Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1890-07-19
Abandoned in the Ice.

On my first voyage across the Atlantic,
being then an apprentice in the ship
Dixon, of Boston, we sighted a wreck in
mldocean and boat was lowered and a
sailor taken from the derelict. He had
been alone only five days, and the
weather had been reasonably fair, and yet
the loneliness Of his situation had driven
him mad, and be gave our men a good
tussle to get him into the boat. If this
situation, IN summer weather, right in the
track Of vessels, with the sun showing
thirteen hours per day, was enough to
drive sailor mad, what must be the sur
roundings of one abandoned in the Arctic
circle2 [ shall tell you my story and
leave you to judge.
l was hale and hearty young fellow
of twenty-three when made the harpooner
of boat No. 3 on board the English
whaler Search. She was a stout-b built
and wellmanned ship, and this was her
second voyage to the north after whales.
Our luck, as we proceeded up the Green
land coast, was all that could be hoped
for, and there seemed no doubt that we
would fill the ship and be out of those
seas before a sailors ear was frostbitten.
On the day that the cooper announced us
two-thirds full we had two dead whales
lashed alongside, and a large school of
living ones were playing within a mile of
us. In one hour our luck changed COM
pletely about. First, and seemingly
without reason, the lashings of the big
whale on the port side suddenly gave way,
end the fish sank like a stone. There was
considerable sea at the time, and as this
fellow let go the weight of the other
rolled the ship almost on her beam ends,
and the lasbings had to be cast off to
right her. The rattle on deck fetched
away as she rolled, and one man was
killed and two badly hurt. We were
laboring to secure the whale again when
squall came up and popped at us as you
might fire gun. No one had noticed its
coming, and though it was over in ten
minutes, it damaged us more than three
days gale might have done. We had to
let go the whale, and it took us fully a
day to make repairs.
That day was the turning point in the
history of the voyage 1t seemed as if
the whales had fed from those waters in
terror, for we did not see another until
the ninth day. Then it would have been
better had we given him wide berth
Two boats were lowered to give him
chase, and after leading them a long DIS
lance and finally being struck, he turned
and smashed one of them and killed two
of her crew outright.
On this same day we met Yankee
whaler coming down from the north.
She was chock full and running over
with oil and bone, and reported whales
as plenty hundred miles further mp.
Her Captain cautioned us, however, that
the short Arctic summer was on its last
legs, and that we must hurry our bust
ness to get out before the ice began to
make. As for the old ice, drifting down
with the currents into the Atlantic,
there was.neyer an hour that bergs or
foes werelnot in sight. Captain Lord
was neither conceited nor pig headed.
Every man.aboard was pecuniarily inter
ested in the'voyage, and he called us aft
and put it tosvote whether we should 90
further north,and take our chances or
cruise to the southwark and hope for
luck, while sureito be clear of the ice.
The crew voted to go north. We only
wanted four or five big fish to fill our
last barrel and square away for home, and
it was now only the first days of Septem-
Der.
In the succeeding ten days we captured
but one whale and that small one. We
raised plenty ofithem, but they were ex-
ceedingly wild, giving the boats many
a long and fruitlesss pull. We were now
off Upernavik, on the west coast of
Greenland, and there was every sign of
a change of seasons. Once more the
men were called aft, and it was voted to
hang on for four days longer aud then
square away for home. In less than two
hours gale breezed up from the north
east, the air was filed with snowflakes,
and we were lying to and drifting up the
Arctic Ocean. twas twenty-four hours
before tie gale broke and then the mer-
curry went down below freezing point,
and we had to get out our winter cloth
ing. We still had plenty of time, pro-
viding everything worked well, but
everything seemed to work against us.
The weather came off thick and squally,
contrary winds prevailed, and when we
had worked down almost to Upernavik
we got rousing old tempest, which