The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1895-07-05


Among the old sea dogs that frequent
South street is Captain Thomas Barnes
He Is famous rs u story teller, and from
his 30 years experience on the water he
has IL rich fund of yarns to draw upon.
Tho captain sailed his last ship some years
ago
LAS far back as tho middle of tho six
tccnth century" said tho captain the other
day, attempts wcro mado by daring sea-
men to circumnavigato America. Holland
and England eagerly desired n shorter
route to India.
This desire for shorter route to India,
when first felt by tho Dutch and English,
WAS tho beginning of tho err of polar ex-
ploratiOn. In 1916 tho English offered q
feward of 81, 200, 900 for tho discovery of
tho northwest passage. Later, In the foil
of 1859, was second mato of tho Ncp-
tune, Il stout whaling bark that had been
fitted out In San Francisco by her captain
and owner for an expedition In search of
tho northwest passage We shipped full
crew for the purpose of first making u
whaling voyage, and in tho following year,
after touching ut the Sandwich Islands
some time in May, pass through Boring
strait and face tho arctic winter in about ~
degrees northern latitude
Not soul on board the vessel save tho
captain and his four officers were aware Of
the ultimate object Of our voyage, he OK
planning his rcticcnco aftcrward by saying
that il he should not succeed in making "a
name for himself as an arctic explorer, at
least no one should know of his failure
Leaving the Golden Cato the Neptune
made her way TO the southwest, heading
for tho sperm whale feeding grounds
among the South Sea islands In four
months we had tho ship loaded down with
sperm oil. We had caught 90 whales, av-
craging about 100 barrels Of oil each
Then we sailed northwarl, and catch
ing tho trade winds from the southwest
stccrctl n straight course for tho Sandwich
Islands, discharged our cargo at Honolulu
took on provisions and water and set sail
for the Arctic ocean. Rough weather. ad-
verso winds and general discomfort mark
cd our route to Boring strait. From Point
Barrow wo stcorcd u nOrthwcstcrly course
past Wrangcll and Herald islands, to tho
north of which wo encountered great leo
foes. We saw several whales, but they
were always to tho windwnrd of us, and
therefore we didn't bother them
Ono morning u big spout was sighted
not moro than five miles off our lee bow
The yards were hailed into the wind, all
hands called on deck and tho boats lower
cd. We had eight Of them, splendid, fast
sailing whalcboatS, 30 feet long, with big
centcPboards which enabled them to stand
up to almost any kind of a breeze After
"a hot chase we got tho whale, which was
tremendous follow, and as soon MS wo had
him alongside the ship tho work of cut
ting him up commenced. Ono of tho mon
standing on tho dead monsters back and
cutting through tho neck bono with an ak
discovered "a rusty old harpoon sticking In
tho blubbcr and partly In tho flesh of tho
whale. This was not at all strange, us 1t
often happens that whale is harpooncd
and tho line has to be cut for somo reason
This harpoon was cut out and handed to
tho captain. Every ono of these irons bcnrs
the namo of tho vessel to which 1t belongs.
and it was certainly interesting to know
what ship had been after the Same whale,
tho blubbcr of which was now being hoist
cd on board tho Neptune. a little sandpa-
per applied to tho rusty iron soon disclosed
the name. 1t was Simon Davis.
Great heavens, exclaimed tho captain,
that ship But he was too agitated to
say more His knees shook under him,
and great drops of pcrspiration stood on
his brow, though tho thermometer showed
20 degrees below zero. He recovered him
self quickly, however, and asked me to
come to the cabin with him. On arriving
there no gaspcd out:
g 4 haze found tho northwest passagev
The devil you hnvc! exclaimed rath-
er disrcspectivcly, thinking that his mind
WAS unbalanced
:" No devil about it., he replied. Look
here, and no held that twisted harpoon
so that ] could read tho namo engraved on
1t.
"'Simon Davis, read aloud. What
about it?'
1nt ok
been in tho western arctic ocean. This
harpQon struck tho whale on tho other
side, and he has found q passage through
tho archipelago. Tho northwest passage
exists, and this little picco of iron is the
incontrovcrtiblc proof Of it There would
DO only ono other way for that whale to
get from tho eastern into tho western arc
tic ocean, and that Is around Cape Horn
That is not possible. Ho would havo to
pass tho equator twice. An arctic whale
would perish before no came within 20 de-
grees of tho line
We knew now that n northwest passage
existed. 1t remained for us to find it. The
next day heavy fog set in and as bad
luck would have it we got into current
which driftcd us south among lot of
loose Ice. 1t was impossible to see any
thing half ships length ahead, and the
current took us along mt n flvc knot rate
Suddenly the lookout on tho forocastle
yelled out to the man at the wheel: Hard
aport! Quick, quick, for Gods sakcv
But 1t was too late An enormous
piece of ground ice lay square in tho ships
path and wo struck it with our starboard
bow. For moment tho vessel quivercd
like living thing, then she listed to star
board, going down faster and faster as the
water rushed into tho great holo in her
side There was no time to save anything
Every man scrambled on to the ice rs best