Wood River times. [volume] (Hailey, Idaho) 1882-1915, 1893-10-23
PERIL IN ROUNDING THE HORN.
This Season the Ice IL Farther North
Than Ever known Before.

This Season the Ice IL Farther North
Than Ever known Before.
Vessels arriving at San Francisco
from Europe report that the ice field
in the region OF Cape Horn is greater
In extent and extends farther north
than ever was known before The
field extends for nearly 1000 miles
from the northeast to the southwest,
Its width being nearly as great 1t
Is in this terrible sea that the British
ships Talisman, lvermark, and Mac
MILAN are believed to have met their
doom. as they are long since overdue
and nothing has been heard of them
since they hailed from this coast.
George E. Clayburn. who went out in
the British ship Waterloo, and who
returned to San Francisco few days
ago overland, said the ice down off
Cape Horn was far worse this year
than ever known before
II have rounded the Horn fifteen
times" said MI. Clayburn to an Ex-
aminer reporter, ''but the last trip
beat them all. We were on deck day
and night, and as soon as we got
clear OF one pack we ran into
another 1t was hard up and hard
down every few minutes, and it
seemed as il all the ice that ever
formed around the South Pole had
broken adrift and was bound up
north. One morning ll9 big icebergs
were counted from the deck Of the
ship, to say nothing of the small ones,
which seemed as thick as grass in a
meadow. We could generally pick a
passage through the bergs, but we
ran across several that made US crowd
on all the canvas we could carry to
get out of the way. Some of the big
fellows lowered 300 and 400 feet
above the water, and as there was
five times as much ice below you can
form some idea of their size. The
rapidity with which one of those big
bergs will go sailing along before
strong breeze is almost beyond belief,
but speed OF eight and ten knots is
nothing unusual.
"a bark that arrived at Queens.
town from Callao few days before
we did had very narrow escape from
destruction, as she was hemmed in
and lifted several feet out OF the
water by the enormous pressure of
the ice foes, which held her prisoner
for five days and nights.
''Ihe crew had no hope of saving
the vessel and the boats were got out
on the ice, and provisions. water, and
Instruments, placed in them in readi-
ness to leave at moments notice.
'.The weather was bitter cold, and
hail, rain, and snow made life on the
ice anything but pleasant, but the
men refused to desert the vessel, and
at last shift of wind caused the ice
to separate, and with the boats tow
ing behind her, the bark sailed out
into open water. only to be hemmed
III by the ice again few hours later
Two of the boats were stove to pieces
and one man was so severely injured
by slipping on the ice while trying to
save one OF the boats that he will be
a cripple for life.
"The ice was pretty bad off the
Horn in 1859, and there was lots of
It, but l never heard OF it getting so
far north as it is this year. see by
the reports that some of the vessels
have been driven 500 and 600 miles
out OF their course by it, and God
only knows how many vessels have
been lost. No one unless he has been
among the ice can form any idea of
the grandeur of it, but the men who
get into it have seldom any time to
think OF or admire the sublime, for
they have to get out as soon as DOS
sible. The strongest ship that ever
floated would be crushed as easily be-
tween the big bergs az sledgeham-
mer would crush an egg The worst
OF it is you can't tell which way to
steer to get clear of some OF the bergs,
for they will 90 sailing along across |
your course at good speed one min
ute and then seem to stop as il they |
had struck the ground. It is very |
dangerous to get close to them at any
time, for no one can tell the moment |
they are going to capsize. and when
they do they raise an awful swell.
Sometimes two OF the big fellows will
collide, and the shock will break
them both to pieces and the crash
can be heard many miles away. A
collision with one of those big masses
OF ice is almost sure to send shin to
the bottom and her crew has a very
small chance of getting out the boats
before she goes down"