The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1898-04-24

.a-atch her." East astern"' Full
Sheadv' and so on. The bridge master
Is singing out again in loud tones these
orders 10 the i've brave wheel-men on diSy
together. till they arc pouring with per-
SEPARATION, and the relief watch Is eagerly
awaited. IL is no light work. this butting
through twenty feet OF sold ice at fuH
speed. Now you are nearly carried or
your legs with the sudden shock: now the
Soping stem arises UP over the PAN
cracks Il and breaks through. or slips back
en- into the water. Now We so astern, a
Sstern man. warning the bridge master
as the rudder nears the Ice, which mas
soon closed up the vessels wake. though
often. in spite Of him the propeller or
rudtier comes whack. whack! against IL.
Down below in the cabin the engineer Is
grinding his teeth and holding his breath.
BY the second night we had left behind
AL our comrades, and had caught and
passed several steamers from Greenspond
and other northern porls at last sighting
Cape Fargo. whole gale ragged all day.
and continued right through Friday, but
The ice allowed no sea to be feit- Al
D m. we got ''jammed.'' and all hands
went out TO get their lice legs" / found
II no easy task, this first walk over the
frozen sea, climbing the hummocks, sink
ing into the snow. jumping over the
cracks. unable 10 know the sound ice
from the unsound. or 10 tell upon how
small pan one might dare to trust
oneself. Accordingly, progress was only
AT a sna!rs pace. and everyone left me
behind But an hours practice made
great difference; with an old hand TO fol-
low. one soon learned that to make any
pace meant chiefly going straight ahead.
even when loose ice is met with which viii
not bear ones weight more than a
moment
We were now seeing many old seals
travelling past us. popping out their heads
for breath In the few ponds of water Wis
bile 10 US. Taking my rife. l went TO the
edge Of one 20 get shot, but the still
furious gale made IL bitterly cold and
ne seals did not offer any fair chances.
They have a most inGuisitive nature ana
once they sight strange object TX IL does
not move TO Brighten them, will keep corl-
ing up out OF the water up 10 the should
ers. then treadlng water and staring fix
e2ly at the stranger. That ia the time
TO shoot. II they remain too far away.
the sound OF blowing. Huff, huff such
az they make when they come IN TO
breathe will seldom fail to draw them
nearer-indeed, they will often dive, and
vastly surprise their enemy by conEsng
suddenly up right alongside.
We cav this day also quite a number os
seab!ris. and passed few seals on the
as young seals may not be killed till the
18th, We stood on In hope Of getting near
the whole patch. During the night we
butted fer Two hours. but Only made some
60 yards THE fury OF the gale IN no way
aha;ed all day. ard we noticed as we
crossed lead OF water. after dinner.
some wreckage on the scattered pans az
the ice edge. This wreckage proved after
wards 20 ne the last traces OF the steamer
Wct. under the famous Capt. Kean, a
man who owns the annual avsFage %
1o,s seals She left port, as NE did, on
the 10Th. and managed TO get clear OF
most OF the islands. the oT-shore wind
having cleared the ice little of the land.
Hardly. however. had she got round fths
rest Of the Greenspond feet fo.sow1nS close
behind, and begun 70 steam along be-
tween the firm. fixed shore ice and the
foe. before the wind chopped round 10
che north. and with resis.iess power drove
the Arctic ice fields towards the doomed
ship Expecting no mercy. the captain
tried 10 make a .sGrbor by hut.ing his
way IN the shore sce. The gallant rttIe
Wols drove ID some twenty yards ana law
IN nook that would ordinarily protect
her. But ca and on swers ,he Zoe
crashed into the nxed Ice shattered AMI
sa.yer.d It's edge into "a thousand y,se-@S
rose up On the top Of It; swept over the
vessel Ike tuggerrant'> car over a helm
less infant: crushed IN her sides with re-
x.ssieAs 1.sxhs. and would certasz3v have