The Abbeville messenger. (Abbeville, S.C.) 1884-1887, 1886-03-23
A RACE FOR LIFE.
By FREDERICK SCHwATKA.

New Bedford, Mass, entered HudSon's
DAY about Il dozen years ago to cruise in
'hc northern waters of that great sheet
If water for the polar whales that
:hcrc abound. ''Thcrc she blows" had
seldom come from the ''crow's nest" at
:he masthead. and the once or twice
that it did nothing was caught, and the
luturc looked dark enough for 'all
lands and the cook" us the amount of
pay received by the American whale
ncn. depends altogether upon the
mount they catch, and many a two
T three years voyage has found the
crew in as low a financial condition
when it ended as when it began.
A deep estuary leads northward from
The upper waters Of IIudson's Bay,
which has been given the singular title
f Roc's Welcome by its discovcrer,
who was looking for a northwest pass
tge about two centuries 60, and who
aust have thought this fine sheet of
water spread out before him was the
welcome one that was to lead him to
IT'LL more welcome Pacific sea. 1t is
about forty miles wide ut it's entrance,
and certainly must have looked seduc-
live enough to the old Arctic navigator
probing the polar shores Of North
America fora passage to the west. Like
10 many pleasant Arctic things ut their
beginning, Roc's Welcome ends mourn
fully in q little cul-dc-sac lugubriously
termed Repu!sc Bay by way of a change
from welcome, and marks where the
ancc happy navigator was repulscd in
his efforts to go farther. Like all deep
and wide Actic inlcts full of drifting
ice packs and ice foes it abounds in the
coveted polar whale, and like all such
estuarics its navigation is quite danger
BUS, or, at least, is liable to be rendered
20 by any sudden gale that will send
The ice packs crushing down on each
other, and, worse than all, crushing
everything in their way. The whalers
seldom enter ''thc Welcome" rs they
call it, very far, as they are generally
only proviSioncd for one winter on the
Hudson Bay cruise, and instances are lot
wanting where the ice of the Welcome
has grippcd them in its frozen letters for
much longer time. 1t was only the
bad luck that had prompted the master
Of the Glacier to point his bowsprit to-
ward such unpleasant waters, and it
was the immediate change in his for
tunes that kept leading him into it
deeper and deeper until Rcpulsc Bay
was gained, swarming with whales
spouting amidst the ice packs, Which
ice packs, one bleak morning, came
charging down, chased by IL bowling
gale, and the Glacier was o wcdgcd
last in the ice where she had ITO remain
for two years, so battling are the few
predicament. The Repulsc Bay OF the
tphsto , 20 fho IrSlsl- 80 A.. E.z.
.maux, who here abound in quite large
numbers. living on the many walrus
from which the country gets its Esqui-
maux name, and this fact made the
imprisonment of the ships crew much
less irksome than it would otherwise
have been had there been no one neal
them, for, upon these supplemented
people a party may always safety rely
o III keeping away that worst bane of the
Arctic voyager, the scurvey-a bane, l
might add, doubly liable to invade a
whaling crew from their limited supply
of fresh provisions with which other
Arctic ventures arc generally so well
provided. Around the Glacier theJ
clustered the first winter, building their
little snow huts, looking like a nest of
huge rocs' eggs, the lower half of
which were buried in the deep snow
that lay IN the hummocky ce piled up
around the ship. Many a hunt was
had after seal and walrus, and in these
the sailors would join to while away
the time that otherwise would have
hung most drearily on their hands
In the little forccastle of the not over
large whalcr. Many a sleigh ride was
had going and returning from these
hunts, as we'll as inland after musk
oxen and reindeer. In fact, the life
was only idle in case they wished to
make it so, and it was also amply stir
ring enough if they wished it.
Among the sailors in the imprisoned
crew was q young, studious sort of fel.
low who had joined the voyage rather
for the adventure it would give than any
great amount of money he expected to
reap. He soon tired of slcdging and
hunting with the Esquimaux, and most
of his physical exercise was Of that sort
that was to be found in long walks,
mostly by himself, as no one cared to
duplicate his long-continued excrtions
just for the privilege of his company,
though no one was more generally pop
ular among the people OF the ship and
the Esquimaux, for that mattcr-than
this same sailor. Here and there were
two and three who were greater
"chums," but for uniform respect and
absolute absence Of enemies he probably
stood prc-eminent. Along with several
others OF the more adventurous he was
constantly cautioned by the ships Off
,cers about his long walks. especially
without natives to guide him back, fo1
In the short winter days. more twiligh,
at aeon in fact, should nichtfall catch