Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1890-07-19
ABANDONED IN THE ICE.
A Sailor Tells d Thrilling and Pathetic
Tale of Suffering.


On my first voyage across the Atlantic,
being then an apprentice IN the snip
"Dixon," of Boston, we sighted wreck
in midocean and a 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
vet the loneliness of his situation had
driven him mad, and he 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 surroundings of one abandoned
in the Arctic circle? | shall tell you my
story and leave you to judge.
| was hale and hearty young fellow
of 90 when made the harpooner Of boat
No. 3 on board the English Whaler
Search. She was stout built and we'll
manned ship, and this was her second
voyage to the north after whales. Our
luck as we proceeded up the Greenland
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 frostblt-
ten. On the day that the cooper an
nounced us tWo-thirds full we had two
dead whales lashed alongside, and a
large school of living ones were playing
within mile of us. In one hour our
luck changed completely about. First,
and seemingly without reason, the lash
ings of the big whale on the port side
suddenly gave way, and the fish sank
like a stone. There was considerable
sea at the time, and as this fellow let 60
the weight of the other rolled the ship
almost on her beam ends, and the lash
ings 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 Sc
cure the whale again when squall
came up and popped at us as you might
fire a gun. No one had noticed its COM
ing, and, though it was over in ten min
utes, it damaged us more than three
days gale might have done. We had to
let 90 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 I'M
til 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
long distance 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 all and running over
with oil and bone, and reported
whales as plenty a hundred miles
further up. Her captain cautioned us,
however, that the short Arctic summer
was on its last legs, and that we must
hurry our business to get out before the
ice began to make. AS for the old ice,
drifting down with the currents into the
Atlantic, there was never an hour that
bergs or foes were not in sight. Capt
Lord was neither cOncelted nor pig
headed. Every man aboard was pecu-
niarly interested in the voyage, and he
called us aft and put it to vote whether
we should go further north and take
our chances or cruise to the southwark
clear of ice. The crew voted to 60
north. We only wanted four or five big
fish to fill our last barrel and square
away for home, and it was only the
first days of September.
In the succeeding ten days we car
tured but one whale, and that a sma,
one. We raised plenty of them, bue
they were exceedingly wild, giving the
boats many long and fruitless pull.
We were now off Uppernavik, on the
west coast of Greenland, and there was
every sign of change of seasons. Once
more the men were called aft, and 1t
was voted to hang on for days longer
and then square away for home. In
less than two hours a gale breezed up
from the northeast, the air was filled
with snowhakes, and we were lying-to,
and drifting up the Arctic Ocean. 1t
was twenty-four hours before the gale
broke, and the mercury went down be-
low freezing point, and we had to get
out our winter clothing. We still had
plenty of time, providing everything
worked we'll, but everything seemed to
work against us. The weather came off
thick and squally, contrary winds pre-
vailed, and when we had worked down
almost to Upernayik we got a rousing
old tempest, which lost us all we had
gained. On the afternoon ct the 10Th
day of September the wind died entirely
away, the mercury began to fall, an
that night, as the ship drifted about, we
felt that we had taken the chances and
lost. Next morning we were lying
frozen in. The ice stretched away as
far as we could see, and was strong
enough to bear a mans weight. A
smart sea would have broken it up in
no time, but for the next twenty hours
there was hardly puff of wind.
When it did come it headed us off again,
and it was no surprise to the men to be
told one morning that the ship would
have to winter in the ice. We drifted