The Portland daily press., 1893-01-23
HAPPY MARINERS.
The Bark jackson Reaches Port After
More than Month. of Stor m and Peril
Woman and a Child on Board-Eight
Days Without Seeing the Sun.

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There was a happy company Of mar
liners on the bark Isaac Jackson, which
arrived at this port yesterday morning,
after one of the most tempestuous voy-
ages on record in this region. Not the
least happy of this company were a
woman and little child, who at last
found themselves in quiet port after ~
days of bitter cold and dangerous
storms. The woman is the wife OF Cap
tain Ernest Davis of Cutler, who COM
mands the Jackson for Messrs. j. 5.
Winslow & Co. 1t was on the 18th OF
D ecember that this fine, staunch vessel
left Hampton Roads for Portland with a
load of coal, which she was bringing
from Baltimore. Once before Captain
Davis had started out, but had been
forced to put back after mishap,
which cost him one of his anchors. This
time the weather seemed to promise a
voyage of no more than ordinary dnra-
ton. But the very next day a heavy
gale came up, and under such unpropi-
tious auspices the voyage to the north
began. II have been to sea over 80
years. said First Mate John T. Holt of
Baltimore to the PRESS reporter yester-
day, sand III all that time have not in
any cline under the sun experienced SO
hard and perilous a voyage
Accompanied by heavy winds and very
cold weather the Jackson made her way
northward until the captain supposed
that he must be off Montauk Point, the
promontory at the eastern extremity OF
Long Island. Here perfect blizzard
set in. The atmosphere was intensely
cold, snow blinded the crew and shut off
all view of their surroundings. The
wind blew perfect gale, and the sea
rolled mountains high" The spray,
frozen hard by the northwest wind, COW
cred the ropes, sails and decks with a
coating of ice which prevented the ropes
running through the blocks and paral-
yzed the efforts of the sailors, who could
barely make their way about the ship of
ice. The first officer at this juncture
slipped on the deck and sustained severe
injuries.
Uncertain of their position, crippled
by ice and freezing with the biting cold.
there was but one thing to do, and that
was to head for the Gulf Stream. Mrs.
Davis and the child, in the protection of
the cabin, got along very well, especially
as Mrs. Davis is a good sailor. But the
officers and crew suffered much, and
some of them have not recovered yet
from their frost bites.
Christmas morning there seemed to
the voyagers to be anything but peace on
earth. With only two sails set the Jack
son staggered through the boiling sea
under black sky and driven by howl
ing northwest gale. Nothing but care
full seamanship and the ,staunehness of
the. vessel saved her at this time.
Through all that day and night they ran
before the gale, and the next day brought
no change of the situation for the better.
In fact, on the 18th the continual toss,
ings of the vessel shifted the coal in the
cargo and gave the bark a list to the
starboard.
On the 9th, however, the snow and
ice began to come off the vessel, and by
this sign the captain judged that he was
in the vicinity of the Gulf Stream. but as
they had not seen the sun for eight days,
and consequently had been unable to
take an observation, they had no posi-
tive knowledge of their position. The
9th was occupied in shifting the coal SO
that the vessel could right herself, and
in clearing away the ice and making the
rigging useful again.
The ship was turned about as soon as
the ice was melted, and with no unusual
incidents the jackson got back to the
coast in the vicinity of Montauk Point
on January End. But it was only to
catch heavy gale from the southeast,
during which the captain made out to
get his vessel into shelter at Vineyard
Haven. This place was. full of vessels,
many of them bound this way, which
had been stopped by the tempestuous
weather The mate of the Jackson
counted 40 or so, none Of them able to
move on account of thesice
The jackson lay in Vineyard Haven
until Satu rday, when the tug Hercules
came after her to tow her to Portland.
In crossing Nantucket Shoals fully four
miles Of solid drift ice was encountered
SO thick that no. sailing vessel could
ever have gotten through it alone. In
deed, the heavy eight and one-half inch
hawser which the tug hitched onto the
jackson parted when in the midst of the
ice and was picked up with difficulty.
Throughout the troublesome voyage,
which might not have been longer had
it been to South America, the jackson
suffered no importantinjury.
The bark Celina, which left Hampton
Roads at the same time with the Jack
son, had better luck, and three weeks ago
Saturday night sailed into Portland be-
fore the heavy gale that was blowing
that night.
The jackson brought coal for Randall
& McA lister