The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1895-04-04
ALOFT ON AN ICEBERG
THE REMARKABLE ADVENTURE OF
THE SCHOONER ELWOoD.


A Trying Experience While Near Juneau,
Alaska-The Tide Goes Down While She
Is Fastened to Berg. Leaving Her High
and Dry.
Strange stories Of thrilling encounters
with icebergs have been brought back
from the Arctic by shippers from time
10 time, but they must all take back
seat now and bow. low to Captain Ches-
ter Of the schooner Elwood.
The Elwood has just returned from
her first halibut fishing cruise in the
northern waters She left San Francisco
on Jan. "a in ballast. but put into De-
parture bay and took on a cargo Of coal
for Juneau, Alaska. After discharging
at the latter place she headed for the
Muir glacier, the purpose being to load
the held with ice. The vessel was pass
ing through the 10y straits and was just
of Ho0nia, says Captain Chester, when
he esp6ed an immense ioebe1g about
mile away. 1t was fully ten times the
Size of the schooner and appeared to
have become fast upon a reef.
The captain considered this lucky
find. for he could get all the ice he
wanted. The Elwood was headed for
the berg, and when the vessel was with
in a few yards Of it the anchor was
dropped. The schooner was then per-
mitted to- swing around until she came
alongside. the iceberg. to which she was
made fast with lines
The tide was at the full at the time,
and to all appearance the vessel was
perfectly safe All went we'll until
along toward evening. About 40 tons
Of ice had been deposited in the hold,
aud Captain Chester encouraged his
men to work a. little faster, as he de-
sired to get the entire load and leave as
soon as possible Meanwhile the tide
had been falling, which caused the ice
berg to settle heavily upon the reef be-
meath and then to gradually tip over to-
ward the side opposite the vessel
The iceberg continued to careen, and
Captain Chester began to suspect that
all was mot going to be well for him.
He ordered his men to get aboard and
was about to set sail when, with
grinding roar, the iceberg rolled off the
reef and started to revolve Immediate
~ there arose on the starboard side Of
the vessel and beneath it q jagged spur
Of ice. which until then had formed
the bottom of the iceberg. With crash,
the ice struck the keel The next in
slant the astonished crew found them
aolyoo end <boi~ ~occol 1;f<oA MT - $ho
water and resting in sort of groove or
cradle at the south end Of the ice noun
tain It was panic inspiring predica-
ment, to say the least, and all hands be-
gan to pray for their lives
The weight of the vessel arrested the
revolution Of the berg, but did not have
the effect of turning it back again to
it's original position. The reef prevent
ed this
Chester ordered his men into the
boats with instructions to get out of
harms way as fast as they could. Be-
fore abandoning the vessel the mate cut
the lines which held her to the iceberg.
The men then pulled away to safe
distance and anxiously awaited the fate
Of the Elwood. The anchor held fast,
and the schooner, as If realizing its
plight and desiring to escape, tugged at
the chain despairingly.
The tide dropped q few more inches,
the iceberg careened still further, and
the Elwood rose still higher into the
air Although at first thought this
seemed to render her condition even
more desperate, it really proved the
schooner's salvation. The tendency Of
the iceberg to roll over and raise the
vessel brought such an enormous strain
to bear upon the anchor chain that some-
thing had to give way. Something did.
and to the Joy Of the fishermen it was
not the anchor or the chain. The ice
berg lurched, and the schooner was OBJ
served to slide several feet along the
crevice it rested in. There was another
lurch and another slide Then the YES
sci reached downward grade and the
next instant shot of the iceberg and in
to the sea. bows on. like rocket She
shipped q heavy sea. as the result Of
plunging her nose beneath. the surface,
but quickly righted and after stumbling
over her anchor chain and tugging VII
oiously to get away settled down to her
original state of tranquility. to all ap-
pearance unhurt. f
~ have been at sea great many
years and have had queer experiences,
but this one beats them all hollow"
declared Captain Chester II thought
the vessel was doomed and never look
ed for such happy termination of
our troubles. When the schooner start
ed to slide. there was no stopping her,
and she bounded off like thing of life.
She looked just as if she were gliding
down the ways Of shipyard on her
launching day | never saw anything
prettier. You can rest assured that no
happier mortals ever climbed aboard
ship than were we when we pulled over
to the Elwood. We lowered around the
straits that night, and when we took on
the remainder of our ice cargo we took
care not to approach too near the ice
berg We carried the chunks over in
our small boats, keeping the schooner
at q respectable distance.
Captain Wyman, the owner of-the FL
wood, accompanied the vessel on her
recent voyage and corroborates Captain
Chester's narrative Of the encounter
with the revolving iceberg. as do also
the, members of the crew San Fran
cisco Chronicle.
The Ex-King Of Dudes.
Mr. Berry Wall has turned up again
in New York. but he is no longer the