The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1897-09-14
STORY OF A WRECK.
SURVIVORS HAD AN AWFUL TIME
IN ESCAPING.
Only Few of the Crew Have Mani
aged 10 Reach safety-Most
OF Them Loaf.

seattle, WASH, September 1s.-Two OF
the Grew Of the steamer Navarlch. which
was lost In the Arctic ocean together with
'nirty-hve OF her crew. came down ON the
steamer Humboldt, which arrived from St
Michaels today. They are Captain Joseph
Whitesides, the commander OF the vessel.
ana his Wife, The Navarich left San Fran
cisco March 2 last and entered tho Arctic
ocean In July. She soon got caught In the
Ice at point twelve miles east OF Point
Barrows. AT first the captain thought the
snip could DO extrlcated from its posltion
but on July 20 they realized that there wa,
no hope OF such an event They ho,stea
signals of distress, but the fog obscprea
them for days. They drlfted rapidly north
Ward with the icebergs. Finally they de-
cided to leave the ship. On August Ia the
whole crew took the small boats and start
GU across the ice. After dragging them
i've miles they came to open water and
embarked. The current caught them a.,
once, and before they had gone ten miles
they We're in another ice pack. Then thew
discovered that they only had live DAVIS,
provisions and they abandoned the boats
ana started across the ice on foot. They all
got back safely and then commenced prepa-
rations for second attempt to save them
serves. All but eight decided to push across
the ice fields ON foot. The weather was not
bitterly cold, but II was foggy and disagree
apie ana necessitatod more clothing than
was conducive to rapid travel. For this
reason limited amount OF food was car
ried. for they thought they would surely
reach the Bear or one OF the whaIers whit,
Two or three days. The eight loft in tho
Doat thought they were better off there
than on the Ice and were left to their fate
Away across the treacherous Ice went
the tnirty-seven men. One day out the
captain, his wife and seven Others changed
nheir minds about the likelihood OF saw
ing themselves by the method they had
undertaken, They wouild come to open
water now and then, which impeded their
escape, while often they would find II
necessary to go far around the massive
icebergs rearing their precipitous sides di-
rectly In their path. Nine Of the party
went back to the ship leaving twenty
nine on the Ice. Nothing has been heard
or seen Of the twenty nine men since that
day, August ~.
The party got back to the ship safely
u't oi hohpsb II maui announcer SHIRT WIN
eight in the party, Captain Whitesides. his
wife. First Mate Blaine. Fourth Mate
Reed and Seamen Scott, Lechow, Mclean
and Peters. They took small canvass
boat into which they put weeks provi-
sions. 1t was a heavy load for the little
craft, but this was the last hope they had
and they had to take desperate chances.
Only the fact that the sea was compare
lively quiet accounts for their miraculous
escape. for any rough weather would have
swamped them. They got into clear water
In a few hours and padding through the
fog aud darkness avoided as best they
could the drifting ice They pushed on for
hours. FINAL" they could go no further
and they got out and walked over the Ice.
For sixty hours they kept on, first walking
and now and then taking the boat. A.
last land was sighted. The land proved
to be Cooper island barren, desolute is
land from which position they were res
cued the following day by the Bear. Cap
tain Whltesides thinks the twenty nine
men left on the ice are surely lost.