The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-08-05
SILENTLY Selling THE SEA.
The ship That Ar swsrsd No Hail, Pur-
poseless, Silent and Alone.
Fr0m re 81 Francisco Ernlnfner.


From the San Francisco Examiner
Stout John Hansen, wrapped all in furs.
stood at the wheel OF the bark Reindeer, q
whaler on the arctic seas. 1t was the night
OF July l6, and the vessel was working
along the ice pack with Cape Smythe just
looming in the distance. The biting wind
twlrled about Hansen's feet, catching up
the light snow and senling it swirling
across the darkling water There was q
DISK breeze and the n ght was too cold for
comfort by reason Of the proximity of the
hoe; but Hansen cared little, and cheerily
Whistled the tune of a folklore song he
learned while child sporting on the shores
| OF a Norwegian ford. Ha seemed as strong
and fearless rs one of his Viking ancestors
| when they faced the unknown Atlantic I'M
til 'cloud-like they saw the American shore
stretching to leeward.n
Suddenly, right out of the pack came
another bark, bow on. Her mizzen was
gone and she veered and waved strangely,
but her sails were set and she was making
fair Roadway. Hansen could hear the swish
Of the winds in her shrouds and the swash
as she munched the bone in her mouth In
an Instant she tackled and bore away. Then,
before going 100 yards, she came about and
made straight for the Reindeer again.
Hansen hailed her. There was no answer
Ing hail His voice rang hollow and strange
as the wind took it up and seemed to make
of it a knocking echo. Then he hailed
again. No return.
Hansens lips grew white. His knees
| shook. He put his helm hard over and
made for the open sea. Then he muttered
| prayer which had not come to him since
a ship burned under his feet in the southern
| ocean way back in the COS.
He had seen the spectral ship. the Fl ying
Dutchman of the frozen ocean. The phan-
| tom came SO near that he could see the glls-
ten of the salt spray frozen on her rigging
and the icicles which hung from her spars
There was ice upon her deck, and upon her
wheel, and upon her battened hatches-ice,
aud nothing more.
Her decks gave back no echo OF footsteps
Her sailing lights we're out. She was so
low in the water that she seemed almost
awash-but she kept On into the darkness,
reel1ng, staggering, unsteady, but on and
on out of sight.
Last week John Hansen came into port.
! Death sat watching by his bedside. He
! chartered and glbbered and stared with
| stralning eye-balls, for 10 man may look
upon the phantom ship and live.
But what John Hansen saw in the depths
| OF that July night was not a specter Of the
seas, nor was it the grim vision Of the fever
stricken brain. 1t was something far more
dangerous than an airy phautom-a derelict
of the deep. 1t was the wreck of the Young
Phenix, which, since Aug 5, 1885, has been
sailing through ice and gale, breasting the
| crushing pack, lodging the toppling bergs,
guided by an unseen hand and sailing for
no known port. No one may say she has
not touched the northern pole. No man
may tell where she will be seen again.
On Aug. 3 Of last year the whaling feet
was riding between Point Barrow and Cape
Smythe, waiting for the ice pack to clear,
when down came the southwest gale, beat
| ing the sea into ridges and tossing the stout
/ ships like the paper argosies of children.
Down went the bark Fleetwing, that had
outllved many an Arctic storm. The Mary
aud Susan strained, plunged and found
| cred. The seas great nav took in the
schooners lno and Jane Oray.h
Things were lively on the Young Phoenix
then. Both anchors were let go and the
men were ordered to the pumps. She was
| leaking badly and the heavy seas swept clear
| over her. With the night the wind shifted
| to the west and came in stronger gusts. One
after the other the cables parted and the
| bark drifted. Then an effort was made to
get to sea, but the vessel fouled the Triton
when trying to get over the bar. Her rud-
| der, stern post and jibboom were carried
away and the leaks were started freer.
The crew of thirty-soven men stuck by
| the bark until Aug. 6. By that time the
water was at her lower deck. Her mizzen-
mast had been cut away. 1t was not
| thought that she could float more than an
hour or two longer. The sails on the fore
| and main masts were set or partially fGrled
| when Capt. Willard ordered the men to the
boats and the Young Phoenix sailed away,
rudderless and undireoted, to inset what
ever fate might come.
She was not seen again last year, and it
was supposed she had foundered or been
squeezed between the foes. But she kept on
her erratic course, buffeted by the winds,
/ caught by the currents lonely and forlorn.
On May Of this year she was seen and
boarded by Mr.. Leavitt, manager OF q
| whaling station on Cape Smythe. She was
| then close in shore, some sixty miles from
where she had been abandoned A few
relics were taken from her, and the next
morning she was gone again. She was little
changed, and, though water-logged, made
| good Roadway.
This abandoned craft is probably the
phantom whose ioe-sheathed shrouds and
silent decks doomed upon the started vision
of big John Hansen that chilly night IN
July, and gave him that shock from which
| n9 NAV never recover