The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1893-10-15
CLOSE TO THE POLE
The Steamer Newport Reaches "a
Degrees North Latitude.
Highest Point Ever Attained by Man
Experiences of the Whaling Fleet
in the Arctic Ocean.
San Francisco Chronicle.

The steamer jeanne, tender Of the Arc
tic whaling fleet, has arrived here from Her
schel island. at the mouth Of Mackenzie
river. The catch of the steam whalers which
wintered at Herschel island last year sur
passes anything ever before known in the
history of the world. 1t is an instance
where truth is stranger than fiction. The
report might not be believed were IL not
backed up by official documents from the
captains of the vessels making the eaten
and the bringing into the harbor of 100000
pounds of whalebone with more to follow.
The four steam whalers which head the list
are the Narwhal, Captain Horace Smith,
Al whales; Balaena, Captain Harry Nor
wood 81 whales; Grampus. Captain Vim
cent, 26 whales, and Newport, Captain Por-
ter, % whales The total is 123 for the four
vessels All the whales were taken in the
Arctic ocean, over three hundred miles TO
the eastward of Point Barrow.
Captain Porter, of the Newport. must
hereafter be known to fame as the man
who has penetrated the northern regions OF
the globe the closest to the north pole Of
any known navigator that ever existed.
An open sea, this year particularly free of
ice, gave the Captain a grand chance, and
while in pursuit of whales he kept working
his way north until he reached "a degrees
Of latitude. Herschel island is considered
almost in another world. and is about 50
degrees so minutes north. To go fifteen de-
grees further north is wonderful perform
al tnat might only be accomphshtehd, once nee
degrees of the north pole is an achievement
WORTH Of being heralded far and wide.
The highest latitude north ever reached
before was So deg. "a min, and was at
tanned by members of the Greedy party in
lSS,. Previous to that time by fully eight
years Mares and Stephensons English ex-
ploring party had via Greenland penetrated
to SO deg. 20 min. Since these two persons
Dr. Nansen. a Greenland explorer, and
Lieutenant Peary, have headed expeditions
north, but have failed to pass either of
these marks. The conditions under which
regularly fitted out exploring parties have
regions have been fraught with much hard
ship and disaster In no instance have they
been as favorable as the chance opportuni-
ty that was presented to Captain Porter
while searching for whales. An expedition
we'll supplied with dogs, sleds and provis-
ions that could have been on the Newport
and landed on the ice from the open sea
in 81 deg. north might have stood better
chance of reaching the north pole than any
other exploring party ever had since the
world began
SMASHED BY A WHALES FLUKE.
Only one fatal accident occurred on the
four steam whalers. Third officer Jones,
of the Newport, changed places with boat
header Lyon, of the Grampus. Hardly had
the transfer been made when Joness boat
met with an accident that cost Big Charley,
one of the crew, his life and injured Jones
to the extent of two broken ribs. The rest
of the crew had narrow escape. During
the morning of the 10th of August large
bull whale sighted a couple of miles
off on the port bow of the Grampus. Jones's
boat was lowered and manned. The chase
was quiet one at the start. The monster,
as the boat approached, appeared to be
SieeD1nR.
sent into the whale with line attached.
This had the effect of waking up the big
fish, which Immediately dived, and a few
moments later came up alongside the boat
With one flap of the fiuke the boat was
smashed into kindling wood and every man
thrown into the water Another whale
boat was already on the way to Jones's
assistance when the whale rose alongside
of his boat. Some of the crew held on to
pieces of the broken boat until they were
rescued. Big Charley, however, being una
bic to swim, went down almost immediate
Iy after striking the water
The four whalers already mentioned will
remain north another winter. and accord
ing to calculations should have gone into
together with the steam whalers jean
nette, Captain Newth and the Karluk, Cap
tain Wing. When the Jeanne left here
the 1st of last June for the Arctic ocean she
took up a cargo of supplies and coal for
the steam whalers at Herschel island
and crew Of sixteen sailors for the New
port to relieve those who had spent the
previous winter north. Hardly had the
change been made than the Newport sue
ceeded in getting five whales all in one
lump. The departing thought they
were out of luck to miss this plum after
putting in the winter.
One of the returning crew of the New
port, William Black. tells an interesting
story of the cruise of that vessel and life
The steam Whaer left n sad bs
'in May and June of last year. reaching
the Arctic in July. Success did not crown
our efforts, for on Oct. I'd. when we went
he1 iCla
the Narwhal had taken but nine whales
the Balaena the same, the Grampus six
and the Newport only three. Captain Por-
ter was very much discouraged al his poor
success and wanted to start for home with
the Newport. However, Captain Norwood
or the Balaena, gave him much encourage
ment Having an extra lot of supplies
made winter north possible.
The Arctic ocean began to fill up with
ice In september year ago. so that we had
no time to lose in preparing for the long
siege of the winter months. The lagoon on
are perfectly safe there from ice jams and
hoes. On Oct we commenced housing in
the steam whalers, and made good pro-
gress. During the next few days the Ia
COON was frozen over and a heavy fall of
snow covered the ice and the vessels. Ali
hands were out with shovels ard SNOW
! packed up against the bulls of the whaIer
A ladder was placed on the side so as TO
allow communication with the ice. The
Newport was the worst supplied of ALI
| four vessels. While the other whalers had
dog sleds the crew of the Newport were
hitcned 10 SledS ike dogs, and had to drag
a supply of fresh-water ice from the Mac
| kenzie river TO the vessels, a distance of
five miles. Our supply of coal did not sneak
| well for holding out for the winter so we
had to pick up drift wood and store IL
! away. The other whalers had coal for fuel
FLIRTED WITH INDIAN BUDS"
Indian hunters supplied us plentifullv
| with deer meat, and the two icehouses ON
| the island seldom had less than thirty car
| casses stored there. The Indians WORE
| friendly and always willing to barter skins
for food and provisions. The visits of the
tribes in the vicinity of the Mackenzie
river were frequent Quite a number of
| social buds were blossoming among the In
dams, and the dusky maidens were not AT
| all averse to flirting with the whalers. I'm
der these circumstances the winter xas
| pleasantly passed. There was any oman
| tity Of reading matter on board. Our nuar
| ters were warm and comfortab BILE and With
| the light of a cheerful fire and whale oil
lamps We did we'll. The winter was o -
stormy one. but the cold did not reach 90
| degrees below zero. "
| ION all the vessels there was an ao-
| cordeon or two, and music was niayad
| over and over again. The four whales
| not being more than one hundred Var5s
| apart, good deal of visiting was done ~,
| the crews. Captain Norwood OF the d.
| laena, led number of entertainments on