nb Ut the midd e f January. n thing
particular occur eli until after lea ing the
FarOes, when she ran into a severe le
which RAPIDLY increase to perfect hur-
ricaue, which at the sam. time he tenn
perature fell t. about so L. Of frost 060
F.. Such cold is not eXtraord nary in
these attitudes in winter, but fortunately
il is seldom associated witch vey nigh
winds Urder the circumstanc in which
the PhP1ix was placed every SEA that she
shippf1 fruZe an the deck soon became
covered with foot or two of solid ice.
A lime passed on the continued action of
the sea raised perfec iceberg on the for
ward part of the vessel. while The showers
of spray carried along by the steadily in
creasing gale covered the masts yards and
rggir G with an ever thickening coat of
ice Two or three Ia pas Ell without the
last abatement of the ST rm, and then the
half S therei steamer went over on her
| beam>ends. The crew succeeded in cut
ting away the masts, and she once more
righted,
IL WA however L o4T tnS gaze SiiO"iD z
no signs of breaking, that the relief We
only temp rary. The ice c ntiou2d to
foam on the YES |, particularly about the
fo.ecastle, where, piled high above the
bu warks. and owe hanging the sides it
threatened, by all ering her trim, t. raise
| the propeller out of the water. Under thesa
cIrcum >tance-, o the morning of J4nua' y
%, Captain Kill decided to run the steam
er ashore while day light lasted. A. some
| 4 -
sunken rock, and the crew, takir g to the
boats. only succeeded with the gre4 est
d tficu ty in reaching the shore, saving
nothing but their lives, the Engl sh mail,
and bund e of blankets WI Ch (When Cal
ried ashOre) were found TO be usel S.
frozen in o solid lump. Their sltuaton
| IN deep snow on the dOs0late coast ct ice-
land, about one huadrt miles t, the
! northwest of Rey javik was very critical
d party of two or three of the rong r
! sailors under the command Of NJ. Jaspprsin
! the hrst officer, proceeded in search of as.
| sistanc5 1t was Nc = however until about
three in the morning If the 3jth, after
suffering great hardship' that the sound
of pony kicking in a shed guided them
| to house. The farmers immediately
turned out, and eventually the altered
crew, twenty-tw or twenty-three in num-
| Der, we g picked up, some of the clever
little cel"ndic dogs proving themselves
most valu4 BILE suxi iaFes in the search
Many OF the men however, w ra all bat
fir zen to death in the snow. From this
time | possible attention was given tC
them; but one. having both legs and arms
! frostbtten. died; another aflerward had
both legs amputated below the knees and
the steward losl thre- fingers of each hand
/ Hardly one escaped more or less IN ury
from the effects of the extreme cold tC
which they had been so long exposed
G ,ptain Kill and tn g bulk of ms crew soor
sf,erwsrd succeeded in getting to Reyt ia,
vIk, and on April 10 they sailed in tht
sister steamer, the Arcturus, for Copen-
| hagen. The Officers and men of The
wrecked yes ell are of opinion that haC
! Captain X hi not decided on the 70 t.
run the Phoe Xix ashore in daylgh not ,
SOU would have beer saved, "a the gale
did not moderate for several days ter
and the steamer, buried rs it was uoder al
enorm Us mass of ice, must have founder
! ed IN the night -