The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1898-09-25

Cape Smyth, where we repaired them.
When we left this point all of us
from the captain down were rejoicing
at the prospect of returning to civiliza-
ton. We little realized the dangers
and hardships that lay ahead of us.
We had been steaming along through
the ice for two days without much diff
ficulty, the whalers we had found at
Point Barrow nearly always In sight,
when early one morning our course was
checked. The ice had thickened and
crowded ahead of us to such an extent
that we could not bulge a foot.
We were caught in the ice foes.
Within the next two hours we were
brought to realize that we could neither
turn about nor steam ahead. Great
masses of ice. in the meantime, were
hurled against the hull of the Orca,
Earring and shaking her from stem to
stern. Our situation became desper-
ate.
Captain Sherman consulted for mo-
ment with his officers, and then the
cry, "All hands on deck to abandon
ship!" was shouted in our ears.
1t had all come about so quickly that
/ was stunned. l had scarcely any
thing to lose, but it seemed a dreadful
thing to leave for good the stuffy little
forecastle, where we had made our
home for so many months. And yet
we were lOGluudlE 10 ne dDIc " llllQ
a place of refuge aboard the other YES
sells of the fleet which lay in the open
water a few miles distant.
We were permitted to take with us
only the clothing we had on our backs,
and an extra coat and blanket, and in
less than an hour from the issuing of
the order we were on the ice. We made
our way carefully to the Belvedere and
the Freeman, and were divided up
equally among the two. Although the
crews of these vessels had but little
space to spare they made us welcome,
and the officers of the Freeman, to
which l was assigned, gave US every
thing we needed in the way of cloth
ing. It turned out that Captain Sher-
man was wise in abandoning the Orca.
She was crushed in the next day and
went down stern first. The Freeman
and the Belvedere, as soon as the Orca
disappeared from view steamed away
in the direction of Sea Horse Island.
Before we had made fifty knots the
Freeman was caught in thin ice, and
although in my own opinion we might
have made clear of it Captain Porter
ordered his crew to abandon her
Then we all took to the Belvedere,
which had managed to keep in the
open, and for three days we hung
about the Freeman, hoping that she
would drift free.
the Freeman's crew set her afire as she
lay in the ice, but this Is not true.i A
Norwegian, whom we knew only as
Long John, told us afterward that he
had been sent over to her to get GER
tain papers from the cabin. He said
that in searching through the cabin he
had dropped a lighted lamn and that
this started the fire that destroyed her.
This man, Long John, as we knew him,
was employed by Charles Brewer, the
trader, at Cape Smyth. A number of
these stories about burning the vessels
and getting insurance floated about all
the time.
After the burning of the Freeman her
captain and the captains of the Orca
and the Belvedere, all of them being
ouartered at the time on the latter ship,
sent a runner to Cape Smyth for dogs
and sleds. Brewer, the Cape Smyth
trader, sent them at once, and ninety
two of us started off for his station
We were four days on the trip, and
had nothing to eat during that period
save a little hard bread and tea. But
the prospect of again getting under
shelter spurred us on, and we reached
Cape Smyth in good health and fair
spirits.
Here we were put in warehouse,
scarcely large enough for a third of our
number, and we never left 1t until we