The San Francisco call., 1896-10-12

The vessels reported as light" are the
Andrew Hicks, Belvedere, Cape Horn
Pigeon, Charles w. Morgan, Hidalgo
(supposed to be lost, Horatio, John and
Winthrop, Lydia, Mermaid, Nayarch,
Orca, Rosario and William Baylles. The
latter vessel is on her way to San Fran
cisco. She ran into an ice foe in the Sea
of Okhotsk and sprang a leak. Captain
McInnis wanted TO proceed TO the Arctic,
but the crew refused TO go. A muliny was
imminent and the master gave in. The
chances are that when the Baylies reaches
port there will be number of arrests.
After the Jeanie docked Captain Mason
went at once to the Office of the Pacific
Steam Whaling Company. He was clos
eted for a time with General Manager
Gritfiths, but when at leisure made the
following statement:
From what heard. last winter was the
most severe ever experienced IN the Arc
tic and the summer was CORES pondingiy
cold. The men suffered terribly and de-
sertions from the fleet at the mouth of the
Mckenzie River were frequent. There
was a general exodus at one time and five
men out of the crowd got away. They
have not been heard from since. The
Others were brought up when shower of
bullets came after them from the pursuing
officers. One of the fugitives was wounded,
but, / think, afterward recovered.
Among those who died during the win
ter were: William Mosher. second mate
OF the bark John and Winthrop; Harry
Williams, cabin boy of the bark Wanderer,
and James Leery, second mate of the
steamer Belvedere.
There was a regular old-fashioned
shooting scrape on the steamer BalRena
during the winter. Chief officer III. T.
Bowen and Second Mate Frank Jones
quarreled. 1t was patched up for time,
Ii. =
the men came TO blows. Then duel on
the ice, so they say, was arranged and
Jones was MORALLY wounded. He died a
few hours later and was buried at Herschell
Island. Bowen is under arrest and will
be brought to San Francisco for trial.
1.-The Baiaena and Grampus wintered in
Franklin Bay and the former reported
four deaths and the latter two deaths.
Who the men were l could not learn, am
sorry to say. Both ships got to Herschell
Island August 20 and it was their inten-
tion to return about September /. The
Grampus, however, may remain in the
Arctic for another season. All in all, il
has been disastrous season for the feet.
Private adyices received by General
Manager Griffiths of the Pacific Steam
Whaling Company state that the Fearless,
Newport, Mary d. Hume. Jessie III. Free
man, Wanderer and Grampus will proba-
bly, winter off the mouth of the Mckenzie
river this year. Last winter there were
sixteen vessels altoge her in the Ice, but
next season there will be only hall dozen
to chase the whales when the ice breaks
up.
Captain II. II. Bodfish of the steamer
Newport came down on the Jeanie. His
vessel winIered in the Arctic last season,
but he has no more news TO tell than Cap
tain Mason. In fact Captain Mason views
is based on information given him by
Captain Bodfish. The changes necessitated
by Captain Bodfsh's return to san Fran
cisco were as follows: Captain George B.
Leavitt of the Mary ID. Hume took charge
of the Newport, and Captain Raggerty,
late of the Triton (the 1rlIon was nlpped
in the ice and went DOWN, took the Hume.
There should be some lively developments
when the vessels that wintered in the
Arctic arrive here next month.