Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1898-03-22
FOR WHALERS.
HERD OF REINDEER TO BE DRIVEN
TO POINT BARROW.

TO POINT BARROW.
Plans of Captain Tuttle-Relief Ship Bear
Selected For the Work-The Whalers
May Be Safely Housed In the Govern
ment Relief Station.
The whole country is deeply interest
cd just now in the fate Of n Norwe-
gian and seven American whaling ships,
said to have been caught in the ice
north and east Of Point Barrow, with
insufficient food to support them until
they return to San Francisco, their
home port.
The United States revenue service on
the Pacific coast embraces a supervision
Of the whaling feet in Boring sea and
the Arctic ocean north of Boring strait
in order to see that the laws prohibiting
the distribution of firearms and "fre
water" among the savages of Alaska
and Siberia in the way of trade are car
ried out.
For this purpose the revenue cutters
Bear and Corwin make yearly trips to
the arctic seas, and their officers are
naturally we'll informed concerning the
conditions prevailing there, in the sum-
mer months at least. 1t was natural,
therefore, that when it was decided to
send relief to the imprisoned whalers
the revenue marine should be called
upon to perform the hazardous work,
they being provided with suitable YES
sells as we'll as experienced officers.
The condition Of the imprisoned whal-
ing fleet is not so desperate as to
rant such a heroic effort to reach it.
If they are really in trouble - and
many whaling captains as we'll as others
more or less familiar with the history
Of the whaling industry in that part Of
the world doubt that fact-the arrival
Of a single sled, with one Or two white
men bearing the news that a relief ship
with 100 barrels Of pork and 100 barrels
of ships biscuit awaited the shipwrecked
crews near Sledge island or Cape Nome
would buoy them up and they could
make the trip to the stores without very
much trouble.
It is not a new thing by any means
for whalers to get caught in the ice
north and eastward Of Point Barrow,
and even long before there was a relief
station anywhere upon that coast the
men have escaped to the land and
reached a place Of safety at Cape Prince
of Wales Or Port Clarence, where they
were picked up during the following
summer by the incoming whalers or the
steamers belonging to the revenue serv-
ice. At one time there were about 80
whaling vessels caught in the ice pack
above Point Barrow and the crews Of all
except two, who elected to stay by their
ships and were never again heard from,
made their escape safely over 40 miles
Of intervening ice and reached the
northern coast of Alaska, where, scat
tering out, they managed to find sufi-
cient s~ustenance until relieved later on.
Most Of the abandoned ships passed on
into the great unknown, but two, I be-
lieve, remained somewhere in the track
Of the whalers and were picked up by
them during the next season.
Captain futile, who had considerable
experience in the Arctic while in the
revenue service, will command the Bear,
and every effort will be made by him to
get beyond Norton sound before the ice
forms there, and he hopes to reach
Sledge island, about 40 miles from
Port Clarence, by the 18th of Deoem-
Der. The revenue bureau has informa-
ton that Norton sound does not freeze
over until January, and in that case
Captain futile may arrive at his desti-
nation at the time fixed, but if he is
calculating upon an open winter north
because the winter. in these lower lati-
tudes has 80 far been very mild he is
likely to be mistaken, for the whaling
captains have found that the climatic
conditions are reversed. A cold winter
here indicates an open winter north and
vice versa.
It is probable that any relief party
from the Bear will find most Of the be.
leaguered whalers at the relief station
near Point Barrow, where there is a
house designed by Commodore Melville,
the veteran arctic traveller, and built by
the United States government to be
used as a refuge for shipwrecked mar
liners who might reach the northern
coast Of Alaska in need Of stores and
shelter. Three years supplies were al
ways maintained there, and three men
were there, paid to take charge Of the
station. This was prior to 1895, but
since her the relief station has been
taken in charge by the owners Of the
vessels engaged in the whaling business
in that part Of the Arctic cean.
The supply Of stores has been main.
tanned at this station ever since, and
this year, it ia said, there are 400 bar
rels Of flour at the post Of the North
American Trading company, only 16
miles from Point Barrow. So that after
all the icebound whalers may not be in
such great distress as appeared probable
when the news Of their detention first
reached this country.
But, be that as it may, they should
have the benefit Of the doubt, and the
government can very we'll afford to
make every effort to see that they have
relief If necessary. Of course no II OK.
pected that sufficient provisions could
be taken on sledges overland to feed 1855
men for six months or that they could
be brought back to a refuge station in a
body. The only feasible thing to be
done in this case seems to be to drive q
herd Of the tame reindeer that the gov.
eminent has introduced into Alaska to
the refuge station at Point Barrow and
furnish fresh meat ION the hoof" to