The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1896-07-23
twain She was Utmost ssYa mined bsY tne.

She ran to the north to get out Of the
ice. Next day she returned to search
the Zoe, but hit lit too far east to
sight me-
It she passed me, which may have
been the case, the mist Using from the
ice, which is called fhe ''ice blink
shut her from my view. III the adga
of the foe she fonrd an oar from my
boat and some bcarils. which We're be-
lieTed to be 4 part of the frail craft.
and, Judging from these relics that the
boat had been crushed and the crew
lost. She gave over further search. AS
to the two men IN tie ledge, no one
has ascertained tc what craft they be-
longed or how they c;a1le there.
1 am not at all sure how long driftt.
ed. but the general direction was
south. and the time WAS at least four
days and nights. Had we left the ship
without food, I Should have starved to
death within the fist twelve hours
AS it was, l made myself fairly COM
Portable. and being helpless to better
NY condition, passed much of the time
IN sleep. On the n olning Of what was
probably the fifth day awoke to find
that the foe had ceased drifting, and
a quarter of a mile east Of me was a
mass Of ice of singular creation.
f 1t was mile or more in length and
not over thirty feet high, and locked
more like q wall resting on the water.
The ice was yellow and dirty, with
rocks imbedded in it here and there.
and | have no doubt that q good part
Of it was the lower part Of an iceberg
which had turned turtle Between me-
and the water was a tumble of ice,
over which it seemed impossible to
make luy way; but as soon as had
broken NY fast set out to try it, It
took lie a full hour to make that quar-
ter Of a mile, but at length reached
the wall and found that I could easily
get up it rough side. When reached
the top it was to discover that the
mass OF ice was almost Il cube, with
a great hollow in it's surface to remind
me of the crater Of volcano
IN the center Of the hollow lay
mass of wreckage, and after a long
stare, half believing that my eyes de-
ceived me, I slid down and began an
Investigation. No one will ever see a
more curious sight. A space several
hundred feet square was covered with
broken masts, yards, beams, planks.
boards, ropes. blocks and sails. Amid
this heap were thousand belongings
TO the interior of ship. There were
tables, chairs, sofas, crcckery, cloth
ing, carpets, rugs and what not. A
few articles had not been damaged.
but the greater part had been broken
and splintered as if mailman had
used an AK to destroy. r--
There was q sort of mildew covering
everything, and such articles of cloth
ing as I pulled at were quite rotten.
A large ship had here suffered de-
struction. Just how, I could not de-
termine, but it seemed to me as if q
great body of ice had fallen on her as
she rested in the crater. No other
forces, unless gunpowder, could have
so wrecked and scattered her about.
Sailorlike, my first thought was to
Identify the wreck. This did by find
ing a life-preserver with the name
"I'rincess" painted OH it.
I had not then heard of the loss of
the Australian packet, but knew that
this must have been passenger ship,
from her fittings. There were no bod
les under or about the wreckage, and
during my search of five hours l did
not find any money or jewelry OF her
cargo. only a small portion was at
hand, and ]. did not see a single bale
of wool. The life-preserver and three
pieces of silver plate carried to the
boat, but found nothing else worth
taking away. [ could find nothing in
the Wreckage to account for the ships
boats, and all her crew and passen-,
gers had certainly left her before she
met her fate.
The theory of whalers who have
cruised III the icy seas is that the
Princess was driven down on the ice
by a gale from the north, which, per-
hapS, dismasted her. At some time
perhaps before she got into the ice
fields-she was abandoned, and, one
after another, her boats were lost in
that great ocean. If after that she
got Wedged among the ice, then they
foated away from her to perish of
cold and starvation. One can only
guess how the big ship came to be
lying where found her. She NAV
have been lifted bodily onto the ice
during a nip" or have run upon a
shelf or ledge as she drove before a
gale. y
The shape and size of icebergs is
constantly changing. This one had
probably been much larger and higher
at some time. There might have been.
and probably was, high portion,
which fell upon and shattered the yes
sci to- Ornaments AS she had no gun
powder on board, there could have
been no explosion In whatever way
her doom came about there she was,
or all that was left of her.
Late i'll the after noon the foe began
to break up and got back to my boat.
BY night there were lanes of water in
every direction and a strong breeze
set in from the south. I.drifted to the
north all that night ard all the next
day, but as the Geeond night came
down was picked up by the Scotch
whaler Jeanette, which had captured
and was cutting whale, and months
later was landed at her home port.
For three years believed the Tails
man had been cast away in the ice, but
it turned out that she escaped without
much damage. and finally reached
Boston with full cargo
Saved by the Comedians Cleverness.
A comedian in Paris theater re-
Gently made great hit out Of a pain
full incident. While INDUCING in bit
EN 1scSfNNN IrNry -. liz ~. 4