Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1888-12-14
Essex County Herald.
y. 3 DlSH0P, Publisher.
ISSUED EVERY FRIDAY
ISLAND POND, VT.
TERMS. $1.50 Per Year, in Advance.
DEADLY ICEBERGS.
HOW THEY EYFLoATINTO ROUTES
OF TRAVEL
Ice Mountains That Are Beautiful
to See, but Destructive to Meet
Thrilling Experience of the
Steamship Arizona.

The positions of sunken rocks and
reefs have been pretty thoroughly located
and charted; but icehergs-these float
ing ramparts of ice-have a faculty of
rudely collding with vessels at time
and in places when and where least eX-
pected. OFF the Atlantic coast they have
been met with in the month of June by
vessels as far south as latitude 30 deg. 80
min. north, as southerly comparatively as
San Franc SEQ is on this coast, They have
also been encountered as near land as
as 300 miles, and this, too, in the month
of July. They have been passed by
steamers within 500 miles of Portland,
Maine.
Vessels in the southern Pacific Ocean
have similar dangers to contend with 1t
is a matter of marine history, that in the
year 1889, the good ship Indian queen,
while on her way from elbourne, Aus
tralia, TO Liverpool, England, with Il
cargo of wool and gold, suffered d sas-
ter of this kind. 1t was the first day OF
April. The Indian Queen was scuddlng
along under full sail at speed of eleven
or twelve knots. Suddenly all hands
were aroused by violentshock, followed
by the crash of falling sparS, and
frightful grinding along the vessels
side. The I. o.ueen was found to be lying
broadside to an iceberg of immense pro-
portions, and to have suffered serious
damage. Only the mizzen mast remained
comparatively uninjured. The bowSprit
was Topped off and hung useless at the
rNf OF hn
deck, swung to and fro supported by the
rigging. Nearly all the spars and sails
above the lower masts were gone. A
majority of the crew, who believed the
ship would not long continue to float,
took to the boats and left the passenge
to their fate. But the vessel did not
sink. She was still whole, and the sec
ond mate, assuming command, spread
what sail he could. Amid the intense
anxiety of all aboard the ship cleared the
berg and stood on her course. No one
but the passengers of that i'll fated vessel
can ever know the pain, the agony, the
doubt, which they experienced from that
hour on-the watcbful days and sleepless
nights-while the queen labored sowly
on in her crippled condition, contending
/. with stress of wind and sel. She was
headed for Valparaiso, South America,
the nearest port, which she reached in
safety after forty days of prayerful, ago
niLing suspense.
The reader familiar with seafaring,
will, no doubt, recall many instances of
accidents at sea, directly attributed to
such cause as so nearly resulted fatally
to the Indian Queen. 1t is not so long
ago, but that the incident is still fresh in
the memory of two continents at least,
that the fine steamer Pacific of the Col
lins line was lost on her tr p from Liver
pool to New York. No trace of her was
ever found. Those who had friends and
relatives on the ill-fated ship were slow
to abandon all hope, but they were at last
forced to ne conviction that the vessel,
with its captain, crew and foIty-tive pas
sengers, had perished. A collision with
one of these insidious ice foes is sup
posed to explain her loss.
The year in which the Pacific was lost
was memorable one in marine annals.
1t was in that year that the ship John
Rutledge was lost also by collision with
an iceberg. She struck the ice on a
February morning, and her crew and
passengers, numbering 20 souls took to
the boats as the vessel was rapidly going
to pieces. All perished save one man
named Nye. He was picked up by Cap
tain Wood of the Germania. The boat
in which he was found was filed with
lifeless bodies; the other boats were
never heard from. Nye's story of thell
experience after abandoning the Rut
ledge, the exposures and hardships they
endured till relieved by death, tossed
about in an open boat on an angry,
tempestuous sea, amid fields and bergs
of ice, was most thrilling.
An escape from imminent death which
was near approach to the miraculous
was that of the 800 souls aboard of the
steamship Arizona, which struck huge
iceberg when three days out from New
York city. The Arizona was bound fol
Liverpool via what is known as the
northern route, which skirts the New
foundland coast on the south. 1t wa
November z, 1879, and Friday-tha
ever uulucky day of the week. The gen
tlemen passengers were in the smoking
room, where they had formed an in
formal auction and were selling pools
on the steamers run. The ladies were
congregated in the saloon Willing away
the before bedtime hours with song anC
conversation. At o'clock the captain
retired and left the ship in charge o
the officer of the watch. The heaven
were overcast, but it was not by an,
means dark night. The weather was
and had been for some hours past so fai
ss to justify feeling OF safety in run
ming the ship at full speed. Ten min
utes after the captain left the bridge tn
vessel, making an average of tifteeI
miles an hour, plunged "head on" int
mountain of ice. Trembling violentl
from stem to stern she quickly recoied
but only for moment, when she agai
made an onslaught upon the invincibl
foe, but this time with diminished force
The bows were crushed in as thoug
they were but egg shells, and grea
masses of ice were forced into the gapinj
wound which the noble ship sustained
The passengers suffered a severe shock
In the saloon the ladies were in the mids
of a sea ditty when the shock came, an,
all were thrown violently to the floor
Pool-selllng in the smoklng-room wa
suddenly and peremptorlly postpo ed
On deck scene of wild confusion an
dismay prevailed. Groups of passengers
struck dumb with fear, huddled to
gether, momentarily expecting to be er
quilted by the dark waters. Above, an
apparently overhanging the ship, ros
the shadowy mountain of ice. 1t we
probably 500 feet in width, while il
three crowning pinnacles reached a
altitude of 70 feet.
HMy God, men, where were yor
eyesg' cried the Captain as he reache
the bridge. He might have added
where were the deck ofiicers2 Subs,