The San Francisco call., 1898-05-08

poSfte side. At this critical moment one of our anchor chains snapped and away went anchor and chain.
 We thought we were done for, but as fortune would have it our otheri anchor fouled sunken wreck and held on so fast that all our efforts for thas next three days failed to clear it. But it saved us from drifting ashore.
 The fourth day we had calm and somehow or other, while we were floating about, the anchor came loose of itself. This was New Years day ands we were very pleased at the manner in which the old anchor showed it's pa triotiSm.
 But this was only the beginning of our troubles. Fortescue Bay was our next anchorage, and we spent one day ashore looking for signs of gold. The next day we essayed to get out, but after beating all day against wind and tide we put back there again. We re- peated this operation every morning for nine days before we succeeded.
 The eighth day we had got within one mile of our next port when a terrific storm came down upon us dead ahead, and we were compelled to run all the way back under bare poles. We raised sail in an attempt to go around sharp turn, but it was blown into ribbons. These sudden storms are called by the Chileans "williwas."
 There is a remarkable thing about the winds in the straits. There is great range of mountain peaks cn either side of the straits, completely walling them in, and as we sailed along abreast of the opening between these peaks the wind was so strong that we could barely carry double-reefed sails. Suddenly, as we passed the opening and came abreast of the mountain we were "blanketed" by it and would be left in dead calm. Several times we were left thus, helpless with the wind blow ing 8 gale overhead
 January is the midsummer month down here, but for all of this the moun- tain range was completely capped with huge glaciers and snow. Right beneath this at the foot of the peaks the valleys shone with all the luxurious verdure of a tropical summer. On the 10th of January we sailed out into the open sea. As night approached we saw the last of those bristling rocks that had been such a menace to us and we were not bit sorry.
 That night terrific gale struck us and we expected to be blown back on , the rocks. We had just passed one of the small boats of the big wrecked steamer Mataura, which lay on the rocks within a few miles of us, an ac- count of which appeared in The Call in the latter part of January. It Is impossible to describe the feeling of ap- prehenSion and misery that pervaded our little community that night. For tunately the wind hauled enough to al- low us to make an offing, but the fury of the gale never abated for one mo- ment until we actually ran clear out of it's latitude, which was ten days afterward.
 After this we had clean sailing right up to the line and all was buoyancy and hope as we flew along past the fiy- ing spray.
 On March 1, just forty days from the straits, we sighted a sail. This was absolutely the first signs of life we had seen in all this time. To be sure it was far away from us and only the highest sails were visible, but it was life and served to break the de- pressing monotony. By this time our provisions were all stale and barely eatable. It's we'll enough for sailors and old seamen to talk about salt beef and hard tack being good enough, etc, but for we landlubbers it was worse than any picture of Klondike suffer- ing we had seen.
 In fact, the very subject of Klondike or our final destination in Alaska was never mentioned. We only hoped and prayed for San Francisco. We expect ed to be there within ten or fifteen days, and so great was our anxiety that 1t was hard to restrain ourselves from going in the rigging to look for land though we knew it was hundreds of miles away. It was at this time that we ran into the northwest gales that kept us out so long.
 On March 10 we were within three 
 the next twenty-five days we were con- tinually tossed about by gales and high seas without one moments rest.
 Without exaggeration, our little boat
 was not far from being lunatic asy- Ium Every conceivable thing was re- sorted to to occupy our minds and maintain our composure and fortitude.
 Three times we were within four hours of the harbor and were blown back before terrific gales. Had our boat been the least unseaworthy she would not have survived the last gale we had.
 We really had very little hope for our , lives and 1t is an experience that I
 would not pass through again for any , conceivable price. We were now living , on salt meat and bread and the water i was too stale to drink. We had to drink | it in the form of tea or coffee, and it r was bad at that. We knew our friends
 at home were anxious for us, and in 2 our poorly nourished and depressed , condition it was no wonder that now 7 and then some poor fellow would steal away into a corner md have it out with himself
 , We have tackled up a clipping of Klondiker's letter to San rancisco paper, which we have paraphrased to } suit our own case. It $ as blows: l, 2 . 6 In after years, when take my :" 6 grandchildren on my knee and g } 6 tell them of my experience in . 6 Alaska, if they don't get down Q 6 on the floor and howl, will lam Q l, 6 baste h. out of them" Q 6 6 6 6 $ % . % . 5 ~ 6 q $ <> < <> <a q $ Na As I said before. we are going to , stick 1t out, and we all feel sure that ha worst Of experience is over. , and that nothing in Alaska will be as hard tn endur,A aa was our terrible con.