The Logan County banner. [volume] (Logan, W. Va.) 1889-1903, 1890-02-13

-~-=Ievrtorrr- schwatI<a Relates n Few OF the
Uncomfortable Experiences He and
His Party Endured While In
the Frozen North.
The tight pinches" Of an exploring
l-xpedition, and especially those of one
into the Arctic regions, form the most
-tstt resting part of it to most people.
The mishaps and misfortunes of my
purity unfortunately for the literary
part, but fortunately for the physical
aomfort OF those who composed it, were
not many or very serious. Still we had
a few and heard of many others while
living among the strange natives Of that
aese4ate region. N.
- The first pinch" we had came long
before any difficulty was expected, and
was more literally pinch than we de-
sired il to be. 1t was pinch of the
Ship between two grinding ice-foes, and
for few minutes we thought we would
he sent to the bottom. But, fortunately,
the vise-like pressure was removed
Our captain had had his attention
NithdraWn from the management of the
ship for a short while by a visit from the
captain of a whaler near by. Roth ships
we're waiting to get through the ice Of
44tasons straits.
1t merely happened at that time that
/ one of the least-skilled seamen was at
the wheel, directing the ships course
On account of his lack of marine capa-
bffities he had received the sobriquet of
the farmer This is no sign that he
had ever followed the honorable occupa-
ton of tilling the soil, for sailors merely
allude to this as one degree of inca
pacity in seamanship, the worst of which,
believe, Is to be called "a marine. y
The farmer was not one-half as fear
full OF the ice as our captain was, and
when he attempted to shoot the Eothen
between two great cakes of ice that
were really small floating fields of that
material, the ship brought up with a
thud that nearly upset all the people on
the deck.
between the two sea captains, how
ever, both of them fine ice-masters with
"a long experience in the dangerous naYi=
Cation OF northern waters, we managed
to clear the ship from her perilous pre-
dlcament, although at one time the ice
pack set In solidly around us for hun
dred yards.
We could feel the little ship careen,
and the dull grinding of the ice-tongues
on her bottom sounded like distant
thunderstorm growing along the hori-
zon.
After the first Arctic tight pinch was
= II -
none of19the ships planks had been
pinched in two the conversati ton turned
on ships being caught in the Arctic ice
fields, and their slim chance of escape
= unaer=Hnfavorable circumstances.
Cur visiting captain-had seen a ship
squeezed SO tight that tho deck blanks
opened wide enough to let the oakum
drop out. But even then the ship was
not lost for when the pressure was re-
moved the side planks sprung back into
place, and the leakage was not so great
that it could not be controlled until the
ship could be repaired.
fortunately for US the ice-pack was
anopen one, and it was rather an acci-
dent than even bad steering on the part
of the farmer thatwe got into so much
fit which soon opened and let us out.
Ships have been known to be caught be-
tween two colliding fields of ice of many
acres in extent, and to be lifted COM
= Ptetely eutef the water by the impact,
the uninjured vessel resting on the field
of ice until the change of ice separated
the fields once more and she was
launched into the water again, having
: Topped up out of the water somewhat
II ke cherry stone between the thumb
and forefinger of some urchin trying to
snap it at a comrade. ff,'ss9s
Our second tight pinch was still of a
marine character, but of less extensive
s nature, 1t occurred, through the ig-
norance Of the white men as to the
sea-going qualities of an Eskimo seal
skin boat, or more properly scow. This
: : but seal-skln hide stretched over
afge wooden frame little larger than
the average-sized life-boat and is one OF
the most unsteady models of marine
architecture that was ever made by man,
sefilizedor savage. :
Our objective point was an island a
little over two miles from the mainland
whcre@e were camped. This was at an
Eskimo village, but as it was summer
tHo men were all inland reindeer-hunt
lhE, and no natives were left but q few
boys and some decrepit old people 1t
was, the untrustworthy younger people
se0w. and determined our using IL 10 get
8,