The Daily bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Hawaii]) 1882-1895, 1892-09-26
Chapter Of Accidents Among the
Fleet Up North,
Record of the Fleets Catch 10 Latest Date,
Especial Correspondence of the BULLETIN.

OK BOARD BRIG Percy EDWARD OF
SAN FRANoIsco, PoRT CLARENCE, ALAS
KA, July Is, 1S92.-The whaling
season of 1892 has opened with
an unusual number of mishaps. |
Some are more serious than others,
but they have all caused great
amount of work. Among the |
most serious might be mentioned
the brig Alexander, Capt. Shorey,
which was lost on st. Paups Island
Light, Capt. Simmons, with the now
famous Jno. r. Griffith of the PiXley |
train robbery (P. G. Advertiser on
board, ran on an unknown rock near |
Middleton Island. She was got off,
but leaked so badly that the captain
made an attempt to beach her, so as
he could get at the leak, But at last |
accounts he had been unsuccessful, |
and the Northern Light is making
% inches of water an hour. She |
will not go home, however, but will
finish the season in Behring Sea.
The schooner Alton, Capt. Newth,
was nipped in the ice and jammed
so hard that her decks came up.
They had to throw her try-works
overheard. She drifted about with
the ice for twenty-one days. During
her Imprisonment in the ice she
travelled about 700 miles, passing
through the Behring Sea straits and
returning three times She went as
far north as Cape Serdze where the
ice started back and again carried
her through the Straits as far south
as Kings Island, where she was re-
leased to the great relief of her cap
tain and crew.
The bark California, Capt. Slocum,
was nipped at the same time, the ice
crushing eight oak timbers and
breaking his ground tier of casks.
She has been sufficiently repaired to
finish the season.
The schooner Bonaza, Capt. Hunt
ley, ran into cake of ice containing
about four acres, just north of St.
Lawrence Island, splitting her stem
from the water line to the keelson.
She was leaking badly at last ac-
counts, but has gone to Ounalaska
to repair damages. Capt. Huntley
was the master of the bark John p.
West that was burned off Honolulu.
uS DOndIlZd Was OWutu dJ OlS lllHS
by Capt. Black of Honolulu.
The ship America, tender to the
whaling fleet, loaded with 5000 tons
of coal, had twenty feet of cutwater
knocked off by cake of ice. She
was towed to port by the steamer
Newport.
Last but not least is our vessel
the brig Percy Edward, Captain
McKenna, stove and handled roughly
by Mr.. Ice, south of Plover Bay. On
June 9th we came up to the ice and
started to work through it under
easy sail, which we succeeded in do
ing for distance of ten miles, when
the ice became thicker and closer
together. At 3 pm. we came to a
standstill with the ships nose press
ing against a cake of ice. At $3.50
pm. the cake split in two, letting us
through into a small water hole
which allowed the vessel to gather
considerable Roadway, but large
cake of ice promptly brought us up
"all standing" 1t would have been
laughable under other circumstances
to see man take a number of in
voluntary, jerky steps in the direc-
ton of the bow. But it was no
laughing matter, as we found about
six feet of our cutwater had been
knocked off, and plank stove in.
We turned round and worked out
into clear water again, which we
succeeded in doing at 80 am. of
the 18th. We then made for Port
Clarence, where we beached the YES
sci, and at the time of writing we are
all repaired and as good as new. We
will sail in about week for the
North.
Appended is list of the spring
catch of whalers for 1892 in the
Arctic and Behring Sea:
Schooner Rosario, 2 bowhead
whales; schooner Alton, l do; brig
F. A. Barstow, | do; bark Helen
Mar, l do; steamer Beluga, do;
steamer Belvidere, do; bark An
drew Hicks, right whales; bark
Josephine, 4 do; bark Northern
Light, | do; bark James Allen, |
right and l sperm whales; steamer
Jessie Freeman, right whale; bark
Bounding Billow, do; bark Wan,
derer, do; bark Sea Ranger, l do
The rest of the ships are clean to
date. HI. r. w.