The Forrest City times., 1891-07-10
A QUEER EXCHANGE.

to the north of Point Barrow, Alaska,
 in the old Scotch bark Emma Davis. That was my fifth whaling voyage, and no ship could have had worse luck. When we had been out four teen months we had to buy barrel | of oil to keep our lamps q going. We had sighted a whale now and then. but they were as wild as deer. and twice when we had made fast we had our boats stove and lost two or
 three men. We had lost topma sts,
 been aleak, had several sails destroy ed, been on fire, and it seemed as if
 the very devil was to pay with the voyage, and yet no one could blame
 any one else. It was simply ships luck" and we had to makeshe best
 ot it. Finally late in the season, when
 We ought to have been heading for the south, We got among the whales. That is, they suddenly appeared all around us, and on the very first day
 we killed four without accident. We
 cut them III without trying out, as
 this was the quicker way to dispose
 of them, and the last of the blubber
 was no sooner over the rail than down went the boats and two more
 whales were secured
 The winter galesswere at hand and
 ice was making fast; but it was our golden opportunity We drifted slow
 ly to the south, killing and cutting in
 as we went, and ii we could have had two weeks more of it we could have filled the ship, One n tel r.
 noon, as we had ahalf cut
 whale on each side of us,
 gale sprans up, heavy snow storm
 came on, and Tn less than an hour we
 had to let go of our prizes and look
 sharply after the bark. It was the be-
 ginning of the Arctic winter, and while the Captain was satisfied of 1t he de- cided to take one more chance There
 might come few days of fine weather | after the gale, and so we drifted away to the north to wear out the gale For thirty hours there was no let up,
 and every half hour We had to turn out | and shovel snow over the rails. Just | as the gale broke we got among the field ice, and the temperature went down in four hours fron % below
 zero to lS0 below From a gale blow ing at the rate of forty miles an hour l the wind died out until it hadn't mo- ton enough to flare a candle On that first night, when we were sur rounded by field ice and drifting with 1t. many of the men were badly irost- bitten, and the frost cracked through
 the old ship like muskets
 Morning came without a breath of wind. with the temperature down to 2Io below, and now every man knew 1t was one chance in ten for us. We
 were drifting very slowly to the south. and while we made everything as snug
 as possible the Captain hoped for a
 break before winter actually shut down. Before noon the sea, as far as could be discovered from the crows
 nest with a glass, was covered with
 field ice, and by night the temperature
 was 320 below. We kept up our fires
 and got out all the spare clothing and bedding, but many of themen suffered with the cold, and no one slept more than ten minutes at time on account
 of the noises When morning came
 again it brought in wind, while the cold was just as intense and We could now discover q great change in the ice around us. It was rugged and
 broken, the heave of the sea having piled cakes on top ot each other, and the field was four or five feet thick The old man himself went to the
 crows nest and took a long look, and
 when he came down he said to the
 men, who were waiting to hear his words;
 Well, boys, it looks very serious to me and l expect you had better prepare to winter this side of Dundee, That settled it with us. We turned to and began to caulk and batten to
 keep out the cold, and in a couple of days we were as ready as we could be. For four days and nights there wasn't
 pull of wind, with the cold sointense that ice formed to the thickness of sew
 en feet alongside the bark. At day light on the mornin. of the fifth sQua came out of the southwest, ac-
 companied by snow and before noon
 the ice field was broken up. At noon the wind died almost out, but within an hour it shipped to the north, and away went everythin ' to tho south, A wilder sight than a sea covered with great cakes and blocks of ice. each one tossing, grinding, and crashing on iss own account, no one ever saw. We dared show only rag of sail-lust
 enough to give her steeraee way-and the smashing she got that afternoon seemed enough to break every timber in her bows. At night the wind fell again, and at clock the hermome- eter marked 42o below. As soon as the heave of the sea subsided the ice was firmly welded together again. and when morning came there were hills and hummocks in sight as big as the ship. The men were now told by the mate that our position was about ninety miles north of smiths Bay, and that our foe was no longer drift ing. This signitied that the southern
 edge of 1t rested against the shore ice, and that we were in for 1t, unless some unlocked for streak of luck came to our aid.
 Next day there were heavy wind squalls, but the ice did not break nor did the ship move That settled it. For the next week we had calms and squalls, with the temperature ranging from 27e to 3Se below. but the pack was as solid as arocky ledge. We were housed in by this time, and had act n hliabol tha utrkav ~x,s,tsvnn