St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-12-24
CUNNING IN ALASKA +?
Capt. Davis and His Cruise With Capt.
Reitield in the Victoria.
A GUN THAT KICKED.
Twelve Hundred Penniless Sailors In.
stead of Casks Oil and
Whalebore.

New York Sun.
speaking of duck shooting" said
Capt. Davis, down on the New Bedford
pier the other evening, when the con-
versation had turned on guns and gum
ming, reminds me of the time Capt.
Redfield. of the brig Victoria, and
went cunning on the Alaska coast. 1t
was after l had teen cast away in the
Oriole, as was telling you, and Capt.
Redfield had picked me off the beach
over in PlOver Bay, on the Siberian
side. The captain was on trading
voyage, and had certain places, of
course, where he had to stop to pick up
the trade from the Indians. We went
over to st. Lawrence Island, and thence
to. Point Clarence, on the Alaska shore,
where we got sable and fox skins prin-
cipally, and so on to East Cape, where
Capt. Redtield proposed that we go up
among the whaling fleet to see if we
couldn't pick up couple of whales be-
fore the ice would shut down.
1T was late in the season when we
got up there, and we cruiSed about with
out seeing anything. So we went duck
shooting for fun. We got some ducks
plenty of them. We had a tolerable
sized crew, but we served roast duck
and broiled duck and stewed duck and
duck potpie. till we began to wish we
had something else, and Capt. Redfeld
suggested goose. As | said, it was get
ting along into September, and the
geese were headed south. The young
had got their growth.
80 we cleared away the yawl and
pulled ashore. The procession was fly
ing along a few rods wide and just as
long as your eye could reach, and |
don't know how much further. That
sounds like a fish story, doesn't it?
Well, it's the truth just the same. The
geese were lower down than the caves
of a four-story house, and there was
scarcely break in the procession big
enough to see church stee-
pie through, supp0sing there had
been church steeple there To
look at. We began firing at
them at once, but you see we were u.s.
ing trade guns and didn't have any In
dianS to do the shooting for us, and we
were little delicate about loading for
geese at first. We didn't want to cast
any reflections ON the quality of the
guns, but began with light charges. lust
to be economical. That was the way
we had done with the ducks, too. But
we didn't bring down any geese for a
time, and so we gradually got warmed
up to the work, and the warmer we got
the more powder and shot we put in. |
think | was the first man to kill goose.
| said I'd kill one or bust something. /
put in a pretty good charge and let her
drive. | didn't know I'd killed one I'M
til afterward. 1t took me some time to
get the gravel out of my eyes. Gravel?
Why, | SOrter fell over backward, see?
But my nose didn't bleed long, and |
was willing to try it over again, seeing
the gun stood the strain better than [
did.
I'VE got several geese after that. and
finally Capt. Redlield got knocked out
our thirty-one vessels in. We were
forced to quit the Victoria, and all we
could take in our small boats was one
shift of clothing apiece.
ut was just 4 o'clock on Sept. IA
when we showed OFF. The sleet and
snow were flying around us, and the
blasts of wind that swept across the
Arctic ocean ice fields made nothing of
flannels and ollskins.
when daylight came, after working
all night, we were strung along the
open streak in procession like geese.
Some were rowing, some were padding,
some had sails set. Between snow and
rain squalls we could see the whole fleet
of boats. Sometimes we couldn't see
the next boat, no further away than
ships length. We had the boiled beef
and pork and the bread, but we had no
coffee, and 1t wasn't i'll us when after
noon came, after working twenty-four
hours, to go further without it; let it
freeze or not, we must have coffee.
"The fleet of small boats pulled in
here and there, where they could see
driftwood, and built fires. Then we
took TO the boats again, and, at the end
of sixty hours from the time we aban-
doned the Victoria, we were clear of
ice and in sight of the Progress, Capt.
DOWden.
"When we got alongside climbed up.
| used to go to school with Capt. Dow
der.
"HeIIo, captain says |.
"'Hello, Bill says he. Il guess you
want to stay. don't you" / did,
"'Well, I've got 22O on board now.
You'll find better accommodations i'll
that other ship down TO ieeward.'"
Il went over TO the lee rail.
"'BoyS, | said, pass up that grub and
the painter They just bumped them
selves. and the old boat was soon adrift.
Then | walked aft.
Captain says |, Il was just down
to the rail TO see about going off TO the
other ship, but some one cast of the
painter, and there she goes now
80 we stayed. The fleet of seven
vessels waited until next day, and we
counted up around after fashion to see
that none was left, and then made sail
for the Sandwich Islands.
1t is the habit of the New Bedford
every fall 10 meet the fleet and audit
for them, and ii is good business policy
TO attend to business in person. 1t took
us thirty days to get there. The OWN
ers were down Oh the beach to welcome
us. Instead of casks of oil and stacks
of whalebone. we discharged 1,2OO pen
nileSS .Whaiemen, with one shift of
erS.
Among the 1000 was Capt. Red6eld,
with his arm still in a sling and his
shoulder very much sWelled from the
kicking it had got when he tried TO kill
two geese at once. There is hospital
there. and | went to it with the captain.
The surgeon stripped him, took good
look at his shoulder, and then grabbed
his arm and gave it a wrench and q
yank. There was q crack in the Shout
der as if something had broken, and
yell from the captain as If he meant to
be heard mile away.
"'Theren said the surgeon, you're
ierht Nntr chandler ont 0f