Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1890-11-28

after getting out of the wind, but was
awake when daylight came. The ice had
ceased grinding, the air was still and frosty
and l knew that | was frozen in again.
Climbing to the top of a great hummock
| OF ice l looked to the south to find the ship
within quarter of mile of me, and in
half an hour had come up with her.
She rested on an even keel, fast frozen in,
with great blocks of ice all around her. l
fired off my gun and shouted, but got no
answer, and even before I stood on her
decks knew that she had been abandoned
The davit falls were down and the boats
gone, while box of bread, fur cap, a
musket and some other things were left on
large block of ice. When l got aboard
the evidences of great scare and a hasty
departure were more numerous. / soon
concluded that a squeeze of the ice had
hove the ship out of her slip, and had given
her such can't that her crew feared she
was doomed. The field in which she was
frozen had at the same time split up, and
while the men had drifted away on one
foe the abandoned ship had gone with an
other.
There was reason to believe that the en-
tire crew would return. They could not
have drifted many miles, and would at
once take advantage of the new ice to
reach the ship. Holding to this view re-
plenished the fires, which were not yet out,
filed the cooks coppers with meat to boil,
and then fired my musket at intervals of
five minutes as signal. When daylight
faded away ran a green light to the mast
head as a night beacon and turned in, feel
ing positive that | would see the whole
ships company by morning. 1t was noon
next day before would give up that was
to be left alone, and two days later, when
the fact became morally certain, ] was
strongly tempted to commit suicide. In
deed had written letter to be left be-
hind me, and had a gun loaded to blow my
brains out, when a circumstance occurred
to rouse up the man in me. l had gone on
deck by the davit falls, though | could
haye mounted by her forechains On her
ps,qt quarter was great mass of ice four
feet higher than her rail. This was part
of the bed she had rested in. AS went on
deck to take a last look around l got an
awful fright. Two big polar bears were
preparing to board the ship by way of this
mass, and their fierce growls and sullen
retreat set me in a tremble. The idea OF
those beasts eating my body, even after
death, was SO repugnant as to at once ban
ish all further thoughts of suicide.
When night came the bears still fingered.
locked myself in the cabin, and heard
them rumnaging about in the deck gang
! ways and making persistent efforts to
break into the deck house. 1t was after
midnight before they went away, and next
day made preparations to repel boarders
It was not day now, but the season had
brought continual twilight. set to work
to cut the hummock away from the port
quarter, but after working for two hours
with an ak decided to try powder With
the tools at hand l sunk shaft down
seven or eight feet, filed galloRjug with
blasting powder, and then arranged slow
match and was ready. l expected the ice
to fly about in a lively manner, but the
deck house would give me shelter | was
within minute of firing the train when
l heard a great shifting and growing, and
10! the two same bears came up the in
cline, and stood again on the crest of the
hummock to look down upon me.
yelled and swung my hat, but they held
their ground and were evidently intending
to board the ship again. | now ignited a
match, set fire to the fuse, and, waiting as
long as dared to, ran into the deck house
| was hardly under cover when the ex-
pAooAOh Sa4IiO3 tbileA III ciC uSAO udll lllluuC6
pieces of ice were gathering on the board
,oof as they descended from their flight
When l opened the door and looked out
the hummock was gone-leveled far below
the rail, and the bears had taken to flight
now realized that l must pass many
long weeks alone, surrounded by darkness
and various dangers, and l mapped out a
programme to be followed. I had break
fast at 8 o'clock a. m. Then l worked at
clearing off snow and ice until TO- Then
read until noon. From to got up coal
and overhauled stores. At 2 had dinner.
Thence till l read. From 4 to 6
looked after some fox traps had made,
and nearly always had pelt to take care
Of From to practiced on the dumb
bells. At l had supper, and between
that and my bedtime studied the charts
of several seas we had aboard, and learned
to locate various islands and countries.
held to this programme very rigidly,
knowing that might go mad if allowed
myself to brood over the situation, and
thus l slept soundly, preserved buoyant
spirit, and constantly gained in flesh.
In January there was move of the ice
which lifted the ship fairly out of the
water, but after an hour she settled back
without damage. By day and night there
were tremblings and shocks and thunder
GUS reports, but got used to them after
awhile and was not greatly disturbed. It
was at noon on the I'd day of February
that sledge drawn by dogs came close up
totheship, and two Esquimaux made long
survey of it, waved their hands and shout
ed to me as they went off. On the 7th two
sledges appeared, bringing our captain,
mates and two harpooners, and four DAYS
later all our old crew were on board
was correct in my conclusions as to why
they had abandoned the ship. They left
her hurriedly, expecting her to go down,
and had drifted almost down to Upernavik
when discovered by natives and piloted
ashore. Later on sledges were sent out to
search for the ship, and after many fruit
less journeys she was finally sighted, and
when the spring break up came we got
down into the Atlantic with scarcely an
adventure worth recording York
Sun.
Saw Aaron Burr NJarried