The Portland daily press., 1898-09-16

| ant Bertholf, who planned to reach the
whalers with supplies, dogs and reindeer
by an overland route. When the bear
reached the shipwrecked crews she found
them living on this food, only the butter
supply had been exhausted. Lieutenant
John D. Berry, of the United States Ma
rine Corps, tells the story Of the Bear
| voyage for the Herald.
BY LIEUTENANT JOHN D. BERRY,
u. S. N. G.
On Board the Arctic Relief Steamer
Bear, Point Barrow, August 25, via
Victoria, B. G., Monday.
With all the shipwrecked sailors on
board, the Bear lay jammed in the ice off
Point Barrow, August 10 as solidly as
any vessels here have been jammed dur
ing the winter. We arrived here on July
26, got nipped between the shore and the
drift were backed up by pack ia Au-
gust, and then waited as patiently as
might be, ready to steam out should occa-
sion offer, or ready to go ashore and wait
for the customary Arctic relief expedition.
We had large supply of provisions on
deck, ready to dump them on the ice, if
we were crushed. Our propeller was
jammej, so that 1T could not be moved !,
and the ship herself was immovably fixed
in the ice We could not bulge her an
inch with all the lines we had.
We left st. Michael on July 2. Father
Barnum Jesuit missionary from the
Yukon River, came with US as the guest
of Captain Tuttle. He is on his way to
the States, but before going down be
wished to see something of the northern
part of Alaska. I never knew better
shipman than Father Barnum.'
PLENTY OF JONAHS ABOARD
Our present plight might be due to one
have on board. They have already
wrecked the Jessie FL. Freeman, Orica
and Navarro, and finally the schooner
Roso. On the night of July the pack
swung in toward the point. The Roso
WAS caught in the Ice, and apparently the
chance of getting out was gone. She lay
about mile and a half to the southward,
and about two miles to the westward of
| the hook off Point Barrow.
| Nothing had distur bed her during the
| winter and spring, but when the pack ice
came in the light ice outside of her began
| to pile up and slide, one piece over anoth-
er. Nearer and nearer it came silently
but irresistibly. Then the stern was slow
| ly raised, the ice generally sliding under,
| but before 1t had lifted her on to its
surface heavy cakes crashed through her
plating, and she was wreck. They
saved verything of valus, and the crew
| is on board the Bear. The master of the
| schooner promptly shipped as mate of the
Fearless and will go whaling on her.
| this ice outside of us does not clear up.
BEAR AT CAPE CLARENCE.
On July the Bear reached Port Clar-
ence. 1t was clear of ice and the whaling
fleet was congregated there, waiting for
a coal vessel. We cleaned our boile", pre-
paratory for the northern trip, filed up
with water, and left Port Clarence at
half past eleven p. m, on the II p.
At Port Clarence Assistant Engineer
Wood found mineral spring whose wat
crs arc very much like Johanni water.
That spring would be worth fortune in
| a more accessible place. Several OF us
went in swimming in the stream near
where we watered the ship. The water
was fairly warm, in spite of the fact that
you could end solid ice by digging four
feet beneath the surface of the ground
anywhere around there.
On the morning after leaving Port
Clarence we stopped at Cape Prince OF
Wales for an hour or so. and then went
into the Arctic Ocean. 1t was a beauti-
ful day, almost calm, and the heat was
really. y.unoomfo rtable. 1t scored / o much
like cruising III the Carl bbean Sea as in
the Arctic Ocean. There was strong
current setting to the northward, but fol-
cleared out all the ice from that part of
the ocean. We saw no ice worth men
| tioning until we reached Cape Lisburne,
twenty five miles north of Point Hope.
| and no ice to bother us until we anchored
behind Blossom Shcal at Icy Cape.
On July IA we got to Cape Blossom In
kotzebue Sound At Blossom we found
| down from Point Barrow sincs last win
ter. He was chief mate of the Northern
Light, We had on board the Bear, Tick
| ley and his wife, Point Hope natives,
who guided Hilton to st. Michael. Til
| ton came over to see the natives and they
went almost wild in their delight at
seeing him again. We reached Point
Hope on the evening of the 10th, and the
two natives went ashore The moment
they touched the beach MT. and Mrs.
| Ilckley got gloriously drunk, to the envy
OF their admiring neighbocs
Here Lieut. Berthloff came on board.
he was in excellent health and declared
tnat he had passed a pleasant winter.
me only thing thnt troubled him serlous-
~ IN his long sleu trip was the poor fare
mat he had in many places. The ex
tieine cold was not so disagreeable be-
cause 1t was always calm when the ther
mometer went away down. But bliz.
zards, with their moderately low temper
atuie, were decidedly uncomfortable
EerthloH has made more progress in
learning the language than nybody
| rave ever seen who spent such n shor
time in tie counr. Father Barnum is {
man who will finally codify the Ian