The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1895-04-14

CKED PARTY TO THE SCHOONER.
above the waters edge, were hundreds
of sea gulls. The rocks were fairly
white with them. 1t was, in fact,
'luminary" The Esquimaux, after re-
Spectfully requesting us to land and
scorning the offer we made of our
guns, rowed underneath the ledge, and
with a deft movement of the oar
brought its fiat end down upon the
backs Of a number of the birds, killing
half a dozen of them. They soon had
the bottom of the boat full of them,
away under the forward bunker, would
last them till we reached Holstenborg.
And by the way, it was pleasing
sight to see those men eat blubber
One of them would take slice of the
black, greasy stuff in his hand, fill his
mouth with as much of it as he could
jam in and cut the rest off near his
teeth with a knife, passing on what
was left to the next man. And they
ate it with as much relish as we would
a hot sirloin steak.
Camp Raven" the name we gave
this place, on account of two ravens
which croaked over our tent all night,
was broken at 8 am, and such a gale
was blowing at the time from the ice
cap that we started under bare poles
Later we tried a double reefed fore
sail, but the wind was too strong and
we began shipping SO much water that
the doctor gave directions to put in to
shore as quickly as possible And it
was a good thing we did so, for the
wind was increasing every MON ent
and the black ominous-looking clouds.
coming up over the mountains, gave
indications of a coming storm. AS we
he
cident occurred which almost resulted
in disaster. The rudder, in some way,
got loose from the boat, which in turn
became unmanageable and was borne
rapidly towards the mass of seething
foam dashing against the rocks. Three
or tour OF US jumped for the oars and
got the boat under control just in time
to clear a projecting headIand and
reach place of shelter.
Tenting on the Bare Rocks.
We pitched the tent upon the bare
rocks, fastening down the guy ropes
ana sides of the tent with stones. and
after bringing up our sleeping hays
oil stoves and provisions, turned in to
get as much sleep as possible before
going on.
But although we stayed there two
Gays we got but very little sleep The
storm broke on us while we were bring
ing our effects up from the boat. and
continued with terrific force for two
nights and two days The wind rushed
down of the ice cap thick with rain
ana Sleet. daring US to come out
Finally at midnight on the morning
of the third day there were evident signs
OF clearing in the southeast and we
made preparations to break camp.
rms was accomplished at in the
morning. After bailing out a foot of
rain water from our boat, we hoisted
sail and were soon Scudding along I'M
der a stiff breeze with the grandest
scene spreading out before us imagin-
| able. AS the clouds lifted the noun
tains stood out half black. half white.
with the snow line as distinctly marked
acros their sides as though drawn with
a piece of chalk. 1t had evidently snow
ed up there while it rained with us
farther down.
But we were not out after scenery.
AT o'clock we reached Itivdlek. a
small. poverty-stricken town right on
the Arctic circle. We immediately
sought the privacy Of the governor and
his house.
No Schooner Seen.
To our dismay the governor said he
had seen no schooner, knew nothing of
them in fact. I'VE must push on to
Holstenborg then as quickly as posi-
bic boys" exclaimed the DOCTOR Get
the boat ready while I leave these dis
patches with the governor"
But there's no wind" we cried in
one voice. land Holstenborg is twenty
five miles north of here
The doctor was too busy to deign a
reply. but we knew what was before US
and we buckled down to it in earnest,
taking turns at the oars at regular in
tervalS with the ESquimaux. even maxi
ing the kayaker do his share of the
work. And at 8 o'clock that night, with
record of go miles for the day, we
rowed into the snug harbor at Holsten-
borg. Three reports from our guns
were returned by a similar number.
from small cannon somewhere among
the inspectors buildings. and the Dam
ish flag was run up the flagstaff.
Greeted as usual with open-armed
hospitality, we as usual asked the
ever-burning question about fishing
schooners. Imagine our jos to hear
the governor reply in good English:
Eyes, sir; a schooner left here this
morning for the banks, some twenty
miles out, and there are four others
out there somewhere Come up and
have coffee
Yes, good news indeed, and yet bad
news, for how could we get at them.
1t would hardly be safe to trustour
small boat so far out sea and in such
waters. But l don't imagine anybody
troubled his head much over this ques-
tion that night. The governor gave
us a room where there were actually
beds with elder down mattresses and
quilts, and TO be suddenly transported
from a bed of rock to one of this kind
was enough to make a man forget any
thing.
was awakened by the doctor about
10 o'clock the next day with these
words: II want you, Tomson and
Waters to go with a telescope to the
top of that mountain across the har-
Dor and look for those schooners. If
you see a. sail take its bearing and re-
turn at once
We were off in a few moments and
had scarcely begun the ascent when
Waters exclaimed: 'sIs that berg or
sail off there?" The telescope was
brought to bear on the object and re-
vealed it's true nature. 1t was a
schooner, putting, we thought, into
Itivdlek.
Welcome FeIIow-Countrymen From
Gloucester.
Inside of half an hour. the doctor
was informed of it and he dispatched
a kayaker with a letter stating our
distress and asking assistance to in
tercept the vessel.
Then we waited. Finally about s
o'clock there was commotion down
at the wh.rf, and one or two small
natives came tearing up the path
sputtering of something which we
could not make out. but it soon he-