Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1884-08-28
5f|istellaueuns &eaaing.
IN ARCTIC SEAS.
4 RElLINISCENCE OF DIR. JOHN HALL'S
ARCTIC EXPEDITION.

ARCTIC EXPEDITION.
eyes, have read some of the news about
the finding of the Greedy party" said an
old salt, whom Free Press reporter found
in port, and knew he had been in Arctic
regions in his earlier days.
He had all the outward marks of "a life
on the ocean wave and home on the roll.
ing Deep" A weather-beaten and Drowned
skin, India ink tattoes, and several scars,
the result of blows from capstan bars, boat
oars and harpoon hooks.
mo, never went on an exploring eXpe-
dition, but came very near doing it once.
I am told that DR.. Hall makes mention in
one Of his books Of his meeting with Capt
Parker, of the old I1ueloUe, in Coddling
Bay, in the fall of'61. was one of the two
party and winter with him in Davis Straits
Hall had lost two of his crew and one Of his
small boats and he wanted to make up his
deficiency from the whaling fleet when they
were ready to leave for home. l was q
young fellow then, and me and my chum
were ready to face any climate and any
hardship, but Capt. Parker said he felt re.
sponsible for our safe return to our friends
in England, and he wouldn't let us 60 with
Hall. But we let him have one of the True
lore's small boats. That was the nearest
ever come to being an Arctic explorer"
"But you have seen good deal of life in
the Arctic regions, nevertheless? said the
reporter, by way of drawing him out on a
subject which the finding of the Greedy party
has made interesting. "Where is Coddling
Bay?"
"Idon't suppose you'll find it on the maps
We Whalers had names of our own fOl
Artic ports and didn't bother our heads
much about what the explorers called 'em
We ecould talk among ourselves about the east
and west shore all the way up to parallel Il
justa as familiar as we could about the English
above Lancaster Sound we're off. We left
that for the scientific chaps to navigate and
give all our attention to whale oil. There
was more money in it and less ships and
men lost. Of course we kept a weather eye
open for any relics of the Franklin crew
that might be drifting about in hope of the
reward offered, but we didn't go out of oul
way to hunt for 'em."
"Can you give me general idea of what
the surface of the country is like up there !?
asked the reporter. "The general idea,
think, we have is of surface entirely anC
always covered with ice."
"Well, that is pretty near it. About the
only bare spots are the perpendicular face:
of the rocky shores, with here and there
bit of stunted vegetation during the Arctic
summer. The west shore of Davis Straits
is very mountainous, only broken here ano
rivers. l don't know as anybody has evel
been on those mountain tops to see what
they bear, but don't they're up to much
Wouldn't care to own farm there, anyway
"Do you know how icebergs are formed? ??
he asked, by way of turning the subject tt
something he had more definite knowledge
about. "You know an iceberg is made O
fresh water while the water they float in ]:
salt. Some people think that the saltiness il
taken out by the freezing. That's a mis-
take. It is the spring water falling dOWr
the mountain sides that makes icebergs. L
runs from the springs in the mountains anc
freezes as it falls until it's accumulated
weight breaks it off and it goes drifting
down the channel, if it falls in plenty O.
water. / have seen icebergs grounded II
400 feet.
"Talk about your Niagara Falls 1 have
seen nothing prettier than some of then
mountain cataracts in the Arctics. There's
variety about 'em, too. They are alway:
breaking away and forming in new shapes
so they never look twice the same. Fine
place for landscape painter that, but / sup
pose they prefer to draw on their imagina
tion. Them pictures of the finding of tht
Greedy survivors in the illustrated papers
show all they know aboutit.
"No, we never had vessel ground up ii
the ice in our voyages always had the
good luck to get out of the way. The way
we did it was to make artificial harbors il
the shore ice. When we saw big ice-hot
coming, and the wind was crowding it tt
our side of the channel, it was "hurraf
boys ~ tell we. We carried long ice saw!
with pulley attachments and trestles tosup
port them overhead. When put in position
for saving part of the crew manned the
pulley ropes while others held the teeth O
the saw against the ice. The rope and pul
ley made the raising of the saw easy, and its
own weight carried it down. We would
start three saws at the outer edge of the ice
and cut three seams, starting hundred feel
apart and verging toward each other
When the two shorter seams met, and s
small triangular piece of ice had beer
showed out into the current it was easy tC
Then we unshipped our rudder and hauled
our vesselinto the harbor we had made, just
in time, sometimes, 70 see cake of ice ten
to twenty miles in area 60 grinding past oul
little harbor of refuge. The ice we sawed
through would be ten feet thick, and the
saving took us five hours sometimes.
"But we got the most excitement out OF
our fishing. Talk about your fresh water
regattas. If you could take a crowd up
there to witness Whaler's crew get away
after fish it would be something worth see
ing" said the old sailor, as his storm-dim-
med optics seemed trying to flash youthful
fire again in the mental contemplation of a
spirited picture he had once been figure in.
"a big thing on ice," suggested the re-
porter, just to show he was listening.
II have seen a crew all asleep in their
berths when the cry of a fish was given and
pulling away from the ship. Their clothes
hang in bag beside their berths and they
grab it and dress as they go. The boat that
gets the first harpoon in gets an English
pound for their harpoon thrower, and when
Several ships sight the same fish and each
ship sends off several boats you can believe
there is some good pulling done. The har-
pooner in the first boat generally encourages
his crew with the promise of pound of
tobacco to each man out of his prize money
if they get him to the fish first.
"But the best long pulling is done when
the first boat gets harpoOn in and the fish
has to tow it while the crew rest on their
oars and watch the other six boats pull
to catch up and get a line on. Then they
bend to their oars, and keep it up ten or
fifteen miles. This generally happened
when we struck fish that had her young
with her. At other times they dive imme-
diately they are struck. But a young fish
must blow oftener than the mother, and a
fish with young skins along the surface,
carrying the young one on her back if too
youthful to keep up with her. We once had
a pull of twenty miles of that sort, and it
was the prettiest regatta you ever see.
Don't know how much further we would
have gone if the young devil hadn't slipped
off the mother,s flipner and she turned