The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1894-10-04

and made the work very discouraging.
Nearly all day we were bucking the ice in
this manner, now and then varying the
process by running a line out ahead, an
choring it to the ice and hauling in with
the steam winch. This helped little.
Then we tried to do as the whaler used to
do in such emergencies-drop heavy tim
bers down from the bowsprit, first on one
side and then the other, in an effort to
break up the ice. But the CONCEALED mass
Was too soft to break in blocks, and the
most we could do was to punch holes
through the gelatinous but tough surface
without helping the ship at all.
Our men also got out on the ice, which
was scarcely strong enough to support
their weight, and used axes in cutting
channels ahead of the ship. While engaged
in this work Mr.. Juell fell through into
the icy waters and would have drowned
had he not taken the precaution to tie a
rope about his body before going over
board. We hauled him in, and in two or
three minutes he was out on the ice again
as if nothing had happened. Our four
Norwegian gentlemen from Christiania
prove to be capital hands in ice work,
afraid of nothing, glorying in exposure
and as strong as young giants.
About in the afternoon the Jarl stall
ed completely, and finding no way to get
on we stopped the engines in order to save
our precious coal and took to eating and
smoking. In the arctics one can always
eat and smoke if he has enough meat and
tobacco, and as yet we have a plentiful
supply of both After dinner Captain Bot
telfsen thought he saw new opportunity
to break through and reach the open water
which glittered in the sunlight between
the ship and Table island provokingly near
us and yet very difficult to reach. So we
made steam again and renewed the process
of backing and ramming. Here we en-
ployed still another device known to the
whalers-that of calling all hands on deck
and ordering them to run to and fro from
gunwale to gunwale, thus giving the
vessel a slight rocking motion and greatly
helping it to worm its way through the
ice, Oh the same principle that q man
twists himself about when trying to
squeeze through an opening much too
small for him. After four hours of hard
work we were pleased to feel the Jarl give
a quick start and run away at full speed
in open water, with Table island dead
ahead.
Curiosities of Young Ice.
While in the young ice we were inter
ested in observing some of the curious
effects produced by nature. All over the
surface of this Ice were crystalline forma-
tons of pure white, resembling rosettes,
caused by snow being caught in the water
during the process of freezing. For the
most part these crystals were irregularly
aligned, but here and there the wind had
played curious pranks now forming an
gular characters greatly resembling Eng
lish capital letters and again producing
figures very like Turkish or Armenian
script. In many places the rosettes were
aligned in good imitation of the names of
persons, and one was seen which formed
almost perfectly the letters of the name of
the writer's little daughter, Rita.
All over the surface of the sea the sheets
of young ice were coming into collision.
Ordinarily when two sheets of ice meet
the stronger conquers the weaker and COM
pels it to take the under side. But in
these instances there was no stronger.
Both were formed at the same instant,
were of the same thickness and toughness.
They had therefore apparently concluded
to split even-to give and take The re-
suit was that for a space of perhaps 30
feet foe No. l ran under No. 2. Then for
what appeared to be precisely the same
distance the latter courteously ducked un-
der the first, and after literally taking
water it's allotted distance rose to the top
again. This was continued in some places
for mile or more, or as far as the eye
could reach. No carpenter in Christen-
dom could do more perfect joiner work,
with more accurate measurements, than
these mortisings and lemons matched to-
gether by the hand of Dame Nature.
A few minutes before 10 this evening
we arrived at Table island, one of the Sew
en- islands group, and ran the PROV Of the
Jarl into the most beautiful pressed up
ice, full of ultramarine tints and the most
rugged and fantastic shapes. Here the
pack, in grinding by with terrific force, had
pressed its own debris high on shore, pro-
ducing mass of indescribable confusion,
hopeless as q road, but attractive as spec
tacle. Here we decided to make our cache
instead Of upon Little Table island, four
miles to the northwest, as was originally
intended. The advantage of Tableasland
over Little Table island as site for de-
pot is that the former is larger, and stand
ing very near to Phipps' island ALSO If a
boat party were to come from the north
in thick or stormy weather, it would have
80 ~, - y,